History of our school
Founded in 1959 by Shri M.Y Ghorpade, Sandur Residential School was started in response to the great need in the country for good residential schools with a progressive outlook to impart a sound liberal education.
Shri M.Y.Ghorpade along with educationist consisting of Mrs. M.Y.Ghorpade, Mr. and Mrs. F.G.Pearse and Mrs. Mahalakshmi were instrumental in laying the initial foundations of the school.
Shri M.Y.Ghorpade was deeply committed to the cause of education and human resource development was the patron of Shivapur Sikshana Samiti. The Samiti continues to be responsible for management of the school.
F.G.Pearce was well known throughout India for his pioneering work in the field of public school education and for the planning of many good residential schools in the country. F.G.Pearce was the first educational director of SRS when it was started in 1959 .
Both Mr. and Mrs. Pearce gave Shri M.Y. Ghorpade the necessary advise and encouragement to start the Sandur Residential School.
The enthusiasm of the founding team was infectious and after broadly assessing the facilities then available in the Sandur valley, they took a pragmatic view to get started as early as possible.
The land in the vicinity of Shri M.Y.Ghorpade’s residence, Shivapur, was considered most suitable for the school campus as it was close to Sandur town with electricity, medical and other facilities.
In response to that they started sketching the buildings required for the school with paper and pencil and chose the best location for growth in the midst of 75 acres of the school campus.
Mrs. Mahalakshmi was the first Principal of our school and dedicated her life to its cause. It was in 1959 that she came to Sandur from The Rishi valley School, Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh.
For four decades from our inception in 1959 to 1999 she has immensely contributed to the development of the school to its present strength and stature.
It was in her tenure that our school got affiliated to the Indian Public Schools’ conference along with about seventy other schools in those days and with a strength of 81 schools currently. Mrs. Mahalakshmi was elected Chairperson of the Indian Public Schools’ conference for the period 1992-93 to 1993-94.
The school that started with 3 students and 3 teachers in 3 rooms have grown to a current strength of about 1700 students spread out on sprawling campus.
From 1962 onwards dormitories were added to the school and boarding students were admitted. The vision of the founder's was to have a co-educational boarding facility when in those days much of the country had boarding schools for either of the genders.
In 1993 Sandur Residential School hosted the 54th annual session of the Indian Public School Conference at Sandur on 3rd November.
It was a proud moment and was well attended by a number of principals from well known schools from all over the country. At which time Mrs. Mahalakshmi was the Chairperson of the Indian Public School Conference.
In 2009 the school celebrated its Golden Jubilee standing tall with a great history of five decades.
The school is proud to have produced great citizens of those thousands of students successfully graduated.
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Indian agronomist, agricultural scientist, plant geneticist, administrator and humanitarian was the chief guest.
In commemorating the journey of 50 decades a Golden Jubilee auditorium was built and inaugurated by Dr. Swaminathan on the 19 December 2009.
In 2011 M.Y.Ghorpade Bal Bhavan which was a new building with modern amenities were built for the nursery classes. It was Shri M.Y. Ghorpade’s desire that children who join the school in kinder garten should get the best in the beginning of their journey and would go on to do better in the later years of schooling.
In 2019 a Diamond Jubilee hall was constructed for the high school students.
Justice Vishwanatha Shetty and Justice Santosh Hegde were the chief guests of the celebrations.