The School History

St. John's School, Chandigarh, came into existence as an educational institution in the year 1959.

Chandigarh became the capital of Punjab by the nineteen fifties. The Capital Project has built this school as an English medium school and the Christian Brothers were requested to take over the school. The Brothers acquired the property and building on 15th Nov., 1959 the first Christian Brother to be involved with the school was bro. J. Crease.

By Jan. 1960, people for classes 3 to 8 were being admitted the first Principal was Bro. Morrisssey. The new school opened on 1st Feb., 1960. 41 pupils were present on the occasion.

Official support to the school soon came from the Punjab Government. To quote the Punjab Chief Minister of the day, Pratap Singh Kairon, "Another commendable step in the development of the town(of Chandigarh) is the establishment of two educational institutes for boys and girls in the shape of St. John's High School in Sector 7-E(now 26) and Carmel Convent School in Sector 9.These schools fulfill a long-felt need for better educational facilities in the capital."

By the end of 1960, the grounds were being laid out. As part of the greening of Chandigarh, the school campus was soon the setting for flowering trees, colorful shrubs and a variety of roses-a feature that we are still very proud of.

In 1961 application for affiliation of St. John's to the Indian School Examination Certificate. The first batch for the I.C.S.E appeared in December 1963.They secured 100% passes. By now the number of pupils in the school had crossed the 500 mark.

By the beginning of the new school year of 1966, St. John's saw a change in Principal. Bro. Morrissey ended his term to be replaced by Bro. O'Shea who was to remain for 5 years.100% success in the Indian School Certificate Examination in 1965 with all boys securing 1st Divisions was a fitting tribute to Bro. Morrissey on his departure from St. John's. By now the roll call in the school had crossed 600.

A new Principal had arrived in St. John's in the person of Bro. Tynan in 1971.The years following saw a an annual increase in the no. of boys on the roll. During this time the school magazine The Soaring Eagle saw the light of Day.

1977 saw a new principal arriving to carry on the good work of Bro. Tynan, in the person of Bro. Walsh. By this time the school had switched to The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and the final class in the school as now to be the class X.

In 1980 Bro. Bela became Principal of St. Johns. Another Development was the functioning of the SJOBA (St. Johns Old Boys Association).

At the end of Bro. Bela's Principal ship in 1986,a new Principal was appointed for St. John's. He was Bro. Whitening. Plans were drawn up to erect a new assembly hall and extra classrooms as a new classroom was being added each year.

1988 saw a change in Principal in the person of Bro. Pinto and very soon a new two storied block as well as a hall came up. By now numbers on the roll had crossed 1200. Bro. Pinto introduced Computer Education, initiated the Learning Centre and launched the "Galaxy". To cope with the tremendous pressure for admissions, the need for a new section was felt and another section was added to two to junior classes and thus the "C" section came into existence.

In 1996 Bro. C. D'Abreu took over as Principal. Since then St. John's has seen rapid change. Bro. D'Abreu intiated the CLIP programme and opened "Horizon" for the mentally challenged children.

In 2001 Mrs. P. Cheema, with several years of administrative experience became the Principal and under her guidance St. John's became Chandigarh's no.1 School and was awarded The National Computer Literacy Award in the category of private schools

In 2006-07 academic year Mrs. Kavita Das took over as the new Principal and is the Principal up to date.