St. Paul's School was founded on 1 May 1823 in Calcutta by Daniel Corrie[2] at the instigation of John William Ricketts, a local Anglo-Indian leader.

Originally located at 11 Park Street, between the Archbishop House and the then Sans Souci Theatre, in 1830 it moved to Jawaharlal Nehru Road to the area now occupied by the Indian Museum.

[6] The school's original purpose was "to supply a good education at a moderate cost to the sons of Europeans and East Indians".

[5]: 66 Bishop Foss Westcott, metropolitan of Bengal, Burma and Ceylon, played an important role in the growth of the school.

Goddard was the longest serving and perhaps the most important rector, leading the school between 1934 and 1964, including the transition from British-ruled to independent India.

The school currently presents itself as an residential school for boys, predominantly Indian with an "international, multiracial and cross-regional cosmopolitan character",[11] having students from many countries including the US,[12] the UK,[12] France,[13] Thailand,[14] Bhutan,[12] Japan,[15] Bangladesh,[12] Nepal,[12] United Arab Emirates,[15] and Hong Kong.

The school motto is derived from the passage 'Cedamus Phoebo, et moniti meliora sequamur' in the Latin epic the Aeneid by Virgil.

The extracurricular activities in school are dramatics, elocution, debate, piano, guitar, drums, violin, marching band and sitar classes.

In the senior wing, the hobbies are art and craft, Batik, Indian Western music, model-making, photography, wood and lathe work, cybernetics, textile design, and cooking.

There has been a long-standing rivalry between St. Paul's and St.Joseph's School, North Point in sports and other activities that the two compete in.