Address
Address : 19 Market Street, Kolkata 700087
Contact : 2264 2667 / 2265 1530
Email : saschooloffice@gmail.com

As on year
2020

St Joseph’s Nursery and KG School, is a catholic institution established and administered by the Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta. The institution was established in 1987 under the right and powers granted to religious and linguistic minorities by the Constitution of India (Act 29 and 30). The Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta is the Founder Body of this institution.

Type of school
Day school

Status
For boys only

Medium of instruction
English

Academic year
January to December

Admission formalities
• First preference is given to the students of St Joseph’s Nursery & KG School for admission into St Anthony’s Primary School, 19 Market Street, Kolkata 700 087, provided the date, time, rules and procedures given for admission is maintained.

• Child’s exact date of birth must be supported by authentic documents. Catholic children are required to produce their Baptism Certificate also.

Fees
School fees cover 12 calendar months. No deduction is made for holidays or broken periods. School reserves the right to increase the fees at any time of the year if an increment is considered necessary. Every year 10-15% tuition fees will be raised to meet the yearly increment of the salaries and allowances.

Private tuitions
The school forbids all private tuitions. A pupil should be able to progress as a result of good teaching in school.

Co-curricular activities
• Choral Singing
• Handicrafts

History of Chapel and the School
The present St Joseph’s Chapel and St Anthony’s School at 19 Market Street, Calcutta, date back to the 1860s. Evangelization was not an issue for the British East India Company, as its Board of Directors believed that the spread of Christianity would hurt the feelings of the natives. But the revolt of 1857 convinced the British of the need to evangelize the natives for political advantage. Catholics in Calcutta used this opportunity to organise themselves and form communities. St Joseph’s Chapel is the outcome of this period and situation.

Conception
During 1830, ten thousand Tamilians had come to Calcutta in search of better jobs. Fr Josson (Historical record of the Belgian Jesuit Missionaries) puts around 900 of them to be Catholics. They approached the priests at times of sickness and for burials. They would often gather to learn about Christianity. Fr H Everard sj one of the Professors at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, attended to their needs.

Chapel
Realising the need for a chapel and a school for this community, in about 1863, Fr Everard sj started to collect funds. With Rs 3536/- collected, he bought a plot of land from Mr Freytas and built the chapel. On March 19, 1865, on the feast of St Joseph, the chapel was blessed by the Vicar Apostolic of Calcutta, Msgr Auguste Van Heule. In a small school attached to the chapel children were taught reading and writing. On Sundays religious instruction was given.

Indians neglected
At the dawn of the 20 th century a need was felt for schools where native Indians could be educated. Since St Xavier’s and St Joseph’s Calcutta, North Point Darjeeling etc catered to Anglo-Indian boys admission for Indians in the then existing schools was not easy. Thus Fr Camille Limbourg sj who took charge of St Joseph’s chapel in 1907, paid more attention to the small primary school attached to the chapel.

School for the poor
Fr Limbourg, with the assistance of his superiors, started a secondary school on January 16, 1916, with just 18 students. During those fateful days of the First World War, he started this school for the Indian Catholic boys in Calcutta without much capital. In 1917 a boarding was opened. In 1918 the school had 160 students and 9 teachers. In 1918 the old structures were demolished and a new school building was built. The credit goes to Fr Limbourg, who successfully completed the three floors of the school building in 1920, in central Calcutta, for the benefit of the boys in and around Calcutta. From 1919 onwards the school has been sending candidates annually for the Matric examinations. In 1937 Fr George Boswell completed the annexe on the north side of the school started by Fr H William.

Ex-student honoured
October 27, 1934 was a memorable day in the annals of St Anthony’s High School when an ex-student, John D’Souza was ordained priest by Archbishop of Calcutta Ferdinand Perier sj. He was immediately appointed as the Prefect of Discipline and Priest-in-charge of the boarding attached to the school which had about 90 boys. In 1937 the boarding section was merged with St Lawrence High School, Ballygunge in South Kolkata. Fr George Boswell, the then Principal, however kept a couple of rooms well furnished for boys showing signs of vocation to the priesthood. Bishop Eric Benjamin of Darjeeling, Frs Frederick D’Souza and Amalanathan Samuel are a few who benefitted a lot from the foresight of Fr Boswell. In 1940 Frs Joachim D’Souza and Bonaventure D’Souza were appointed Principal and Prefect of Studies respectively on the retirement of Fr Boswell. Due to ill health Fr Joachim D’Souza died in 1942.

A school for 10 boys
Fr John D’Souza, the then Prefect of Discipline, was appointed on April 20, 1942, as Principal of the school and Rector of St Joseph’s chapel. The difficult days of the Second World War and the bombing raids forced the students to forego classes. The school then had just 10 boys left on the rolls. After the transfer of Frs Bonaventure D’Souza, William Gomes and Frederick D’Souza, Frs Samuel and Leander D’Costa helped the Principal to bring back the former glory of the school.

Scout Troop
The Scout Troop of the school took part in various functions in Kolkata and was appreciated by all. A school orchestra under the direction of Mr Damien Fernandes made a name for itself in and out of the school.

Sodality
The Sodality at the school owes its existence to the untiring and efficient work of Fr Leander D’Costa. From 1960 the school was upgraded to Higher Secondary with Humanities and Science streams.

A new floor and annexe
Msgr John D’Souza completed the southern annexe of the school. Fr Samuel who succeeded him in 1960 added a 5 th floor to the school building to hold Higher Secondary classes. Fr Samuel was succeeded by Fr Alan de’Lastic (late Archbishop of Delhi) who had indeed been a friend to the teachers and a father to the students. Fr Stephen Fernandes succeeded him. His expertise in administration enabled the school to achieve academic excellence. Fr I V Alvares who succeeded Fr Fernandes, handled efficiently the students’ unrest that was then prevalent in the academic world of West Bengal. After him Frs Moses Rozario, Arthur Lobo, William Barretto, Reginald Fernandes, Peter Arulraj, Robert D’Souza, Sebastian Rodrigues, Felix Sanctis, P Mark and Peter Anthony served the school as Headmasters. Their efficient administration helped the school become what it is today. In addition Frs Dennis Gomes, William Gomes, Raphael Desa, Owen D’Souza, Arthur Lobo, Walter Monteiro, Reginald Fernandes, Robert D’Souza, Peter Arulraj, Sebastian Rodrigues, Soosai Manickam, Joseph D’Silva, Hansel D’Souza and Anthony Patrick Paul served the chapel as Rectors and catered to the spiritual needs of the devotees.

Glory of ex-students
The school was privileged to see its own ex-students Msgr John D’Souza and Fr Samuel serve the school as Principals. The old folks of St Joseph’s chapel are today pleased to see that some of the former altar boys have become Bishops (Archbishop Henry D’Souza of Calcutta and late Bishop Eric Benjamin of Darjeeling) and priests (Frs J Lazarus sj, A Samuel, John D’Souza, Thomas Gomes,Deepak Gomes, Francis Sardar, Anil Gomes, Moloy D’Costa and others.