Loyola High School (Goa)

Loyola High School
Location
Margao, Goa
India
Information
Type Semi-government school
Patron saint(s) St. Ignatius Of Loyola
Established July 13, 1899
Principal Fr.Pedro Fernandes
Sports Football, Basketball, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Cricket, handball
Website http://www.loyolamargao.org

Loyola High School is a Jesuit institution for boys, in the heart of Margao, in the South Goa district of Goa, India. Its students take the Secondary School Certificate Examinations.

Staff and Enrolment

It has nearly 150+ teachers and around 20 other staff. There are approximately 1500 students. The school has classes between 1st and 4th standards(primary) and 5th and 10th standards(secondary). All classes have four divisions, named A, B, C and D, without the concept of performance-based categorization.

Admissions to the school is made on a competitive basis. A calligraphic 'L' on the shirt pocket, on the left, on the heart, on a sky blue shirt and navy blue pants, identifies a Loyolite. Loyola High School Emblem

Culture

Three times a week an assembly is held in the open quadrangle, organized by students of each class. The topics for these assemblies range from the importance of moral values to current affairs to scientific discoveries, with the students given freedom to choose the topics. Every first Friday there is a short mass(eucharistic celebration) held in the school hall for students, teachers and the non-teaching staff.

Organizational structure

The Jesuit school hierarchy includes a principal, a vice-principal, helped by a few other helper fathers and brothers, on a shifting basis. Each class has a class teacher, who calls out attendance and handles other administrative tasks.

Among students, there are 4 houses, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. Students are randomly allotted a house on their first day of attendance. The calligraphic 'L' on their shirts are in the colour of the students' house.

Elections are held to select the Student's Council. The council is headed by the Head Boy, with other members being the Deputy-Head Boy and Captains and Vice-Captains of each house. The primary section has its own house captains and vice-captains, although the Head-Boy a Deputy-Head Boy are common to both sections.

Building Architecture and Facilities

The building has three floors above the quadrangle, with the section below devoted to the primary section. Each standard has four divisions, located adjacent to each other. There is a large hall, a staff room, a gymnasium, three laboratories and the largest school library in Goa; all surrounding the quadrangle, overlooked by the statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Patron Saint.

The basketball court plays host to inter-school level, taluka-level, zonal level and state-level games. The soccer field is situated outside the main campus, known as the Loyola grounds. There are renovation works on the old Loyola Ground to build a football (soccer) stadium.

The main school building was formerly shaped as an L, with the longer arm containing the main school and the shorter arm containing the boarding, resident priests accommodation on the upper floors, the Chapel of St. Ignatius and the administrative offices on the upper ground floor, from which there is a bridge leading to the quadrangle, with the primary section on the lower ground floor.

The school building resembles a G, with the new sections housing an hall, library, staff room, gymnasium, laboratories, toilet complex, computer room and class rooms.

The quadrangle, which is used for morning student and staff assemblies, flag hoisting, student concerts and school fetes is surrounded with colourful flowering creepers growing on the walls of the school building. The quadrangle is home for South Goa's most attended English services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, Christmas and New Years; where scores of people attend and take part in services accompanied by school choirs.

In 1993, Loyola High School became the first public school in South-West India to replace black boards with green-boards.

History

It was founded as Union High School in Salcette, Goa on July 13, 1899, by the late Roque Santana Gracias. The Archdiocese of Goa took it over in 1932 and renamed it St Theotonius Union High School. It has been run by the Goa Jesuits since 1944. It was renamed Loyola High School after the Founder of the Jesuits, St.Ignatius of Loyola.

LESA(Loyola Ex-Students' Association) is the alumni association of the school. There is a forum for parents to voice their opinions on the running of the school called the PTA (Parents' Teachers' Association)

The forerunner to the LESA was the LOBA (Loyola Old Boys Association). Being an all-boy school, traditionally Loyola teachers refer to students as 'boys', and ex-students as 'old boys'.

The premier nationwide school football tournament, the Annual Subruto Cup is a tournament where Loyola High School has achieved success.It also represented Goa at Bournvita quiz contest for the first time.

External links

Coordinates: 15°16′26″N 73°57′21″E / 15.27389°N 73.95583°E