banban coolidge centre school

BCCS Day

Seventy nine (79) years ago on October 26, 1942 the SS Coolidge struck two mines as it was entering the Segond Canal on Espiritu Santo, in the then, New Hebrides. The boat captain, Henry Nelson, and his navigators were not duly advised on the position of mines put in place to protect the harbor from enemy combatants. Consequently, it struck two mines. Fearing the boat would sink, the boat captain ran it aground near the Million Dollar Point. This is where the school name "Banban Coolidge Centre School" comes from.

US Army captain, Elwood J. Euart, of the 43rd Infantry Division safely disembarked. On learning that others were trapped in the fire-room, he and others took action to rescue them. While he was able to save the trapped sailors, he could not get out in time before the ship slipped into the deeper water where it rested to this day. Captain Euart's action of self-sacrifice and his concern for others is what the Banban Coolidge Centre School (BCCS) community wishes to uphold as its highest ethical standard in the new school motto and ICT initiative "No child left behind."

The BCCS was originally established to support the education of the children of the community and those who worked at the then Santo Veneer and Timber (SVT) mill. It started off simply as a kindergarten school, and recently morphed into the center school that it is today catering for classes ranging from ECCE all the way through to Year 8. Our current enrollment is 854 students with a total of 30 teachers and 3 ancillary staff.

Today, the 26th of October 2021, marks the 79th anniversary of the sinking of the Coolidge and exceptional heroism and self-sacrifice of those who had the highest moral and ethical standards to show their concern and love for others who are in need even under fatally dangerous conditions.

We owe our freedom and our existence as a school, and as a nation, to these great heroes. May we continue to honor them in our thoughts and actions. May this spirit of love and self-sacrifice manifests itself in the heart and soul of all the BCCS stakeholders, but especially so, by its staff and students.