Newstead Girls' College,

Negombo Negombo (, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in Western Province, from Colombo via Colombo - Katunayake Expressway. Negombo is one of the major commercial hubs in the country and ...

is the oldest existing girls' college and the third oldest public school in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, founded by

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

ministers in 1815-1816.

History

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

missionaries founded the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School in 1815, with ''Muhandiram'' L.E.Pereira as the

head master A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

. In September 1816, a regular school was established with the Rev. Don Daniel Pereira as the schoolmaster. On 17 September 1817, the Rev. Robert Newstead was appointed the first resident Minister of Negombo and the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

bungalow, which later came to be known as the Mission House was bought that same year. In January 1818, a girls' school was proposed. In 1820, with the completion of the Wesleyan church, the Mission House was fully released for the school. In 1883, the original ''

cadjan Cadjan are woven mats made from coconut palm leaves, used for roofing and walls. Cadjan houses were available in many Asian countries in past, but with development these houses are now limited to very rural areas in India, Sri Lanka Sri ...

'' classrooms were replaced by a permanent building. In 1895 the

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

school was upgraded to the status of an English school. In 1911 the school was transformed into the Wesleyan Girls English High School. In 1916 Claribel Beven became the first girl to get through the Elementary School Leaving Certificate Examination and in 1917 the first woman missionary principal, A. D. Dixon, was appointed. In 1919 the school was renamed 'Newstead' after the first resident Minister of Negombo. In 1951, Newstead became an assisted school in terms of the Free Education Act of 1944. In 1962 the School was vested in the government, ending a period of 147 years during which the school was run by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. Past Principals: * Mudlier L. E. Pereira * Rev. Don Daniel Perera * Rev. Robert Newstead ( - 1924 ) * Rev. Rigby * Rev. H. S. Sanford ( 1885 - 1891 ) * Rev. M. Hartley ( 1898 - 1899 ) * Ms. C. H. Ward ( - 1902 ) * Ms. Lawrence ( - 1911 ) * Ms. Laura ( 1911 - 1913 ) * Ms. C. De Vos ( 1914 - 1916 ) * Ms. A. D. Dixon ( 1917 - 1942 ) * Ms. Grace Robins ( 1943 - 1951 ) * Ms. D. K. Williams ( 1951 - 1954 ) * Ms. Orloff ( 1955 - 1960 ) * Ms. Edith Ridge ( 1960 - 1962 ) * Ms. Clarice De Mel ( 1962 - 1975 ) * Ms. Rodrigo ( 1975 - 1982 ) * Ms. Gunaratne ( 1982 - 1983 ) * Ms. J. M. Sumanasinghe ( 1983 - 1985 ) * Ms. R. M. Senaratne ( 1985 - 2003 ) * Ms. B. M. Weerasuriya ( 2003 - 2008 ) * Ms. Gayani Herath ( 2008 - to date )

Motto

The motto of the school is ''More Beyond'', translated from the Latin ''

plus ultra ''Plus ultra'' (, , en, "Further beyond") is a Latin phrase and the national motto of Spain. A reversal of the original phrase ''non plus ultra'' ("Nothing further beyond"), said to have been inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Herc ...

'', the motto of

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

, who used it, along with the device of a ship of discovery, sailing past the

Pillars of Hercules The Pillars of Hercules ( la, Columnae Herculis, grc, Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι, , ar, أعمدة هرقل, Aʿmidat Hiraql, es, Columnas de Hércules) was the phrase that was applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank t ...

, out of the small Mediterranean sea into the vast Atlantic Ocean beyond, to describe the knowledge he offered mankind. It is a symbol of transcendence: open systems go beyond boundaries and point past themselves, toward a greater universe; beyond the finite, there is the infinite; beyond the known, the unknown.

Houses

* Ward House Colour - Green
Motto - Do the Task Before You * Dixon House Colour - Orange
Motto - Each for All and All for Each * Hartley House Colour - Yellow
Motto - Keep Smiling * Lawrence House Colour - Black
Motto - Up and On

Current Situation

Currently the principal of Newstead Girls' College Negombo is Gayani Herath. The current population of the school is about 3,500. The tutorial staff consist of about 125 teachers.

Notable alumni

References

External links

Newstead Girls College homepage
* https://web.archive.org/web/20100730063852/http://www.ihgs.ac.uk/competition/robert_newstead.html - A Portrait of Robert Newstead - one of Wesley's missionaries by Jane Swan {{coord missing, Sri Lanka Educational institutions established in 1815 Educational institutions established in 1816 Former Methodist schools in Sri Lanka National schools in Sri Lanka Girls' schools in Sri Lanka Schools in Negombo 1815 establishments in Ceylon