St. Stanislaus High School

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Please improve this article if you can. (August 2006)

St. Stanislaus High School is an all-boys school located in the Bombay suburb of Bandra run by the Society of Jesus. Its motto is Natus Ad Majora (in English, "Born For Greater Things").

The school, founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, started as an orphanage and later grew to be a full-fledged educational institution for day-scholars as well as boarders. What started out as a school for 40-odd orphans has now grown to support 2,300 students.

1 Sports
2 School Houses
3 Alumni
4 Threatened Structure
5 Other information
6 External links

[edit] Sports

In addition to academic work, the school encourages the development of young athletes and sportsmen. These activities received continuous support from the staff. Teachers like Master Neeff, Master Oliver, Master Willy, Master Donald and sportsmasters include Oliver Andrade (who founded the famous Joggers Park in Bandra Mumbai),Master Cyril Gabriel, Fr. Harry Pereira S.J., Fr. Benjamin Fernandes S.J.& Fr. Robin Selwyn S.J. in the 70s & 80s have been noted for supporting this endeavour. This has produced quality teams in field hockey, football and athletics. Through the efforts of Fr. Lawrie Ferrao, the former principal, the Gymnasium has been upgraded with a tread mill and other facilities. The Donnelly gym has been completely redone with new turf and sprinklers added.

In terms of open playground and sports facilities, the school has one of the largest facilities in Mumbai. Different principals had different views on sports at Stanislaus. Consequently in the late 80's while academics did not become strong, sports was not neglected.

The school has played and won various inter-school tournaments, participating in the Ahmed Sailor Cup in field hockey. The school has a grass hockey ground (Donnelly Gym), 2 basketball courts, 2 football grounds, 2 smaller grounds, a swimming pool and a gymnasium. The hockey ground is used to play various state level tournaments.

NEW FACILITIES The old carpentry room next to the Donnely gym has been renovated and part of it has been made into a changing room. The old toilets are undergoing extensive repairs. The grounds facing wardoda road has been revamped and now has a tiled flooring. It now serves as a ground for weddings and functions. It's also called "The Backyard Lawn".

[edit] School Houses

The school consists of 4 "houses": Britto, Loyola, Xavier and Kostka named after 4 Jesuit saints (St. John De Britto, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier and St. Stanislaus Kostka). The colours for these houses are: Red for Britto, Yellow for Loyola, Blue for Xavier and Green for Kostka. New students move into these houses and points are awarded to various students for various activities and the winning house is announced each week. There are elected house captains for each year.

[edit] Alumni

The St. Stanislaus Ex-students Association was first started by Fr. Joseph Casasayas SJ in 1936. It is a not-for-profit organization aimed at assisting alumni (ex-students and ex-staff members) to network and to support and drive activities that can help the school grow qualitatively. The mission of the association is to create an environment that encourages Stanislites to live the motto of the school in all walks of life.

Notable alumni include the following:

Major General Eustace D’Souza PVSM
Lieutenant General Francis Dias PVSM, AVSM, VrC
Dr. Carmo D'Cruz (1975) 74 per cent in SSC (Old), IIT Electrical Engineer, ASEE Professor of the Year 2008 and Bombay Jr. Nationals (1975) and TeamUSA 2008 Field Hockey GK
Marcellus Gomes, Indian Hockey team forward
Francis D'Mello, India's First and Only School-boy Hockey World-Cupper 1971
Viren Rasquinha, Indian hockey team defender
Salman Khan
Shaan
Khalid Rafi, Son of the legendary singer, Mohd. Rafi
Ryan Charles Rebello, Recording Artist Canada
Cardinal Ivan Dias
Bro. Jason Vaz, Society Of Jesuits, Jamacia, Toronto, Mumbai, And Still Travelling
Anthony De Mello (priest)

[edit] Threatened Structure

As of November 2006, the school is under threat of demolition by the BMC which plans to widen Hill road and give the space to hawkers. This is being vigorously opposed by ex-students, Bandra residents and others. St. Stanislaus received a notice from the ward officer, Bandra west of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to hand over a large part of the school properties in the guise of road widening. The school would lose the Donnelly Gym (the grass lawns), and the mud ground (back ground) along with the YSS center (old KG CLASS). St. Peter's Church would lose the graves and grotto.

UPDATE: After repeated requests and protest, the BMC have decided not to touch the church wall and school wall. The construction of the road goes on as i write this update.

[edit] Other information

Fr Lawrie Ferrao S.J. was the principal of the School up to the end of the academic year 2006-2007. He has served the school since 1996.
Fr. Jude Fernandes S.J. has taken over as the new Principal from the 2007 academic year. He was previously the Parish Priest of Holy Family Church, Chakala, Andheri East and the Vice Principal of Holy Family School.
Fr. Edmund Carrasco. was the principal of the School up to the end of the academic year 1996.