Damien Memorial School, an all-boys school for nearly 50 years, will begin accepting girls beginning next fall, the school announced today.

“In order to expand our reach and offer this quality education to an even greater part of our Damien Ohana, we are proud to announce that Damien Memorial School will be accepting our first female students to the campus in the fall of 2012, starting with grades 6 to 9,” President Bernard Ho announced in a video on the school’s website.

The Class of 2016 will be the school’s first graduating class with girls.

The school, on Houghtailing Street in Kalihi, has 374 students in grades six through 12.

“This coeducational expansion of the student population allows us to offer our values-based academic opportunities to our daughters and sisters in Christ, something we have been asked about and have been considering for some time,” Ho said in the school’s video message.