The school was named after the university school of Visva-Bharati University (called Patha Bhavana). It was inspired by the education system started by Rabindranath Tagore as well as the more progressive features of the national movement. It was also influenced by the Bratachari movement of Gurusaday Dutt. The school was founded by the Patha Bhavan Society under the presidency of Satyajit Ray. Susobhan Sarkar, Tarun Bose, then a judge of the High Court of Calcutta, and Amiya Bose, an eye specialist helped Ray set up the school. Ray even designed the school's logo. Jyotirindra Moitra, an exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, wrote the school's song “Amader Patha Bhavan”. Others who played a pivotal role in the school's establishment include Mira Datta Gupta, Uma Sehanobis, under whose guidance a group of teachers came forward to found the school. Nandita Mitra was appointed as the school's first-principal and Manjushree Dasgupta was its first-vice principal. In later years, the management of the school was in the hands of the economist, Santosh Bhattacharyya, and Barun De, both of whom were its general secretary. The objectives of the founders of this school, which aim to prepare its students for undergraduate level college education, was twofold from the beginning: the founders wanted to establish a co-educational school in Calcutta which would offer education in both Bengali and English. In the early years of the founding of the school it was the school management's policy not to give excessive importance to examinations, although half-yearly and yearly tests were held from the school's inception. The first batch of students from the school took the Madhyamik (Secondary/10th Boards) Examination in 1972. The logo of the school representing a "flame" is designed by Satyajit Ray, the world-renowned film maker who was also a commercial artist. The school has montessori, primary, secondary and higher secondary/junior college branches at different locations in Kolkata.
