OUR INSTITUTION
LORETO CONVENT ASANSOL is an English-medium High School for girls under the management of the Asansol Loreto Educational Society. The School is recognized by the Directorate of School Education (AIS) West Bengal and is affiliated to the ICSE Board of Delhi.
It has classes from Kindergarten to Class 10 for girls of all denominations from the town and neighbouring mining areas. It has a parallel literacy programme for children unable to attend regular classes.
The academic year is from April to March.
At present there are 1120 pupils and a staff of 69
OUR HISTORY
This school was founded in 1877 for the children of the Railway Colony and now also serves the Raniganj coal belt and the industrial area of Kulti as well as Asansol town.
The first five Sisters came with Mother Delphine Hart in response to a request from the parish priest,Fr.Jaques S.J. They began the school with 35 pupils in a small bungalow near the presbytery. Boys and girls were admitted at first. Later the present property was acquired and in 1885 a boarding school for girls only was started in a three storeyed building facing the railway tank. The top floor was damaged by an earthquake in 1897 and had to be demolished leaving the present two storeys. Between 1909 and 1928 other wings were added for classrooms and dormitories. The students were prepared for the Junior and Senior Cambridge examinations.
In 1942 the school building was requisitioned by the military for a hospital and the 12 Sisters and 75 boarders went to live in rented houses in Simla till 1946.
In 1953 the Modern School Final exam replaced the Junior Cambridge and the first batch of students were sent up for the Pitmans Commercial exam.There were now 221 girls and 90 primary school boys in the school.
In 1962 the foundations were laid for another school building – the present secondary school wing and in 1977 the new Primary wing ,Mary Ward building, was begun.
From 1963 boys were no longer admitted.
In 1971 Mother Magdalena opened a small dispensary in the presbytery premises and it flourished with a daily attendance of at least 100 poor people till she was no longer able to work in 1984.
In 1974 the new ICSE pattern was introduced and in 1983 the beginning of the academic year was changed from January to March. The Class 11 (ISC) was introduced but had to be discontinued in 1985 due to insufficient pupils for the Arts course offered.
In 1991 the hostel was closed.
A parallel school for under-privileged children was begun in 1992,Ankur Vidyalaya and in 1994 knitting and tailoring classes were also started.
In 2001 the former dormitory became a temporary home for 23 Santhal girls who were school dropouts and were prepared for a year to join regular classes again.
2001-2002 saw a year-long celebration of 125 years of the school’s existence
PAST PRINCIPALS
1932 Sr.Helena Considine 1938 Sr.Clare Magdalene Smith
1945 Sr.Concepta McCaul 1949 Sr.Monica D’Costa
1955 Sr.Margaret Murphy 1961 Sr.Jude Hales
1967 Sr.Attracta Dooley 1968 Sr.Kevin Parton
1975 Sr.Bernadine Renwick 1978 Sr.Mary Ross
1984 Sr.Joan Smyth 1990 Sr.Evelyn O’Connor
1991 Sr.Cecily Wong 1998 Sr.Sunanda Vase
1999 Sr.Tressia Aricatt 2004 Sr.Phyllis Morris