Wesley College popularly known as "Wesley" or "The Double Blues", is a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

school providing primary and secondary

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

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, ...

since 1874.

History

In 1858, Rev. Joseph Rippon wanted to establish a superior educational institution for the Wesleyan Methodist Mission in South Ceylon. On 2 March 1874 (the death anniversary of Rev.

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

) Wesley College was founded in the City Mission buildings at Dam Street, Pettah. The school's first principal was Rev. Samuel R. Wilkin and the first vice-principal was Rev. Daniel Henry Pereira. Many years later, under the guiding hand of Rev. Henry Highfield, Wesley was moved from Dam Street, Pettah to its current residence at Karlsruhe Gardens,

Borella Borella is the largest suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka represented by divisional code 8. Demographic Borella is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic area. The major ethnic communities in Borella are Sinhalese people, Sinhalese and Tamils. There are a ...

in 1907. The Methodist institution was envisaged to be a distinctly Christian college, but it currently provides secondary education for over 3,000

n students from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds. Wesley College has established two branches to accommodate its growing number of students. One branch is situated in Havelock Town, Colombo, while the other is in Thampola, Katunayake. Wesley College is named after

(1703–1791), the founder of the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

College song

The song was the first-ever school anthem to be written in the country. The lyrics were composed by H. J. V. I. Ekanayake in 1898, and set to the music of " Scots Wha Hae" by

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

. This music is adapted from the traditional Scottish patriotic tune " Hey Tuttie Tatie", which was composed in 1314.

Houses

The

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The school is divided into units called "houses" and each student is allocated to on ...

was suggested by Rev. Henry Highfield and introduced by Rev Albert Hutchinson. Wesley College has four main houses, which were further divided by C. J. Oorloff as senior houses and junior houses. The houses are named after former principals and teachers, as follows: * Senior house - Wilkin / Junior house - Dias * Senior house - Moscrop / Junior house - Lemphers * Senior house - Hillard / Junior house - Mack * Senior house - Passmore / Junior house - Honter

Notable alumni

References

{{Reflist

External links