The school is named after a Christian mission and Jesuit, Roberto de Nobili, who was the first foreigner to master Sanskrit, incognito, in sixteenth century Madurai.

[1] In the early 1950s, the prominent people in the coalfield asked the Jesuit fathers of Jamshedpur Province to open a Cambridge school for their sons and wards.

an American Jesuit, was the pioneer, under whose able guidance, De Nobili School started, in a rather humble way, in the unfinished girls' school building at the Fuel Research Institute, Jealgora, (now Digwadih) courtesy, the then Director of F.R.I., Late Dr. Adinath Lahiri.

In 1959, a significant piece of land was handed over to the Jesuits by industrialist and philanthropist, Late Banwari Lal Agarwalla and on 28 October 1959, the ground was broken for the new building.

[2] On the school shield Vidya Dadati Vinayam is the opening fragment from the sixth verse.

Mrs. Gurmeet Kaur serves as the Vice Principal of the Junior section of the school.The co-ordinator of high and secondary part of the school is led by individual teachers.