Princess of Wales' College is a

girls' school Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

in Sri Lanka, situated in Moratuwa, a suburb of

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. Princess of Wales' College was founded in 1876 by Sir

Charles Henry de Soysa Charles Henry de Soysa Dharmagunawardana Vipula Jayasuriya Karunaratna Disanayaka popularly known as Charles Henry de Soysa, Justice of the peace#Sri Lanka, JP (3 March 1836 – 29 September 1890) was a Demographics of Sri Lanka, Ceylonese entrepr ...

who was a famous 19th century Sri Lankan philanthropist and was named in honour of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra - Princess of Wales As of 2014 over 4000 girls are studying in the School from grade 1 to 13 including all main streams of secondary studies which include

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, mathematics,

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

and

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

. Currently there are 138 teachers in school

History

By the end of the 19th century, only a few schools in Sri Lanka offered higher education and most of them were limited to Colombo. The inception of Prince of Wales' and Princess of Wales' schools can be considered as a special reward to the children of the Moratuwa area. The founder of the school was the great philanthropist, Sir

. Following the arrival of the then

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

(

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

) in Colombo in 1875, Sir Charles Henry De Soysa felt like naming the two schools he intended to build as Prince of Wales’ and Princess of Wales’. As a result of a letter sent on 27 November 1875, he received permission to name the two schools as Prince of Wales’ and Princess of Wales’. At its inauguration, it was by far the largest girls' school in Ceylon and offered a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

education.Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon, by Arnold Wright, pp. 117-8 & 552 (Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Company)

Padma Jinasena (1974 - 1980)

Mrs Padma Jinasena, (B.A. Dip in Ed.) from 1974 to 1980. During her period of office, she had to face several changes. The existing examinations were replaced by the National Certificate of education. In 1976 students were presented for the First time for home science at the Advanced Level Examination. Selected for University was done on a district basis. The college was included in the Colombo District and the students had to face stiff competition from all the Colombo schools. Nevertheless, at least some of them gained admission to the university, every year, and many gained passes in all four subjects. During this period, the college obtained the best result in both G.C.E (Ordinary Level) and in the G.C.E. (Advanced Level) Examinations in the Moratuwa circuit, and was awarded the Proficiency Shield for same. Pupils were now admitted to Grade 6 and to the Advanced Level forms. The Hewisi Band was also formed during this period and contributed to adding much colour to all the activities of the college. The western band too was afforded the privilege of being one of the bands to play at the opening of the non-aligned conference held in August 1976. The college showed in the spheres of sports and athletics and won several competitions. In 1976 several activities were organised jointly with the Prince of Wales’ College, to celebrate the centenary of the twin colleges; Among these were religious activities, a public meeting, the issues of the Centenary Magazine and a dinner. The Prince and Princess of Wales Colleges - Moratuwa: The seeming endlessness of the Soysa legacy
by Malathi Perera,

Daily News (Sri Lanka) The ''Daily News'' is an English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka. It is now published by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House), a government-owned corporation. The newspaper commenced publishing on 3 January 1918. D. R. Wi ...

Sriya Peiris (1980 - 1986)

Mrs Jinadasa was succeeded by Mrs Sriya Peiris, Who had been a teacher of the College for a short period. Having been an Inspectress of Schools of Schools in Science, she made every effort to develop the

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

section in the College. In 1984 the College won a Competition held for Colombo Schools, and was awarded a gold Medal for its Project, ''“A Study of the Lunawa Lagoon”''. During this period, ''“Years Heads”'' were appointed in addition to the Sectional Heads. In 1984, the college presented an Art Exhibition at Alliance Francais in Colombo. 1985 saw the first sponsored walk held in the open in Sri Lanka, which started from Pirivena road,

Mount Lavinia Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia ( si, දෙහිවල-ගල්කිස්ස, translit=Dehivala-Galkissa; ta, தெஹிவளை-கல்கிசை, translit=Tehivaḷai-Kalkicai), population 245,974 (2012) is the largest suburb of the City of ...

, up to the Moratuwa clock Tower and back to the college. Special permission had to be obtained from the Education Minister to enable the one hundred participants, mainly school children to be allowed to walk on the Galle Road. During this time the foundation was laid, and the first floor of the three-storied building, in front of the main building, had been completed funds for this purpose were made available through the offices of Mr Tyrone Fernando, who was at that time the member of parliament for Moratuwa. The College is grateful to him, for taking a keen interest in the program of the school, throughout his tenure of office. The Proceeds from the sponsored walk were used to secure the new building with doors and windows and make it functional to conduct classes.

Notable alumni

References

External links