Koppa is famous as ‘Kashmir of Karnataka’ and is also well-known for areca nut, coffee and tea estates. The famed Sringeri Matt is in the north and the Bhadra reservoir is in the east of Koppa. Once upon a time known as a breeding place for malaria, any posting here of Government officials was considered a punishment. ‘Thappu madidavanige Koppa’ was the common saying among them. Coffee estates covered thousands of acres of land around Koppa and so were the labourers scattered with minimum transportation and communication facilities. The children of the labour class could not think in terms of getting enrolled in a good school.
Sisters of St Joseph of Tarbes were running the school in Koppa since 1954 and for some personal reasons known to them pulled themselves out. At this juncture Fr K.A. Mathew who knew the Ursuline Franciscans in Hunsur invited the Sisters to render their service to the people. Sisters of Tarbes readily handed over the school with four acres of land to the Ursuline Sisters. It is learnt that the Sisters of Tarbes had no residence of their own. The pioneers, Sisters Eliza Pinto, Severine Barrows, Raphael Pinto, Placid Saldanha, Anecitus Souza, and Cletti D’Costa had to take a rented house from Mr Jerry Pinto a coffee planter.
Sr Alice Mascarenhas is the present headmistress of the School. She has a passion and courage to willingly do things not done before. A large playground, a well-ventilated toilet block and a midday meals kitchen are to her credit which she accomplished through the cooperation of the general public. The Rotary Club of Koppa, Yuva Jan Kreede (Sports Club), CRS Educational Trust, Balehonnur, political leaders like Mr Jayaprakash Hegde, Member of the Parliament and many other people of goodwill have been her benefactors, through whom a lot of improvement was done in the school campus. The PTA and her teachers were her backbone in all her endeavours. The School has completed 59 years of service. In 2003-04 the School celebrated the golden jubilee. There are 277 boys and 228 girls comprising a total of 505 students studying in the year 2013-14.