Don Bosco School, Manila

Don Bosco School Manila (full school name: Don Bosco School (Salesian Sisters), Inc. - Manila, also known as DBS), is an educational institution owned and operated by the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Established in 1989, Don Bosco School Manila offers co-educational education for primary (elementary) and secondary education (high-school and senior high school). Don Bosco School also offers night school (Alternative Learning System).

Founded in 1989, the Salesian educational institution started its operations. Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC) in Mandaluyong is a pioneer of Salesian Schools in Metro Manila. It belongs to the priests or Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB). DBTC gradually phased out their pre-school and primary levels. DBTC also temporarily transferred some of their primary level faculty to Don Bosco School Manila. The administration and policies applied to this agreement followed the DBTC Manual for students, faculty and staff. The Salesian Sisters Administration of DBS Manila and the Salesian Fathers Administration of DBTC Mandaluyong worked in close supervision and collaboration until April 1993 when the last group of transferees had finished their Grade 4 and enrolled back at DBTC to finish their Intermediate and High school. Faculty members who were temporarily transferred to DBS Manila were offered a choice as to their preferred employer.

However, this agreement did not hinder the administration of DBS to start its own co-educational pre-school and grade school levels and to employ directly its new faculty and staff in 1989. In April 1993, DBS Manila and DBTC Mandaluyong finally ended its temporary phase in and phase out agreement.

In 1994, the first class of Grade 5 students (all females) started the intermediate level. In 1996, the school held its first Commencement Exercises of its 59 graduates in the Elementary Course. In 2000, the program for the Secondary Education was completed.

The school started to accept boys in the Grade 5 level during the school year 2004–2005. These male students were accepted into the secondary level (S.Y. 2006–2007) after a consultation made by the Educating Community Core Group. The results of the consultation showed that majority of prefer to send their in DBS until they finish their secondary school.

In the school year 2010–2011, Don Bosco School opened the Alternative Learning System programme.

In the school year of 2013, Don Bosco School joined the ranks of Educational Service Contracting (ESC) - certified private high schools in the country. As an ESC school, Don Bosco School began receiving government stipends for its high school students who are in need of financial assistance.

In the same year, Philippine president Benigno Aquino III signed the K-12 act, adding three extra years to the Philippines' 10 year basic curriculum. This law introduced Senior High School or Grades 11–12 to high school education in both public and private school. The Senior High School department formally opened in June 2016 with its 1st batch of 42 students enrolled under the three academic tracks; Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Accountancy, Business and Marketing (ABM), Science, Technology and Engineering and Math (STEM).

On May 24, 2019, Don Bosco School Manila was officially accredited by the PAASCU after the approval of its application in 2017.

During the Enhanced Community Quarantine in the Philippines, Don Bosco School resorted to online distance education from 2020 until mid 2023.^[2]

In the school year of 2021-2022 saw the enhanced utilisation of the digital education programme "Aralinks" into Don Bosco School Manila's curriculum. It was also in this school year where coding education was added, MakeBlock (Mblock) and MIT's App Inventor are used in the teaching of coding from Grades School to High School.

Grade school in Don Bosco School covers Nursery until Grade 6 (Although Nursery and Kindergarten are considered pre-school.) Its classrooms can be found in the first and second floors of the school. The curriculum for Grade School in Don Bosco School is primarily focused on basic elementary education with its subjects being; English, Filipino, Mother Tongue, Penmanship, Christian Living Education, Mathematics, Music, Arts, Physical Education, GMRC, Araling Panlipunan, and Science.

High School in Don Bosco School may be divided into three; Junior High School (Grades 7-8), High School (Grades 9-10), and Senior High School (Grades 11-12). The curriculum for high school is virtually the same with the grade school with the exceptions being; Mother Tongue and Penmanship are removed, GMRC is renamed into RHGP, and different fields of science are studied per quarter in a school year: Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology.

Don Bosco School Manila is situated on what used to be a glade with a few banana trees. Some of the school's facilities include:

• The Quadrangle bears the shape of an irregular-pentagon, it is a flat space reserved for events and sports. The quadrangle features four poles with basketball rings connected to it for basketball usage. Occasionally, volleyball nets would be placed in the centre for volleyball or badminton.
• The Learning Resource Centre (LRC) or colloquially known to the students as simply The Library, is the main library of the school. Both paper and digital learning resources can be found here.
• The Saint Maria Troncatti Clinic is the main school clinic where medical assistance is available.
• The Audio-Visual Room (AVR), where film projections, talks or special presentations are to be hosted in this room.

Don Bosco School Manila, similarly to its Salesian school pioneers, has the Salesian Youth Movement programme where extracurricular clubs are formed to suit the needs of the youth to hone or discover their unique interests or hobbies. Don Bosco School Manila has multiple Salesian Youth Groups or clubs, including but not limited to; Sports, Basketball, Knights and Lilies of the Altar, Arts, and Theatre Arts.

The student government of Don Bosco School Manila can be divided into two branches, the Pupils Leadership Training Club (reserved for Grade School) and the Students' Leadership Training Club (reserved for High School and Senior High School.)

The popular sports in Don Bosco School Manila are; Basketball, Volleyball and Badminton. Soccer, and table tennis have been observed as minor sports. Chess is also popular amongst the levels.

Don Bosco School Manila also has a varsity team for Basketball and Volleyball, with the Basketball being men-dominated whilst the volleyball team being female-dominated.

Every mid-January until late-January, a sports week also known as Boscolympics (portmanteau of Bosco and Olympics) occurs when all popular sports are allotted days to have its players compete against each other.

Don Bosco School Manila has a summer school programme during summer breaks, where various courses are offered such as in music tutorials and taekwondo lessons.

The school has its own school choir, the Don Bosco School Chorale.

• The Crown and sceptre symbolises Mary Help of Christians, the mother and teacher in every Salesian school.
• The lily stands for radiant purity, which must be the shining virtue lived to a heroic degree in the daily by every Salesian pupil and educator.
• The rose stands for charity, the love of Christ the Good Shepherd, which impels every Salesian educator to value and see the educative potential in every young person on their road to salvation. It is the same love that challenges the young to respond to God's love by performing their absolute best. It is also this love which impels the young to be good citizens in society and in the church.
• The monogram denoting the school within the FMA group of schools.
• And lastly, the text DON BOSCO SCHOOL and STA. MESA MANILA indicating the location, origin and name of the school.^[3]

• Photo of the Chapel
• Photo of the Mary Domenica Mazzarello Hall
• Photo of the Blessed Eusebia Palomino Canteen (Canteen B)
• Photo of the Learning Resource Centre or the Library
• Photo of The Clinic

• Don Bosco School official website Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine
• DBS past pupils' nook
• DBS at DepEd.gov.ph