Catholic High School, Petaling Jaya, is the fruit of public generosity. Established by Joche Philippe Wu of the Marist Brothers in 1956, CHS started as a private Chinese school with two classes for boys. It had no premises of its own. With the kindness of the De La Salle Brothers, it began by operating in the afternoon session, sharing the premises of La Salle Primary School in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. The school, with an enrolment of 88 students in two classes and a staff of 5 teachers, was headed by its first principal, Rev. Bro. Philippe Wu.

In 1957, due to an increase in its population from two to eight classes in the span of two years, and the lack of facilities of its host school, Catholic High School had to look for other premises to accommodate its students. The authorities of Maxwell Secondary School, Kuala Lumpur, graciously allowed Catholic High School to share its premises, thus proving to be a “friend in need”. Once again, teaching was carried out in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the School-Building Planning Committee was formed to initiate a building of its own for the school. Although the government had approved the project and allocated a piece of land in Cheras for the construction of the school, it would have been an extremely expensive and time-consuming task to clear the land of squatters. Hence, the Committee decided to look for an alternative piece of land.

In August 1958, the school finally moved into its current premises – a 10-acre piece of land at Jalan 10/3, Petaling Jaya. This was purchased by the Committee, with money raised from a fund-raising project. Though the school compound was muddy and weedy, the CHS students were proud of their Alma Mater; a new two-storey building with 20 classrooms (the existing A Block) and a large field. It was also in that year that its principal, Rev. Bro. Philippe Wu received his promotion to become Brother Provincial. In view of that, the leadership of the school was handed over to Rev. Bro. Dominic Liu. The following year, Catholic High School saw her first batch of students sitting for the LCE Examination. Rev. Bro. Dominic Liu also expanded the school by building a block of science laboratories and a library.

 In the year 1961, the first group of Form 5 students sat for S.C./F.M.C. Examinations and thus the graduation of Catholic High School’s premier students. In 1962, Rev. Bro. Dominic Liu was transferred to serve in East Malaysia and the third principal, Rev. Bro. Lawrence Tung was appointed to head the school. During his tenure as principal, two buses were purchased for co-curricular use and improvements were made to the school field. Also, in that year, Catholic High School became a conforming school in accordance with the Education Act of 1961. The name of the school was changed to SMJK Katholik; though in English it still remains as CHS to this day.

In 1963, a table-tennis shed and a storeroom were put up and in 1964, the grounds were levelled. The following year the present magnificient appearance of the school gradually came into view, as the lawns everywhere were turfed, the roads metalled and the main gate and fences built. On 4th June 1964, the staff and students, gathered in the newly completed field and playground to hail the first Annual Sports Meet.

In 1965, Rev. Bro. Paul Sung was appointed the fourth principal of the school. Under his instruction, a three-storey block of classrooms parallel to Block A, was built in 1969 (the existing B Block). The building consists of a staff room and 12 classrooms. The library was then moved into 2 of the new classrooms. Rev. Bro. Paul Sung was then transferred to Sibu and Rev. Bro. Andrew Fong took over as the next principal of Catholic High School in 1970.

The leadership of the school changed hands again in 1971 when Rev. Bro. Joachim Heng replaced Rev. Bro. Andrew Fong. Thereafter in 1972, Rev. Bro. Paul Clet was appointed to the post of principal. However, he resigned in 1974 due to his demanding duties as Brother Provincial and Rev. Bro. Thomas Ng succeeded him. Once again the school grew physically with a School Hall built to take care of the needs of the students for school assembly, official functions, cultural and sports activities.

Work on the construction of the School Hall was started in August 1975 after much hard work had been put in by various authorities such as the Board of Governors, Parent-Teacher Association, Old Boys Association, the Funding Committee and the teachers themselves to collect funds. By August 1976, the beautiful structure of the new School Hall was completed, a real grand view from the Federal Highway. In November 1976, the first batch of Form Five and Form Three students had their graduation ceremony in the then newly built School Hall. Later, this hall was named as a mark of respect to the founder, Rev. Bro. Philippe Wu. When Rev. Bro. Thomas Ng left the school in 1979, Rev. Bro. John Heng took over as the new principal. He was later replaced by Rev. Bro. Joseph Ng who headed the school for a year in 1981.

