Jessie Ripoll Primary School opened its doors on September 24, 1979 in response to the burgeoning student and staff population of Alpha Primary with a total of six hundred students and ten teachers. Of these, four hundred students, eight teachers and Sister Shirley Chung, the then principal of Alpha Primary came from Alpha Primary while the remaining two hundred students and four teachers were taken from Franklin Town Primary School. This newly created school was initially named Alpha Primary 11.
Within the first year of the establishment of the school a joint decision by the School Board and the Administrator requested a change in the name of the school so that it could have its own identity. It was only fitting and appropriate that the name selected was JESSIE RIPOLL PRIMARY SCHOOL in honour of the founder of Alpha, Justina Ripoll familiarly known as “Jessie” Ripoll. Alpha was celebrating its 100th Anniversary on May 1, 1980 and what more fitting tribute could we give to this woman whose vision and deep desire was to reach out to the underprivileged especially the uneducated and the marginalized in our society.