St Catherine's School was founded in 1908 by the
Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena,
Newcastle,
Natal in order to meet the increasing demand for education in the then 22-year-old mining town of
Germiston (a product of the
Witwatersrand Gold Rush of 1886). The original school building was located on Hardach Street in central Germiston, and was built on land bought from the
Simmer and Jack gold mining company. It was the first convent on the
East Rand and the first high school in Germiston. By the 1940s, the school's environs in the Germiston
CBD were undergoing rapid
industrialisation, concurrent with a general shift from north to south of much of Germiston's population, and in 1948 St Catherine's School relocated to the then newly developed suburb of Parkhill Gardens. Here there was also more space for sporting facilities. Toward the end of 1968 the school decided, in conjunction with its sister school
St Dominic's in
Boksburg, to cater for primary school pupils only: girls up to standard 5 (grade 7) and boys up to standard 1 (grade 3). Additionally, in 1970 the Transvaal Education Department recognised and registered the St Catherine's pre-primary school. The first reported
ghost sighting at St Catherine's occurred on 17 August 1972, when a janitor cleaning the school hall after hours claimed to have been chased into the quad by an amorphous grey apparition or "spook" with "glowing red eyes". From the beginning of 1977, a wave of sightings followed of a "grey, hooded figure swaddled in flowing robes", often accompanied by a "'wailing' sound". The ghost, said to haunt the school hall, the chapel, the basement and a number of classrooms in the eastern wing, was soon dubbed Patrick, after one of the school's
houses, St Patrick's. The wing consists of six classrooms which were built to accommodate pupils in Grades one and two. The wing bears the name of Sister
Aelred O'Donovan who was the last
Newcastle Dominican Sister to hold the post of head of school. In 2022 the school opened and dedicated a STEAM Centre. The facility was blessed by the
Archbishop of Johannesburg, Buti Tlhagale, and unveiled by Sister Stephany Thiel, the regional prioress. The STEAM Centre consists of an art studio and exhibition area, two laboratories, a computer centre and a robotics and coding venue. The Rose Niland Bell Tower, which forms an integral part of the centre, was erected to honour the school's founder, Mother Rose Niland. At the end of 2025, Mr. Maritz retired after nine years of service to the school.
Heritage status The
Johannesburg Heritage Foundation has recognised the historical and architectural significance of the St Catherine's School buildings, conferring a
blue plaque on the school in 2021. ==Academics==