In 1982, Rev. Bro. Paul Sung returned to lead Catholic High School as its 11th principal. Within two years, another new block of science laboratories and the largest school library in Petaling Jaya (C Block) was added to Catholic High School. Moreover, another building with six squash courts was also constructed. In 1984 the school started its Form Six Science classes. In 1985, for the first time, Catholic High School opened its doors to female students and became a co-educational school. However, in 1988, Rev. Bro. Paul Sung had to leave the school again and Rev. Bro. John Heng became the principal of the school for the second time.

 The appointment of Mr Cheok Cheo Foh in 1989 as the 13th principal of Catholic High School with much regret, marked the end of the Marist Brothers as heads of the school. In October 1990, Mr Lee Kim Tian became the next principal of the school. He continued with the task of expanding the school – adding a new canteen and two new blocks of classrooms, art rooms, laboratories, workshops, a lecture theatre and an air-conditioned library (1992 – D Block and 1998 – E Block). In 2001, a reading corner was built beside the canteen prior to his retirement. It was also during Mr Lee’s tenure as the principal, in 2000, that a Form Six Arts class was started in the school.

History was made on 16th September 2001 when Madam Tan Lin became the first lady to take the helm as principal of the school. Under her leadership, a RM3 million sports centre comprising squash courts, basketball courts, volleyball courts, a table-tennis hall, activity rooms and conference rooms was opened on 18 June 2005. The school hall was now fitted with an air-conditioning system to create an environment conducive for everyone on all occasions. Meanwhile, the school frontage was constructed to give CHS a contemporary look adding dignity to CHS. Madam Tan Lin’s concern for the citizens of CHS was clearly potrayed by the installation of the CCTV system and the construction of the guard house with an automatic pole gate. Catholic High School owes the success of its expansion programme to its visionary leaders, the Board of Governors, Parent-Teacher Association, CHS Alumni Association, generous beneficiaries and teachers. Today, with Madam Lee Kim Lai as the principal, Catholic High School proudly stands as an education complex with an academic staff of not less than 150 and its student population of over 3000. The school still continues to be overwhelmed with applications for admission each year. The Principal and the staff of Catholic High School are confident that the school can and will continue to be a centre of excellence and able to face challenges of the future.

Tahun Perisitiwa 1956 Marist Brother, Rev. Bro. Philippe Wu merupakan pengasas sekolah. Bermula dengan 2 buah kelas Tingkatan 1 yang menerima murid-murid lelaki sahaja dan menumpang di SR La Salle Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. 1957 CHS berpindah ke SM Maxwell, K. Lumpur. 1958 Pembinaan Bangunan Blok A di Seksyen 10, Petaling Jaya. 1961 Pembinaan Makmal Sains. 1962 SMJK Katholik menjadi Sekolah Conforming. 1969 Pembinaan Bangunan Blok B. 1976 Pembinaan Dewan Bro. Philippe Wu. 1983 Pembinaan Bangunan Blok C. (Makmal Sains dan Perpustakaan). 1984 Pembukaan Kelas Tingkatan Enam Aliran Sains. 1985 Murid perempuan  mula diterima masuk ke Kelas Peralihan.     1985 Murid perempuan  mula diterima masuk ke Kelas Peralihan. 1986 Pembinaan Bangunan Skuasy. 1992 Pembinaan Blok D ( Dewan Kuliah & Bengkel Kemahiran Hidup). 1998 Pembinaan Blok E ( Perpustakaan Baru, Makmal Sains & Bilik Seni). 2000 Pembukaan Kelas Tingkatan Enam Aliran Sastera. 2003 Pembinaan Pusat Sukan  ( Gelanggang Bola Keranjang, Bola Tampar, Skuasy, Dewan Pingpong, Bilik Aktiviti dan Bilik Pentadbiran). 2005 Perasmian Pusat Sukan Sekolah. 2006 Pembinaan Ambang Sekolah. Pelancaran Arkib  Sekolah. Pelancaran Sistem Pengurusan Sekolah ( SMS ). - Sekolah melangkah ke era sistem pengurusan bestari. 2009 Pembaharuan Tandas Sekolah. 2011 Pelancaran Projek “ Green Energy” (Kincir Angin dan Panel Suria) di Taman Sains.