The school was first started on 6 November 1861 in a bungalow near the Kannur railway station. After 7 years, the school was shifted to its present location. In the early days it was known as the Government Western Norman School. It was the only educational institution between Mangalore and Thalassery.

In 1879, it evolved into Anglo Vernacular School. In 1886, the school started functioning under the Kannur Municipal Corporation. In 1956, it was taken over by the state government and operated as a Government Higher Secondary School. In 1976, Sports Division started functioning here as part of General School. In 1984 it was raised as VHSE by Govt.

Well Structured, systematic annual training plan which involve scientific inputs is followed by this School. Our moto of excellence through diligence is achieved through 06 days weekly plans of two sessions per day which ensures loading and recovery sessions according to the age and gender of athlete. In nutshell our aim of Athlete Centered, Coach driven and supported by Sports sciences is achieved with the help of efficient administration of Sports Directorate. A well-established sports medicine Centre (Rajiv Gandhi Regional Sports Medicine Centre, Kannur) is also supporting the noble cause of winning National, International medals. We also have a qualified Strength and Conditioner and Physio Therapist to support the athletes needs which ensures an injury free training regimens for each athlete.

We follow 2 sessions per day training schedule (Morning 06:00 to 08:00 Hr and Evening 04:00 Pm to 06:00 Pm). We also have annual sports day and intramural Sports Championships to boost the overall performance of sports students.

Athletics is one of the major Game of this School. We have all the required facilities like Synthetic Track (Kannur Police Synthetic Track) which is used on agreement as a permanent training infrastructure for athletics training. We have a strength and conditioning facility and other facilities like physio therapy (, Sports Ayurveda and a sports medicine Centre and a Sports psychologist for supporting the training. We have all the other sports equipment required for athletics training.

Kannur Sports Division is known for producing classic athletes who has achieved high and represented India and won many medals for our Country. The Athletics Stall warts like PT Usha, Bobby Aloysius, KM Greeshma etc are some of the iconic Athletes produced by this School.