Sophia High School

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

History

Sophia High School is located on 10 acres (40,000 m²) in central Bangalore overlooking the Vidhan Soudha and the 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 taken over by a group of Catholic nuns 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 thriving local schools, including Sophia High School, to other Catholic groups, to focus more 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, hail from many different ethnicities. The founding "white bunglow" still stands on campus and was remodeled in 1998.

Academics

Sophia's 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. It is also one of the hardest schools to gain admission to, with lines snaking outside the gates of the school during sales of admission forms.

The majority of graduates attend colleges and universities in India and around the world, such as the IITs, NID, BITS Pilani, Delhi School of Economics, St. Stephen's College, the St Xavier's Colleges in Bombay and Calcutta, Lady Shri Ram College, the Ivy League universities and Georgia Institute of Technology, and MIT in the USA.

Sophia has Bangalore's best girls' basketball team. It also has what is widely considered to be the best Throwball team in Bangalore, and are the defending champions in five tournaments.

Sophia has held concerts over the years, to raise funds for good causes. A production of The King And I was held in Chowdiah Memorial Hall in 2002. They did a rendition of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, in 2006, which was held to raise funds for the construction of the Auditorium block of the school. It was held at the Bishop Cottons Boys High School Auditorium. In 2010, the school did a musical version of the Disney movie, Mulan. It was the first concert to be held in the school's own auditorium and was held to raise money for the construction of a school in rural Karanataka. A concert titled 'The Alternative Snow White, using a script by David Barnett' will be held in August 2013 to help fund the reconstruction of the Mater building.

The house system

Apart from academics, students are encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities. Activities and competitions within the school are conducted in Houses. These houses are named after the founder members of the school, with the Julie House being changed from the Duschene House after the Notre Dame Sisters took over from the Sacred Heart sisters.

• Andersson - Gold House
• Barat - Red House
• Bennett - Lavender/Purple House
• Julie - Green House

The students try to live up to the mottos and ideals of their respective house..

School motto and song

The school follows the motto of 'Truth And Universal Love', which they expect all their students to strive to achieve. The school song was written by one of the founder members of the school, Mother Anderson.

Notable alumni

National figures

• Ravina Raj Kohli, CEO, Channel 9

Athletes

• Shikha Tandon, swimmer
• Nisha Millet, swimmer
• Nisha Ann Reginald, National basketball player
• Nidhi Dev, equestrian

Models and Actors

• Deepika Padukone
• Sharmila Mandre
• Bina Rajagopal (Chaithali - Kannada)
• Nicole Faria

Dancers

• Surupa Sen, Nrityagram

Activists

• Vidya Pai, animal welfare, LGBT rights.
• Anjali Padmarajan, lawyer.
• Dr. Shiela Rao, Founder, CUPA, animal welfare
• Sudha S Narayanan, CUPA, animal welfare
• Chitra Narayanan, CUPA, animal welfare
• Nandini Alva, Art
• Namita Kulkarni, Art

The Sophia Opportunity School

Sophia's Opportunity School branch educates specially abled children. This branch also undertakes social action out reach 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.

Buildings

There are five main buildings; Cuvilly(middle school), Mater(eighth standard),Duschene(high school), Julie(pre-primary), Barat(primary) and the ISC block(+2). The Cuvilly building houses an auditorium.

Principals

• Sister Mary Priscilla (current),
• Sister Mary Rosilin,(Primary)
• Sister Mary Prabha,(Opportunity)

(Recent)

• Sister Mary Sandhya,
• Sister Mary Aneeta, (Primary)

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. The school supports organisations like HelpAge 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.

See also

• List of schools in Bangalore

References

• School history