LORETO DAY SCHOOL, DHARAMTALA

Website
Wesbsite : https://www.loretodharamtala.in/

Address
Address : 169, Lenin Sarani, Dharamtala Road, Near Chandni Market, Esplanade, Kolkata
Contact : +913322127560, +913322127923, +913322372499
Email : contact@loretodharamtala.in

Loreto Day School, Dharamtala, today, educates children from all walks of life and all faiths. It is recognized by the Education Department of Government of West Bengal and is under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (Anglo Indian Board of West Bengal). It is affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE).

Aims
• To ensure academic and all round excellence for the students
• To safeguard and protect every child of the school
• To provide value education for all students
• To inculcate appreciation and a desire to work for the underprivileged
• To inculcate a desire to protect the environment
• To inculcate a desire for culture and the country
• To enhance parental activities/support in school activities

Vision
• Kingdom
• Love
• Freedom
• Sincerity
• Justice

Co –Curricular Activities
• Art & craft
• Basket Ball
• Dancing
• Debates
• Elocution
• Guides
• Karate
• Physical Training
• Quizzing
• Singing
• Singing
• Table Tennis

Admission

For nursery
https://www.loretodharamtala.in/Nursery_Admission2021_22.aspx

Fees
Fees can be paid online and in cash/cheque only at HDFC Bank branches in Kolkata.
No deduction is made for the absence of children during holidays or for broken periods.
Fees can be paid in advance for the year/quarterly/half yearly if convenient.
Metro Concession Forms are available in school office in the first week of January, April, July, October.

Achievements : Events
Wiz Spell Bee competition ranked first on 02 January 2021
Bible Quiz competition ranked first in the Children’s category on 21 February 2021 held at St Teresa’s Church

Mother Teresa Ball
The Irish Branch of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded in 1821 by Mother Teresa Ball, in Dublin, on completion of her religious training at the Bar convent in Dublin, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, York, England. She gave the name Loreto to the first convent of this new branch at Rathfarnham, Dublin, as it was her wish and prayer that the life of the Holy Family might always be an inspiration and an example to the members of the Institute.

Mother Delphine Harte
The first call for the education of girls came from India. Twelve sisters were sent and Mother Delphine Harte who was only 23, was named Superior of the new community. In 1841, the missionaries boarded the ship Scotia and set out for India. Finally, on 30 December 1841, they reached Calcutta and took up residence in Loreto House. A few days later they opened the first Loreto School in India.

History of School
Loreto Day School, Dharamtala, dates back to 1879. However, according to the sources available to us, its roots maybe traced back to 1863, when the Catholic Young Men’s Society (CYMS) set up a Sunday School in the Sacred Heart Church, with fourteen children. From about 1865, the Loreto Sisters of the Institute Of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM) started teaching these children.

On the 21 st of April, 1879, the Loreto Sisters, under the change of Mother Gonzaga Mc Carthy and sister Dympna took over the free school that had been run since 1876, by the CYMS. It was situated on 154 Dharamtala Street. The School had only 25 pupils. The building in which the school was housed, had been taken on rent for a few months. Thereafter, it was shifted to another vacant house at 164 Dharamtala Street in December that year.

Soon the number of pupil increased, and became necessary to find a bigger place. The CYMS collected subscriptions for this. On 01 May 1880, Loreto Dharamtala moved to new premises at 169 Lenin Sarani. The new two storeyed building was purchased at a cost of Rs 22,000. The ground floor accommodated the Free School while the first floor was given to the Pay School. In 1883, owing to the high costs involved in repairing the building, it was pulled down and rebuilt with the help of a government subsidy. The school expanded rapidly. Its strength increased from almost 300 in 1883 to 408 in 1900. 209 of them paid fees.

In 1920, we had as many as 500 pupils. The main building rose to three storeys in 1913. The years 1926 to 1928 saw the erection of the two-storeyed wing to the East and another three-storeyed wing to the West. The verandahs were enclosed to provide more classrooms. In 1929, the school reached an important milestone when it became a Secondary School taking the Senior Cambridge Examination. The building in which the Free School was run, later came to be called the St Francis Building.

And today…
In 2017, the school reached another important milestone. The first ISC was admitted. They appeared for the ISC examination in the year 2019.

The school focuses on an all round development of the students and seeks to foster an atmosphere that is conducive to the intellectual, social, moral and physical development of the child. It gives prime importance to the values of justice, peace, integrity, freedom and love. It seeks to reach out to the marginalized, in order to help them take their place with dignity among others. In keeping with this aim, the students have been involved in a variety of Reach Out Programmes.

Students of the senior section undertake social service projects through the Christian Life Community (CLC), the Leadership Training Service (LTS) and Ecology Club. These projects are usually spear headed by the students under the guidance of their Animators. This helps them to hone their leadership skills. The Principal, the Staff members and all the students are members of the JPIC and are constantly involved in reaching out to the less privileged. They have been contributing food to the Food ATM that has been set up by the Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre. They have also been working with the local KMCP school by volunteering, once a week, to teach the children there. The school also houses a Rainbow Home which is an integral part of the school family.

Ours is a busy commercial area located in the heart of the city of Kolkata. Despite the constant flow of traffic just outside the school, the rallies and processions in the area and the high decibel levels of the local vendors, the school continues to rise against all odds. Students report punctually to school despite the challenges. It is indeed most heartening when past pupils come back and regale us with fond memories of their school life.

The Loreto chorus
1) To East and West of that fair Isle
Where the first Loreto stands,
Loreto’s banner now doth fly in many distant lands.
In sunny Spain, on Afric’s strand under the Southern Cross
And westward ho, where rainbow-hued
Niagara’s waters toll.

Chorus
Loreto’s banner gaily floats in lands both East and West,
Loreto’s name each girl reveres
And holds it ever blest.

2) But first Loreto found a home beneath our Indian skies
Where now o’er plain and mountain peak
The well loved banner flies.
Loreto’s standard bearers we in girlhood’s springtime gay.
O may we e’er be loyal and true
To the school friends of today.

3) And when our school days ended
And our varied paths divide
O may the ideals of our youth
Still ever be our guide;
High ideals of purity, of duty and of truth
Learnt while we bore Loreto’s flag in the sunny days of youth.