History of the school
1880
The sisters of Saint Joseph of Bruges start a sister school of H. Anna in Mesen (as a reaction against the then liberal government).
1904
The Brothers of Dale (now the diocese) start a Catholic boys’ school in the Rijselstraat (now school hall / parish hall and the other part of our school) in reaction against the liberal municipal school.
1914
The brothers flee from the First World War.
After W.O. I
The sisters will settle in the Oude Kerkhofstraat, the rear part of our school. The front part is now private property.
1930
The brothers restart the boys ‘school.
1957
The sister of Sint-Vincentius à Paulo van Nieuwkereke took over everything from the sisters of Sint-Jozef.
1965
The brothers and sisters leave Mesen for good.
The two free schools merge to form the current free mixed primary school.
1985
The municipal school disappears from Messines. This also removes the only competitor.
1 september 2000
The school year starts with a new management
1 februari 2001
On this counting day, the school reached a record number of students of 216 enrolled.
End of the 2000-2001 school year
The number of pupils is still increasing, the school now has 225 enrolled pupils.
1 februari 2002
The school has 200 students.
School year 2003-2004
Our school is part of the “Heuvelland – Mesen” comprehensive school, together with the free primary schools of Nieuwkerke, Loker – De Klijte – Kemmel, Wijtschate and Westouter.
2006
We feel obliged to create a second location. Since the Rijselstraat divides the school into two parts, the Ministry of Education requires us to call the part across the street “Vestiging 2” with the address Rijselstraat 10. The city council had to create this address because the building had no number.
1 januari 2009
The school has all of the house with house number 23. Previously, a part adjacent to the dining room was already used as a teachers’ room and office management.
1 september 2010
The school is renamed “De Kleine Ster”
School year 2011-2012
The “Heuvelland – Mesen” comprehensive school is being discontinued due to the fact that the required 900 pupils at the school community level are no longer reached. “De Kleine Ster” now no longer belongs to a comprehensive school.
30 june 2016
Our 3 well-known vans have driven their last school transport (which had a long tradition).
april 2020 - may 2021
The sanitary buildings in both locations will be completely renovated. The nursery toilets are realized in or next to the classes and there is also a new nursery playground. The new main entrance with adapted management office completes these renovation works.