Sophia High School
Location
70 Palace Road
Bangalore
Karnataka 560 001
India
Information
TypePrivate
MottoTruth and Universal Love
Established1949 (1949)
Number of students2,900+
Color(s)Beige and brown
AffiliationSchool Sisters of Notre Dame
Information080-22355565
Websitewww.sophiahighschool.org

Sophia High School is a private school in Bangalore, India. The middle and high schools are girls only, while the primary school is co-education.

History

Sophia High School is located on a 10 acres (40,000 m2) land in central Bangalore overlooking the Vidhan Soudha and Bangalore golf course.

In August 1948, when the Internuncio and the Apostolic Delegation shifted to New Delhi, his residence and grounds in the heart of Bangalore was then taken over by a group of Catholic sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart, RSCJ. In January 1949, three pioneers of the order, Mother Catherine Andersson, Mother Ivy Bourke and Sister Dorothy Bullen opened a school called the "Convent of the Sacred Heart" in the only residential building on the grounds, the old "white bungalow". A Montessori class with 17 students and one qualified teacher was established. About 40% of the students admitted were not Indian nationals. In 1957 the school's name was changed to "Sophia High School" after St Madeline Sophie Barat, a founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart.

In 1972 the Society of the Sacred Heart reviewed their strategy in India, and handed off several local schools, including Sophia High School, to other Catholic groups, in order to focus on schools that needed funding and attention, especially in India's rural areas. Sophia High School was taken over by the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

Since then the school has grown significantly. The school's current enrollment is over 2,000 students. The school is not a religious organization and its students, who are chosen through a competitive interview process, are from many different ethnicities. The founding "white bungalow" still stands on campus and was remodeled in 1998.

The Times of India has called it one of Bangalore's "legendary" schools with "a historic past", and one of the city's "top schools" which, before the 1990s, "had identities that went beyond their names".[1] [2]

Academics

Sophia High School prepares students for the 10th grade national ICSE examinations. The school also prepares students for the 12th grade national ISC examination conducted by the Council for ISC Examination, New Delhi. The medium of instruction is English.

The ICSE (Class 10) program in the school offers subjects including English, science (physics, chemistry and biology), mathematics, Hindi, Kannada, French, history and civics, geography environmental studies and economic applications, computer applications, physical education and art as an elective.

The ISC (Class 12) program in the school offers three streams, namely science, commerce and humanities. In the science stream, the students must take English, physics and mathematics and can choose 2 other subjects from psychology, chemistry, economics, biology, computer science and elective English. In the commerce stream, the students must take English, commerce and accounts and can choose 2 other subjects from psychology, economics, computer science and elective English. In the humanities stream, the students must take English, political science and history and can choose 2 other subjects from psychology, economics, computer science and elective English.

Individual girls from the school performed in the top few students in Bangalore in ICSE and ISC examinations in 2018 and 2019.[3][4]

The Sophia Opportunity School

Sophia's Opportunity School branch educates disabled children. This branch also undertakes social action outreach programs, such as work with a street children's home in Chamrajpet, interaction with the women inmates of Bangalore's Central Jail, a day in rural schools in the Bangalore metro and visits to aged and orphan homes in the area.

This part of the school was originally founded in 1972 for children with learning disabilities.[5][6][7] Where possible, children attending the Opportunity School are mainstreamed back into the main school.[7][8]

Buildings

There are five main buildings; Julie (pre-primary), Barat (primary), Cuvilly (middle school), Mater (seventh and eighth standard), Duchesne (high school) and the ISC block (+2). The Cuvilly building houses an auditorium. There is also a separate building for specially abled children, which is referred to as the Leans section.

Principals

Current principals:

  • Sister Mary Alpana (from 2014),
  • Sister Vishala (Primary)
  • Sister Madhuja (Opportunity)

Former principals:

  • Sister Mary Priscilla (from 2010)
  • Sister Mary Aneeta (Primary)
  • Sister Rosilin

Concerts

The school has held concerts to raise funds for the school or for charity.

The house system

Activities and competitions within the school are conducted in Houses. These are named after the founder members of the school, with Julie House changed from Deschene House after the Notre Dame Sisters took over from the Sacred Heart sisters.

  • Andersson - Golden House
  • Barat - Red House
  • Bennett - Lavender House
  • Julie - Green House

The Sophia High School Brass Band

The Sophia High School Brass Band includes 100-150 students from grade 5 to grade 12. The Brass Ensemble represents the School in various inter-school competitions.

Charity work

The school helps teach the residents of the Angel orphanage, with students of the +2 section volunteering to help teach them after the normal working school hours.[10] The school supports organizations like Help Age India, Global Cancer Concern India, and the Smile foundation. The school concert, a production of Mulan, was held to raise money to build a school in a rural area of Andhra Pradesh.

Notable alumni

Athletes

Models and actors

See also

References

  1. ↑ Vittal, Santrupti Rajankar (28 July 2009). "Old world co-exists with the new". Times of India. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  2. ↑ Hegde, Prajwal (26 July 2009). "School identities take back seat". Times of India. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  3. ↑ Kurien, Diya (15 May 2018). "Bengaluru girls share all-India third rank in ISC exams". Times of India. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  4. ↑ Bhatia, Ishita (8 May 2019). "Girls take lead in Meerut dist, bag top spots in ISC, ICSE". Times of India. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  5. ↑ Anjana Chattopadhyay (1986). All-India Directory of Educational and Vocational Training Institutes for the Handicapped. Patriot Publishers. p. 284. ISBN 978-81-7050-029-2. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  6. ↑ Freda Marie (Houlston) Bedi (1982). Social Welfare. Publications Division. p. 20. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Tailormade for special children". The Deccan Herald. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  8. ↑ Education World: The Human Development Magazine. D. Thakore. 2002. p. 40. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  9. ↑ Madhusoodan, MK (13 August 2013). "Musical extrtavaganza by school kids". Times of India. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  10. ↑ Rajankar, Santrupti (11 February 2013). "Charity begins at school and tuck shops". Times of India. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  11. ↑ Brijnath, Rohit (30 November 1996). "Indian sportspersons have a hard road to glory". India Today. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  12. ↑ "Just How educated are our Bollywood heroines?: Deepika Padukone". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  13. ↑ "Who is Nicole Faria?". bangaloremirror.com. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  14. ↑ Gupta, Namita (14 September 2016). "Universally 'Diva'licious". The Asian Age. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  15. ↑ "Mungaru Male-2 girl strives and awaits the big break now". Mangalore Today. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  16. ↑ Shenoy, Megha (16 April 2012). ""I want to work with Puneeth Rajkumar"". Deccan H3rald. Retrieved 20 April 2021.

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