[1] In August 1879, Father Jose Pedro Santa Anna de Cunha of Saint Joseph's Church started a school for poor parishioners.

The first four Canossian sisters arrived to run the Portuguese Mission school, and there the poor and neglected found refuge.

Subsequently, a new chapel, quarters for the nuns, a kindergarten and first Junior Cambridge class (equivalent to Secondary 3 or 4) were added.

This five-story building, located at 111 Middle Road still stands today, and houses the National Design Centre.

2002 ended with a watershed historical event of the handover of stewardship of SACSS to its first lay principal in its 108-year history.

Sister Cecily Pavri, being the last Canossian nun to lead the school, handed over the reins of leadership to vice-principal Jennifer Loh on 1 January 2003.

The Express Course is a nationwide four-year programme that leads up to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level examination.

[7] Students take English Language, Mathematics, Basic Mother Tongue and Computer Applications as compulsory subjects.

SACSS in terms of sports has attained 4th position in the National School Games, East Zone, for netball 2022 and many medals for taekwondo.