Handed over to the Society of Jesus for running the school. Now it has been taken back from the Jesuits by the diocese of Alleppey which was formed in 1952 by the bifurcation of the diocese of Cochin.. Leo XIII school was so to say the Harrow of the Catholics of coastal and central Travancore. Among the distinguished Headmasters and Teachers, there is a galaxy of names - I C Chacko, M K George, Fr
.Joseph Koilparambil SJ.,Fr. Paul Kunnunkal SJ.,Fr. M C Joseph SJ.,Ramaswamy Iyyer, C X Lawrance, C M John Kandanattu, Krishna Iyyer, C X John Sebastian, T L Joseph, Jacob Chandi, Jacob Joseph Kattezham....
The present headmaster of this school is Mr. Joachim Michael . Leo XIII Higher Secondary School has a long tradition of two centuries in the city, helping generations of its people with the light of knowledge and refinement of civilization. Even before the work for Mount Carmal Cathedral started in 1809, a church named after St. Antony existed on the eastern side of present Leo XIII. Jesuit priests, who worked here under the Padroado system (patronage of Portuguese king), managed this church. A school attached to the church was started named St. This is what later came to be known as Leo XIII. The beginning of the school and that of the Sacred Heart Seminary are intricately connected. Both were blessed open in on October 16, 1870. It is said the first classes of the school were started in the seminary building itself, when it became evident that children wishing to join the seminary should be given modern education. The school was renamed Leo XIII in 1888 to perpetuate the jubilee memory of Pope Leo XIII. The official opening of the middle school was conducted in 1889 June 1, by Portuguese Bishop John Gomes Pereira of Cochin. Alleppey was then part of the undivided Cochin diocese. Bishop Pereira entrusted the school with Jesuits, who were known globally for their educational institutions. In 1903, the school started classes up to matriculation. In 1912 it become a High School introducing ESLC system of education, enabling it to claim the title of the first High School in Alleppey. Fr. Gilvas was the manager of the school for long 21 years from 1901 to 1922. In 1912, Mr. M. K. George became the headmaster. They led the school through the path of progress. Portuguese Jesuits managed the school from 1900 to 1937 and since then until 1968 Indian Jesuits were at the helm of it. When Cochin diocese was bifurcated to make Allappey diocese in 1952, the school came under Alleppey diocese. Bishop Michael Arattukulam, the first bishop of Alleppey entered into an agreement with Jesuits in 1957. Following the agreement the Jesuits left the school in 1968 may 16, after a long service of 68 years. Since the formation of Diocesan Corporate Management in 1971, the school functions under it. In 1998 Leo XIII became a Higher Secondary School, with 114 students in the first batch. Since 1999, when more batches were allowed students increased to some 350. The school had some 2,740 students in the academic year 2003-2004, making it the biggest "boys only" school in the district. Manager - Very Rev. Stanly Pulimoottuparambil
Principal - C.R. Prabhakaran
Headmaster - K.B. Francis
