St. Thomas' College, Matale ( Sinhala: මාතලේ ශාන්ත තෝමස් විද්‍යාලය), or (STC), is a boys-only

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located in

Matale Matale ( Sinhala: මාතලේ, , , ) is a major city in Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative capital and largest urbanised city of Matale District. Matale is also the second largest urbanised and populated city in Central P ...

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, ...

History

The school was established in 1873 under the

veranda A veranda (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English) is a roofed, open-air hallway or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front an ...

h of a small mud-and-wattle church. The first class of students included 75 boys and 12 girls. In 1876, the school was split into separate boys and girls schools by Rev. Fr. Aloysius J. M. Marrer. The headmaster of the boys' school was Leo de Silva, and the leader of the girls' school was Rosa Perera. The girls' school was named St. Agnes Convent School, which is now known as St. Thomas Girls' School. In January 1880, a secular priest (also known as a diocesan priest), Rev. Fr. Pius Fernando, from

Negombo Negombo (, ), also known as Punchi Romaya (Little Rome), is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in the Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, from Colombo via the E03 expressway ...

, arrived at the school. Fernando spent half a century of his priestly life in

and died in 1930. In 1901, the Robinson Memorial Hall was built on land donated by John Croos of Negombo. In 1904, Joseph Gregory Perera, a former student of the school, joined as a pupil-teacher and retired in 1946. He was popularly known as “Joseph Master”. During that time the headmasters were J. M. Direckse, A. S. Scharnignivel, L. D’w. Jayasighe, C. J. Rodrigo and Charles Robinson. Robinson was appointed as headmaster on 1 September 1923, retiring in 1958. Cadet Platoon (Junior) was inaugurated on 10 December 1938 under the charge of J. B. Madasekara. E. A. Perusinghe, who was a Lieutenant, took over cadeting. The Scout Troop 3rd Matale was inaugurated in 1935 with F. de S. Gunawardena as Scout Master and S. B. Pamunuwa as his assistant. When Robinson retired, he was succeeded by George Denlow, who left the school after a short stint and was replaced by B. J. Perera.

Education

There are more than 2,000 students studying in the college (July 2014). They have many facilities of studying leading to qualifications such as grade 5 scholarship exams, O/L and A/L.

Past principals

Houses

Competition

The school's main rival is the Science College, Matale. Matches between the two are often called the "Battle of the Golds".

Notable alumni

The school has produced many notable persons who are well known throughout the country.

References

External links

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MOTA Colombo Official website

Dharmaraja gets new principal

U-15 Cricket Tourney Easy win for St. Thomas’ Matale

St. Thomas’ College, Matale win u.17 cricket final by 7 runs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas' College, Matale Boys' schools in Sri Lanka National schools in Sri Lanka Schools in Matale 1873 establishments in Ceylon Educational institutions established in 1873