St. John's High School, Bangalore


St John's High School is a school in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. It is one of the oldest schools in the city.
St John's High School was founded in 1854
The school was built to serve the interests of the Anglo-Indian Community and the children of military personnel and government pensioners. Rev. R. Posnett, an Anglican clergyman, was sent to look after the spiritual interests of the Europeans and the Anglo Indians in the Cantonment area. In 1853 he constructed a small room on the Mootycherry Ridge, which later came to be known as St. John's Hill. This room served as a chapel-cum-schoolroom. In the morning it was used as a school for children; in the afternoon as a library and a reading room and on Sundays for public worship.
A new school building was opened in 1854. St. John's School and St. John's Church have thus been linked together from their inception.
The school operated as a middle school until 1961. At that stage after completing the middle school examination of the erstwhile Mysore State, children transferred to other schools for their last two years.
In 1962 the institution was upgraded to a high school and joined the select band of schools taking the Anglo–Indian School Certificate. The first candidates were presented for that examination in 1970.
When the CSI came into being in 1947 the school and church came under the jurisdiction of the erstwhile Mysore Diocese and the property was transferred to the CSITA.
Until December 1962, the school was managed by the Pastorate Committee of St. John's Church but, from January 1963, it functioned under a constitution framed by the Pastorate Committee. In 1999, it was transferred to the management of the diocese and the new constitution came into effect from 1 May 2000. From June 2000, ISC was introduced.
In May 2003, St. John's High School entered its 150th year and celebrated the event with a three-day carnival, ‘Vintage 150' to support the 150th year projects of the school.
A round-up of special events marked the mood of celebration: ‘Tales and Tunes', the Junior School Concert, St. John's Inter-School Athletic Meet, ‘Theatrix 2003', an Inter School Dramatics Competition, ‘Navrasa', a Cultural Night featuring a blend of folk and tribal dances of India, and a one-day Cardiac Screening Camp for staff and parents.
2004 witnessed a gala get together of old students with the sesquicentennial crowning of Mr. & Ms. John. 'Robinhood and Friends', a musical and the Grand Musical night with Usha Uthap and Enoch marked the final of the 150th year celebration in 2005.
To commemorate 150 years of education at the school two projects began. The first project is the construction of a library. The second is the introduction of a National Open School for the drop out children of the community and also starting "Improvement Classes" for the benefit of slow learners in the school.
The school is managed by a duly constituted Board of Management. The Chairman of the Board is the Bishop of the Karnataka Central Diocese of the Church of South India. The Members of the Board are drawn from the fields of finance, education, administration, social services etc.
The school's motto is "Nil Desperandum, Semper Fidendum" which is Latin for "Never despair, always have faith".
St John's was a co-educational Middle School till 1962 - being a feeder school to Bishop Cottons Boys/ Girls School. As a High School it limped along until Dec 1965 when the 3rd batch of high school students took the AISSC exams. When the results were announced, a student obtained the First Rank in Karnataka ahead of the best students from the other English medium schools: Bishop Cottons, Baldwins, Clarence, St. Germain, Francis Xavier, and his photograph came out in the Bangalore Deccan Herald news paper. He was also awarded the National Merit Scholarship by the government of India the following year.

Vintage gallery

A series of photos from the Fred Goodwill collection, taken from the spire of St. John's Church, in around 1911, can be seen at the links below: