Hunsur is located 45 kilometers west of Mysore City on the Mysore –Madikeri – Mangalore Highway. Its main claim to fame was that the former Chief Minister of Karnataka State Sri D. DevarajUrs hailed from this constituency of Karnataka Legislative Assembly. St Joseph’s Convent institutions are located in the heart of Hunsur town, just near to the old KSRTC bus stand. The important land marks like post office, church, market and telephone exchange are within a stone’s throw from here. Fr K.A. Mathew, parish priest of Hunsur at the time invited the Ursuline Sisters to Hunsur and Mother Genevieve, a daring person by nature and missionary minded, ventured into the Diocese of Mysore by opening a convent in the year 1956. Incidentally this was the first institution of the Congregation outside the Diocese of Mangalore, and was to become the gateway for the Ursulines’ entry into many a remote village of Mysore District.
Sisters Julita Menezes, Ninian Therese, with Sr Cecily Pinto as Superior set foot into the Hunsur Campus on June 4, 1956. Mother Genevieve who had assessed the local situation earlier, aiming at only the social development and uplift of the poor, enthused the Sisters to start a school. Fr Mathew, the parish priest supported this cause and permitted the Sisters to begin the classes in the church premises. Later on they were moved to a rented house. On 24th June 1956 with 45 children the school opened its wings in Hunsur. Sr Julita became the first headmistress.
The whole campus consisted of nine acres of land with buildings for nursery, primary, high schools in both the mediums, PU College, First Grade Degree College, Sisters’ residence, a big coconut garden and a spacious playground.
Sr Serena D’Souza during her term as headmistress erected the present school building with only local funds. The School tops the list of institutions in Hunsur Taluk in all aspects, be it academics or other activities. The credit goes to Sr Jessy Fernandes, the headmistress who has served this institution for 19 years. She is a combination of courage, endurance, patience, flexibility and resourcefulness, with a keen sense of reality, and the ability to keep a cool and clear head, even when things seem to go bad. The valiant services of Sr Julita Menezes (1956-57) Sr Clarina D’Souza (1962-66), Sr Placid Saldanha (1966-67), Sr Severine Barrows (1967-68, 1992-93), Sr Innocence D’Souza (1968-69), Sr Margarita Rodrigues(1969-77), Sr Irene D’Souza (1977-82), Sr Serena D’Souza (1982-92), and Sr Philomena D’Souza (1993-94) Sr Jessy Fernandes(1994- 2013 ) is gratefully placed on record for posterity. At present Sr. Philomena Noronha is the Headmistress and the institution is developing in leap and bounds because of her hard work and managerial skills.
The progressive number of students who have passed out of the School is 9824 quite a number of them are in the political and public sectors in service to society with values they have imbibed from their Alma Mater. The present strength in the School is 700.