Sophia High School is a private school in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The middle and high schools are girls only, while the primary school is

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

History

Sophia High School is located on a land in central

overlooking the Vidhan Soudha and Bangalore golf course. In August 1948, when the

Internuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international o ...

and the Apostolic Delegation shifted to

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, his residence and grounds in the heart of Bangalore was then taken over by a group of Catholic

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

of the

Society of the Sacred Heart , image = RSCJnuevo.jpg, , image_size = 150px , caption = , abbreviation = Post-nominal letters: RSCJ , formation = , founder = Saint Sr. Madeleine Sophie Barat, R.S.C.J. ...

, 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 The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

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

. In 1972 the

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 ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' 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".

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.

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 Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...

. Where possible, children attending the Opportunity School are mainstreamed back into the main school.

Buildings

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

Principals

Current principals: * Sister Mary Alpana (from 2014), * Sister Anjana (Primary) * Sister Madhuja (Opportunity) Former principals: * Sister Mary Priscilla (from 2010) * Sister Mary Sandhya * Sister Mary Aneeta (Primary) * Sister Roselyn

Concerts

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

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...

'', 2002. * ''

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' (often colloquially known as ''Joseph'') is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Th ...

'', 2006, to raise funds for the construction of the Auditorium block of the school. * Musical version of the Disney movie, ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...

'', 2010, to raise money to build a school in rural Karnataka. * Concert, ''The Alternative Snow White'', 2013 to help fund the reconstruction of the Master building. * Musical based on ''

Hairspray Hairspray may refer to: * Hair spray, a personal grooming product that keeps hair protected from humidity and wind * ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters ** ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundtrack), the film's soundtrack album ** ''Hairspray ...

'', 2017.

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 - Yellow House * Barat - Red House * Bennett - Lavender/Purple House * Julie - Green House

The Sophia High School Brass Band

The Sophia High School Brass Band includes 100-150 students from grade 7 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. 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

* Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Judge, Supreme Court of India * Dr Pratima Murthy, Director, NIMHANS, Bangalore

Athletes

* Nisha Millet,

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

swimmer * Shikha Tandon,

swimmer * Khushi Dinesh, swimmer * Jayawanti Shyam, basketball * Sagarika Dayum, basketball * Varsha Sanjeev, Snooker, billiards

Models and actors

Deepika Padukone Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most po ...

, actor and producer * Kirtana Kumar, actor, director, film-maker and writer *

Vaishali Desai Vaishali Desai is an Indian model and actress. She won the Indian title of Miss International. She debuted in the film ''Kal Kissne Dekha''. Early life Vaishali Desai is a Gujarati. She is the grandniece of filmmaker Manmohan Desai. Vaishali w ...

, model and actor *

Nicole Faria Nicole Estelle Faria (born 9 February 1990) is an Indian actress, model and the winner of the Miss Earth 2010 pageant. She is the brand ambassador for various brands including Clean & Clear, a line of dermatology products owned by Johnson & Joh ...

, actor, model and beauty pageant winner * Roshmitha Harimurthy, model and beauty pageant winner * Sharmiela Mandre, actor and producer *

Neha Shetty Neha Shetty is an Indian actress and model who primarily appears in Telugu films. Shetty made her debut with the Kannada film '' Mungaru Male 2'' in 2016, and went on to star in Telugu films such as ''Mehbooba'', '' Gully Rowdy'' and ''DJ Till ...

, actor * Roopal Tyagi, choreographer and actor

External links

School history

Sophia High School

References

{{coord missing, Karnataka School Sisters of Notre Dame schools Christian schools in Karnataka Girls' schools in Karnataka High schools and secondary schools in Bangalore Private schools in Bangalore Educational institutions established in 1949 1949 establishments in India