St. Paul’s School
Sunday, April 27th, 2008 |
|
St. Paul’s School |
Darjeeling, West Bengal - 734 103
Phone : 0354 - 252334
Email : info@spsdarjeeling.com , paulitedarj@sify.com
Website: www.spsdarjeeling.com
Mission Statement
The fundamental aim is to produce quality; to teach boys to distinguish between the important and the trivial; to have high aims. The purpose of education, therefore is to teach a boy to see his duty towards his fellow men, to his country and to God; to infuse him with the desire and the energy to fulfill his duty with all his powers; to be acutely conscious of the demands mankind is forever making on him; and to be less and less conscious of what he loves to regard as his own rights, to cultivate excellence and to place this excellence at the service of the community and the nation. These are the higher aims. This is the ideal and this is the motto of St. Paul’s.
Background
St. Paul’s traces its origin to a Kolkata school from 1823. In 1864, the school was transferred to Darjeeling. The means of reaching Darjeeling in those days were very rugged. The site chosen was the hill called Jalapahar. At an altitude of nearly 7,500 feet above sea level. St. Paul’s became a public school at the highest altitude in the world. St. Paul’s has had many men of outstanding influence on its Board of Governors and amongst its Rectors and Masters. Bishop Foss Westcott needs a special place of mention, who presided over the affairs of the school from 1919 to 1945. Bishop Foss Westcott was an ideal influence in guiding the school during the days of transition. He died in 1949. Mr. L. J. Goddard served from 1934 to 1964, and came to be regarded as the founder of St. Paul’s in its present tradition.
Campus
The main buildings of the Senior Wing are grouped on three sides of a Quadrangle. The fourth side, open to the mountain view, leads to lower terraces where the Junior and Primary Wings, the Chapel and the Rectory stand. The buildings around the Quadrangle contain the school hall, dining hall, library, science laboratory, dormitories (each with its own bathrooms and lavatories), class rooms, infirmary, dispensary, common rooms, barber shop. The school buildings house comfortably over 250 boys in the Senior Wing and 230 boys in the Primary Wing.
Atmosphere
The school estate is well-cared for by the Estate Manager and his staff, and the boys have the advantage of living in surroundings not only of exceptional natural grandeur but also of the cultivated beauty of gardens, lawns and planted forest trees. The Himalayan environment is good for the boy’s health. The exhilarating climate and the inspiring presence of the Himalayas provide an ideal environment for the ideal school.
The Head
The Rector is the Head of the school.
The Teaching Staff
St. Paul’s staff of the Senior Wing are post-graduates from Indian and overseas universities. In the Junior Wing and the Primary Wing the staff is mainly composed of men and women who are trained teachers and are under the direction of experienced heads. Most of the members of the staff live on the school estate. Some quarters adjoin the dormitories, others are on the boundaries of the estate in separate houses. In addition to the teaching staff there are Matrons-in-charge of the personal welfare and care of the boys in the Senior, Junior, and Primary Wings.
The Pupils
St. Paul’s is essentially an Indian residential school. The staff and the scholars are predominantly Indian, and its educational policy is oriented towards life in India and India’s place in world affairs. Boys from different parts of India, of different castes and from different religious communities, are living, working, eating, and playing together with boys from other nations with different social and religious customs.
Affiliation
The school is affiliated to the Indian School Certificate Examination, New Delhi. The medium of instruction is English.
Results / Exams
Boys in Class X are prepared for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) examination and, two years later, in Class XII, for the Indian School Certificate (ISC) which qualifies a candidate for admission to a degree course at an Indian university.
Sports
The major games are Cricket, Football and Hockey. Tennis, Badminton, Table tennis, Squash, Basketball, and Volleyball are also played. There are short seasons for boxing, athletics and cross country running. The whole school has fifteen minutes physical training every morning. St. Paul’s boys have an opportunity of learning the skills of rock climbing and trekking and of facing up to new and toughening adventure experiences under the strict guidance of seasoned climbers.
Extra curricular activities
The boys undergo training in camp craft, first-aid, cooking, map and compass practice. There are various hobby clubs and socially useful productive work programmes which develop manual, artistic and technical skills. Each of the four Houses in the Senior Wing presents a concert from time-to-time, and the school’s Dramatic Society stages a play annually in October. Indian and western music and band, elocution and drama, play a large part in the lives of the boys. The school encourages hobbies and societies and every facility is afforded to ensure that a boy has a variety of interests from which he may choose. In the Senior Wing, the hobbies that are encouraged are art and crafts, model making, photography, wood and lathe work, cybernetics etc.
Fees
| Category Fees for the First Year | (Rs.) |
| Indian Residents | 100000.00 |
| Nepal Residents | 127500.00 |
| Foreigners and NRIs | 154000.00 |
Whereas the above are the fees to be paid in the year of admission, the subsequent annual Board and tuition fees are as bellow:
| Category | Total Amount | Fees | Extras |
| Indian Citizens | 80000.00 | 60000.00 | 20000.00 |
| Nepal Citizens | 100000.00 | 80000.00 | 20000.00 |
| Foreigners and NRIs | 120000.00 | 100000.00 | 20000.00 |
Admission
Parents desiring admission for their sons are required to complete the registration form and submit it along with the non-refundable registration fee. Entrance tests are held in August/September. Before entry, parents will be sent information regarding tests to be taken by the children. Places subject to availability, will be offered on the basis of the written test and interviews. Refundable caution money will be taken which remains with the school throughout the boy’s stay and will be refunded when he leaves, provided all bills have been paid in full. Caution money is not refunded if the boy for some reason fails to join the school or leaves within the first year.
Scholarship
A limited number of scholarships are awarded annually to the boys who show exceptional academic merit. A limited number of bursaries are awarded each year to deserving pupils whose parents are in genuine need of financial assistance for their boy’s schooling.
Management
The Right Reverend Bishop of Calcutta is, Ex-officio, Chairman of the Board of Governors. The Governors are appointed in part by the Calcutta Diocesan Board of Education and in part by the Education Department of the West Bengal Government. They are men of prominence in diverse fields who form a representative body in close touch with Indian, American and European education and affairs.
Alumni
All boys, when they leave St. Paul’s for good, join the Old Paulite Association. The subscription for life membership will be charged on the final school bill. Only members of the OPA may wear the special tie, blazer etc. obtainable from the school’s outfitters. Many Old Paulites regularly contribute letters to the school’s monthly magazine; others are encouraged to keep in touch with the school.
How to get there
The school is situated on a spur of the hill, Jalapahar, about one kilometre to the south of Darjeeling. The buildings and grounds look across the intervening hills and deep valleys of the vast Kanchenjunga range, forty miles away.
Campus
Campus
Kurseong lies on the main road from Siliguri to Darjeeling. The school stands some 5 kms outside the town at an altitude of 5600 feet. The large campus consists of well-designed buildings and spacious playing fields. There are seven playing fields for soccer and cricket. The main residential section is well designed and functional, containing all the amenities required in a modern residential school. The classrooms are bright, airy, and pleasantly quiet. There are fully-equipped laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology and a new computer laboratory with 24 terminals. The school hospital contains a well equipped and stocked dispensary with a large ward, sunny verandahs and its own garden.
