OUR HISTORY
This
school was founded in 1877 for the children of the Railway
Colony and now also serves the Raniganj coal belt and
the industrial area of
Kulti as
well as Asansol town.
The first
five Sisters came with Mother Delphine Hart in response to
a request from the parish priest,Fr.Jaques S.J. They began
the school with 35 pupils in a small bungalow near the
presbytery. Boys and girls were admitted at first. Later
the present property was acquired and in 1885 a boarding
school for girls only was started in a three storeyed
building facing the railway tank. The top floor was
damaged by an earthquake in 1897 and had to be demolished
leaving the present two
storeys. Between 1909 and 1928 other wings were added for
classrooms and dormitories. The students were prepared for
the Junior and Senior Cambridge examinations.
In 1942
the school building was requisitioned by the military
for a hospital
and the 12 Sisters and 75 boarders went to live in
rented houses in Simla till 1946.
In 1953
the Modern School Final exam replaced the Junior Cambridge
and the first batch of students were sent up for the
Pitmans Commercial exam.There were now 221 girls and 90
primary school boys in the school.
In 1962
the foundations were laid for another school building –
the present secondary school wing and in 1977 the new
Primary wing ,Mary Ward building, was begun.
From 1963
boys were no longer admitted.
In 1971
Mother Magdalena opened a small dispensary in the
presbytery premises and it flourished with a daily
attendance of at least 100 poor people
till she was no longer able to work in
1984.
In 1974
the new ICSE pattern was introduced and in 1983 the
beginning of the academic
year was changed from
January to March. The Class 11 (ISC) was introduced
but had to be discontinued in 1985 due to
insufficient pupils for the Arts course offered.
In 1991
the hostel was closed.
A
parallel school for under-privileged children was begun in
1992,Ankur Vidyalaya and in 1994 knitting and tailoring
classes were also started.
In 2001
the former dormitory became a temporary home for 23
Santhal girls who were school dropouts and were prepared
for a year to join regular classes again.
2001-2002
saw a
year-long celebration of 125 years of the school’s
existence
PAST PRINCIPALS
(Earlier
records are not available )
1932
Sr.Helena Considine
1938
Sr.Clare Magdalene Smith
1945
Sr.Concepta McCaul
1949
Sr.Monica D’Costa
1955
Sr.Margaret Murphy
1961
Sr.Jude Hales
1967
Sr.Attracta Dooley
1968
Sr.Kevin Parton
1975
Sr.Bernadine Renwick
1978
Sr.Mary Ross
1984
Sr.Joan Smyth
1990
Sr.Evelyn O’Connor
1991
Sr.Cecily Wong
1998
Sr.Sunanda Vase
1999
Sr.Tressia Aricatt
2004 Sr.Phyllis Morris
