A Brief History of St Joseph's: To determine the exact date on which St. Joseph's commenced functioning as a school is no easy task. One's view of what is actually meant with "school" will determine which date or event one should regard as the official commence­ment or birth of the school. What we do know, is that Fr. Lipp and later an Oblate - sister, Sr. Amata had started off in Rehoboth with religious instruction and preparation of the children for First Holy Communion. It was however only with the arrival of Sr. Hedwig MSC in 1927 that a start was made with formal teaching in the traditional 3 R's (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic). No matter what we know for a fact that the first children started to receive instruction in 1927 at the Roman Catholic Mission station at Rehoboth. We prefer not to venture outside the scope of this historical outline and will therefore refrain from expressing an opinion with regard to the content of the school curriculum at that time. The first Catholic Mission school established in 1927 heralded a new era in education for Rehoboth at large and the Roman Catholic Church in particular.
The first real classroom was built in 1931 by Nico Polster, his sons and Br. Max from Tses. Two bedrooms, one for the girls and the other for the sister were therewith constructed.
The first school bazaar was held in 1936 with a view to raise funds for the school. In the same year Sr. Mara joined the teaching staff. One has to admit that the MSC sisters played an invaluable roll in the education of the local catholic congregation as well as that of the community of Rehoboth at large. Yet another classroom was added to the existing classrooms in 1936. The Klipkraal was transformed into a sickbay.
In 1942 another milestone was reached in the history of St. Joseph's. Erich Henckert and Petrus Mentor were the first two learners of St. Joseph's to leave for Parow in South Africa to qualify themselves as teachers. After completion of his training Erich Henckert started his teaching career at his Alma Mater. At that time the learner roll had risen to 100. There was however a dire need for classroom accommodation. Fr. Baumgartner again failed to acquire more land for additional classrooms.
After several negotiations permission was granted to buy land for the erection of new classrooms. A new school building consisting of four classrooms was erected. It was inaugurated on 19 March 1950. His excellency, Right Reverend Bishop Esser and Mr. Greeff, the then Director of Education could unfortunately not attend the proceedings owing to impassable roads caused by thunderstorms.
A new school building, consisting of 10 classrooms and an adjacent hall were taken possession of in 1966. It was only on 8 May 1967 that the official inauguration took place. His Excellency, Bishop Schlotterback and the Chief Inspector, Mr. P. Genis officiated at the solemn ceremony. On 8 May 1967 the school took part in the Sam Khubis memorial ceremonies. Since then Sam Khubis Day has been commemorated every year. During May of that same year athletics meetings took place in Windhoek and shortly thereafter at Rehoboth. The trophy for best performance went to the Rehoboth team, while Eric Henckert alias "Ou Griek" received atrophy for the best achievement.
In 1968 quite a sizeable lawn was laid out in the courtyard of the new school building. Sand for this purpose was conveyed from the Oanob River. The learners themselves were largely responsible for the planting of the lawn. In addition four palm trees were planted in the middle of the lawn. After 29 years the trees still adorn the school ground.
In 1974 the school reached the 500 mark. 17 teachers of whom 9 were former learners of St. Joseph's made up the staff. Construction work on the second storey of the school build­ing began under the supervision of the late Mr. Siegfried Beukes who was also foreman at the construction site of the church build­ing. One can rightly say that Fr. Konigseder was the driving force behind the construc­tion of the second storey.
The first "Special Education Class" in Rehoboth was launched at St. Joseph's under the guidance of a certain professor Steenkamp. Mrs. A. C. Adams was the first teacher to start this class with 15 learners at the beginning of the 3`d quarter in 1975. It was with great effort and endurance that she managed the class for 21 years in succession.
The school celebrated its golden jubilee in 1977. Those present at the festivities were carried off by the school as well as the church choir under the baton of Mr. C. P Londt. The Saint Messengers conducted by Mr. K. Persendt brought the parents and other guests who attended the proceedings to tears. The learners contributed to a great extent in turning the occasion into a memorable day.
1977 saw the arrival of the first group of Angolan refugee children. They came to St. Joseph's to be taught mainly Afrikaans seeing that the latter was in common use and also the official language of the time. In subsequent years more of them would enroll at St. Joseph's. It was amazing to see how rapidly they progressed especially taking into account that Afrikaans as well as English were totally foreign to them. The present Principal is Mr. Theo Jankowski who was appointed Headmaster in 1996.
St Joseph's school is now over 77 years old; having celebrated 75 years in 2002.

St Joseph's also has a Student Hostel for those students who cannot commute. There are now 95 children residing in the hostel.