a community of excellence
St. Robert's Higher Secondary school is situated in the picturesque hill town of Darjeeling and it is affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the Council of Higher Secondary Education. It is a Catholic school established and administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Darjeeling. The School is under the religious jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Darjeeling.
The School aims at the education of the Catholic community in and around Darjeeling and extends its service to members of the other communities too. The school stands for academic excellence, development of skills and character formation based on the love of God and the service of all as modelled in Jesus Christ, with a view to training citizens remarkable for all-round development and sincere commitment to God and country.
Catholic education is inspired by a vision of the world drawn from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ who has always been respected and admired by the people of India. The vision and principles have given Catholic Institutions a specific character, and set before their staff and students high ideals of humanism and service towards which they are invited continually to strive.
The Catholic School aims at the integral, personal formation of the young. To accomplish this special efforts are made
1. to help the students become mature, spiritually oriented men of character;
2. to encourage them continually to strive after excellence in every field;
3. to value and judiciously use their freedom,
4. to be clear and firm on principles and courageous in action;
5. to be unselfish in the service of their neighbours and to become agents of social change in their country.
The Catholic School thus aims at making its own contribution towards a radical transformation of present day social condition so that the principles of social justice, equality of opportunity, genuine freedom, respect for religious and moral values enshrined in the Constitution of India may prevail and so that the possibility of living a fully human existence may open before all.
St. Robert's School had its beginnings on the grounds of the Archbishop's House, Darjeeling, where it was started in 1914 by Rev. Fr. Charles Grant. Then it was known as St. Francis Xavier's Middle English School.
In February 1934, the school was shifted to Halcyon House and renamed as St Robert's School after St. Robert Bellarmine. On July 17th the school was transferred to its present location, known in those days as the Park Hotel.
In 1935, the school recognized as a High School by Calcutta University and subsequently upgraded to Higher Secondary status in 1963. By 1965 the phasing out of the primary section was completed in order to allow increased enrolment in higher classes. The school entered in Grant-in aid scheme in 1981.
The Patron Saint of the school is St. Robert Bellarmine, the famous sixteenth century saint and scholar. The motto of the School is the motto St. Robert gave to his most famous spiritual son, St. Aloysius Gongaza, patron Saint of youth - "Ad Maiora Natus Sum"- I was born for higher things." Embodied in this motto is the aim of St. Robert's School to give each of its students the conviction that his life on earth has a purpose far beyond the present world. Sons of the Almighty Father of all, students must always aim higher, think bigger, be nobler. Their aim is to make themselves worthy sons of such a Father. Achievement must keep pace with their aim.
