Sacred Heart Boys High School

For the school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, see Sacred Heart School of Halifax.

The school is decorated every December to commemorate Christmas

Sacred Heart Boys' High School is a government aided, boys-only, high school, affiliated to the Maharashtra Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Board. It is located in Santa Cruz (West), Mumbai, India. Landmarks near the school include the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana, St. Teresa's Convent High School and Ramkrishna Mission hospital.

The school is one of the oldest in the Mumbai, dating back to pre-independence. Students come from all strata of society, partly encouraged by the low cost education provided by Catholic priests of the Bombay diocese. The school gives importance to all religions and customs.

Established

The school was founded by Father Alvarez in 1946.

Principals

• Fr. Alvarez
• Fr. Rodrigues
• Fr. Bento
• Fr. T. Pereira
• [1] Fr. Ferdinand Fonseca - Now Bishop Fredinand Fonseca
• Fr. Richard Mathias
• Fr. Herculan Silvera
• [2] Fr. Nereus Rodrigues
• [3] Fr. Rodney Esperance (famous for playing the National Anthem on the gramophone in his office at start of school).
• Fr. Tony D'souza (Introduced a small prayer song at start of class after every break).
• Fr. Felix Naronha (Suffered an untimely demise during his 1st year in the school, in 1995.)
• Fr. Milton Gonsalves
• Fr. Ivan Mascarenhas
• Fr. Abel Fernandes

Motto

"For God and Country".

Uniforms

The school uniform is a white, short-sleeved shirt, grey trousers and a maroon tie bearing two stripes that represent the 'house' , i.e. red, yellow, blue or green. Class prefects and assistant prefects wear blue ties, without the descriptive colours. Socks are grey and shoes are black.

There is a used uniform bank operated by community groups in the school which collect clothes from students who have outgrown them and give it to poorer students who cannot afford new uniform at the start of the year. Books and shoes are also shared this way.

Infrastructure

The school has three sections: Primary Section - Standards Jr.K.G., Sr.K.G., 1st to 4th; Mid-Secondary Section - Standards 5th to 7th which is a relatively new building compared to the original stone building and Higher Secondary section - Standards 8th to 10th. The library can seat up to 80 students and is accessible during lunch breaks and up to 30 minutes after school is closed.

The school has two laboratories for scientific subjects accommodating 30 students at a time; one lab is on the fourth floor along with class rooms for standard 10th and the main auditorium while the other is next to the computer lab. Staff rooms are situated on the first floor of the old and new buildings.

The School is Maharashtra's 1st school built with STONE.

The same premises has the Sacred Heart Church, a Victorian mid sized church which caters to parish members of Santacruz. The church is built in the shape of a cross with mezzanine floors in the left and right arms. Stained glass windows adorn the church entrances. Towards the west gate of the campus and close to the church is a grotto frequented by people of all faiths.

It has two auditoriums, referred to as the "School Hall", One on the ground floor of the new school building which acts as a makeshift lunch room in the afternoon and one in the main stone structure on the fourth floor where skits, plays elocution competitions and the likes are staged. The auditorium hosts wedding receptions, which are a source of revenue for the school. The ground floor auditorium has an upright piano that was used while conducting singing lessons which was a curriculum for the primary sections kids. A similar baby grand piano can be found in the 4th floor auditorium that is often used for school annual day functions.

The school has a 100 metre-long playground. There is also a tarmac area in front of the old school building and adjacent to the playground, which, though not meant for hockey, basketball, etc., if often used for playing them. The Parish house (Rectory) and office is situated between the main school building and the new school building. The school does not have a resident doctor or a trained paramedic in the campus but medical facilities are available within 200 meters of the school campus.

Activities

Even though the school ground is probably the largest in the Western suburbs, most sporting events like the annual sports meet are held at the Willingdon Gymkhana grounds which is close to the school. The school hosts its sporting event at the school grounds on the 26th of January (Republic Day) every year. Inter division football matches and mass drill are conducted on the school grounds. The school grounds, although not a public play ground, is open for school children to play until later evening (although this rule is not very strictly enforced and friends of students also join).

On Wednesdays the school conducts mass drill for all standards from 1st to 10th, around 2000 students assemble and the drill is conducted for around half an hour. One popular activity during the mass drill is the chance to beat the bass drum, for which every week the prefect of the senior classes (7-10) will be nominated to carry the drum from the sports store room and set it up and beat it while the exercises are done. A popular activity is to stand on a wooden bench in front of the 2000 students strong crowd and be the drill leader.

Notable alumni

• [4] Francis Andrew Rozario
• [5][6] Vijay Samant
• [7] Rajan Raheja
• [8] Cenalo Vaz
• Pentagram (Indian band)Randolph Correia- guitarist in Mumbai rock band Pentagram)
• Sunny Deol [9] [10] [11]

Film mentions

• A scene of India's most popular Bollywood children's movie "Mr. India" released in 1987 was shot in the school. The scene of Anil Kapoor receiving his two kids featured in the first half was shot during the lunch hour.
• The football scene in the film "Dosti" was shot here (1963) .
• The start of the library scene from "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak" (shot in front of the school church)), for scenes from the movie "Coolie", as the college in the movie Ishq Vishk, for Khoon Bhari Maang, where Aarti's (Rekha's) son was studying etc.