Princess of Wales' College is a

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

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, situated in

Moratuwa Moratuwa () is a large municipality on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, near Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. It is situated on the Galle–Colombo (Galle road) main highway, south of the centre of Colombo. Moratuwa is surrounded on three sides ...

, a suburb of

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. 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, JP (3 March 1836 – 29 September 1890) was a Ceylonese entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was a pioneering planter, i ...

who was a famous 19th-century Sri Lankan philanthropist. The school was named in honour of 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 and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

and

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

. 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 (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

(

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

) 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 , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

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 Colombo District ( ''kol̠am̆ba distrikkaya''; ''Koḻumpu Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a D ...

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

5th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement 5th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement on 16–19 August 1976 in Colombo, Sri Lanka was the conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement. 86 nations participated in the summit with additional 30 observers and guests repr ...

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. Wij ...

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 discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

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, up to the

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