S. THOMAS’ COLLEGE GURUTALAWA HEADMASTER’S REPORT AND PRIZE LIST CHIEF GUEST: THE RT REVD DHILORAJ R. CANAGASABEY 15th Lord Bishop of Colombo Chairman of the S. Thomas' College Board of Governors Visitor to the College MONDAY 13TH JUNE 2011 AT 9.30 A.M. PROGRAMME HYMN FOR SRI LANKA O Father, thou hast promised 1. Welcoming of the Chief Guest The isles shall wait for thee The joyous isles of ocean, 2. Hymn for Sri Lanka The jewels of the sea Lo! We this island’s watchmen, 3. Prayer - The Revd Ranjit Perera Would give and take no rest For thus hath thou commanded 4. Presentation of the Report - The Headmaster Till our dear land be blessed.// 5. Address by the Chief Guest - Then bless her, mighty Father, THE RT REVD DHILORAJ CANAGASABEY With blessings needed most, In every verdant village 6. Distribution of Prizes - By every palmy coast MRS HARSHINI CANAGASABEY On every soaring mountain O’er every spreading plain, 7. Vote of Thanks to the Chief Guest May all her sons and daughters i. Mr Ruwan Munasinghe, Thy righteousness attain.// Senior Vice President of the STCG OBA Give peace within her borders, ii. Mast. Pahanga Kodituwakku, That there may be goodwill Head Prefect of the School The love all unsuspicious The love that works no ill, 8. College Song In loyal, lowly service Let each from other learn 9. National Anthem The guardian and the guarded, Till Christ himself return.// PRAYER We give Thee humble and hearty thanks, O most Merciful Father for the To him our land shall listen, memory and good example of James, first Bishop of Colombo, our Founder and To him our land shall kneel for all our Governors and Benefactors, especially Dr R. L. Hayman, our first All rule be on his shoulders Headmaster, by whose benefit this whole College is brought up to godliness and All wrong beneath his heel, good learning. We beseech Thee to give us grace to use these thy blessings to the O consummation glorious glory of thy Holy Name, that we may answer the good intent of our religious Which now by faith we sing Founder, and become profitable members of the Church and Nation, and at last Come, cast we up the highway, be partakers of the immortal glory of the Resurrection through our Lord and That brings us back the king.// Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. Rev. Walter Stanley Senior (1876 – 1938) Poet of Sri Lanka, Seeker of Soul, Servant of God THE HEADMASTER’S REPORT was necessitated by the fact that having a table in front of the High Altar in an The year under review was one of mixed blessings during which we witnessed already small Sanctuary for the clergy to face the people restricted movement continued progress in all spheres of life at the School while facing a number of and the proper use of Anglican ceremonial. challenging circumstances. The resilience with which the community stood together during difficult times was an indication of the familial spirit that In December we celebrated the 65th Anniversary of the Consecration of the pervades our School. Ours is a mixed community in which differences of Chapel of the St. Francis of Assisi. On 4th December we had the annual Carol ethnicity, religion or class did not matter. Service during which a Christmas tableaux was performed to portray the Christmas story as related through the scripture readings and carols. After the This Report will give you an indication of what has been possible by God's grace Service despite the wet weather we were able to switch on the lights of the and the hard work and dedication of my staff and students. beautiful Christmas Pandal painted by a group of Art students under the direction of the teachers of Art, Fr Ranjit Perera and Mr Vijitha de Silva of our The Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi staff. The pandal depicted scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. Bishop Kenneth Chaplaincy Team: The Headmaster Fernando was present for the Carol Service and switched on the Pandal and also The Revd Ranjit Perera preached and celebrated at the trilingual sung Festal Eucharist on the morning of The Revd Saman Jayasuriya (Deacon) the 5th of December. The Eucharist was preceded by a procession from the Senior Sacristan: S. Ravikumar Basketball Court. The College Chapel continued to be the spiritual centre of life for our School. The Christian children started each day with Morning Prayers and ended each In preparation for this significant anniversary we were able to refurbish and day with Night Prayers in the Chapel led by members of the staff. On Sundays repaint the Chapel thanks to the generous contributions of old boys and well the entire Christian community of staff and students resident on campus came wishers both in Sri Lanka and abroad. together for the weekly celebration of the Holy Eucharist. In addition on certain red letter days in the Church's Liturgical Calendar there were celebrations of the We received a number of gifts for the Chapel during the year apart from the Holy Eucharist in the evenings. Choir practices were held as usual every donations for the repainting and refurbishment of the Chapel. New Bibles, hymn Saturday evening. books, a new electronic organ, altar frontals, hangings and carpets, a set of six silver candlesticks and a cruet set were among them. We were also presented In July the Lord Bishop of Colombo, our Visitor, the Rt Revd Duleep de with a new set of main doors by an old boy in Moratuwa. Chickera paid his pastoral visit to the School during which he confirmed 6 of our students and 6 students of S. Thomas' College, Bandarawela at a Service of Holy Revd H. C. Goodchild continued to help with Chapel services as Chaplain Confirmation after which the newly confirmed also received their 1st Holy Emeritus but as the Diocese could not spare a clergyman to be appointed Communion. Chaplain a Chaplaincy team was formed to carry out the work of the Chapel. Fr H. C. Goodchild, Revd Saman Jayasuriya our Deacon and Head of Divinity, as During the year under review we celebrated two significant events connected well as Fr Ranjit Perera, a retired priest of our diocese, who came to us to teach with the life of the Chapel. In October we celebrated the patronal feast of the English and to support the work of the Chaplaincy rendered great assistance in Chapel on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (4th October). The Revd John organising and leading services etc. Marshal, Vicar of St. Peter's Church, Koralawella led a Mission the night before together with a team from his Parish and on the Feast Day he preached as well. An important feature of the Service on that day was the use for the first time of the repositioned stone High Altar that was moved forward allowing for the clergy leading the celebration of the Eucharist to stand behind it and face the congregation rather than facing east with their back to the people. This move Numbers similar facilities with the funds received for the Blanchard Dormitory as well. We have still to reach the right number of students that is so crucial to our The parent also donated funds for a washing machine and dryer for the primary survival. As in the past few years we continued to admit children throughout the and girls' hostels. year, but just as much as we did so, a number of factors not least of all the inability of some parents to pay fees, ill health and even acute homesickness The Kitchen and Dining Hall Project continued and it is hoped that by 2012 we resulted in children leaving. will be able to complete our plans. The numbers in the School as at 31st December 2010 were: The STCG OBA fitted solar lights in the senior dormitories and in the primary Lower School 107 and girls' dormitory. Middle School 154 Upper School 167 Thanks to the STC OBA Canada we were able to purchase new chairs for the Total 428 Foster Memorial Hall and new bunk beds while the STC OBA Canada also sent us funds for 50 new desks and chairs for the classrooms. Examination Results and Work 32 students were presented for the G. C. E. Ordinary Level Examination 2010 of A number of classrooms and dormitories as well as other buildings were given a whom 78% qualified to follow Advanced Level courses – a great improvement facelift during the year thanks to the generosity of parents, old boys and well from the 52% that qualified in 2009. One of our boys, Head Prefect, senior wishers. Cricket Captain and Jayatilleke Scholar for 2010, K. N. K. Gamage achieved the distinction of obtaining 9 A passes in the Sinhala medium while K. C. M. The Chapel was completely repainted and repaired in time for the Chapel Tillekeratne of the English medium and G. Dheepadarhsan of the Tamil medium Anniversary in December thanks to the generosity of a number of old boys and obtained 8 A passes and 1 B pass each. Considering the fact that our children do well wishers. not have the benefit of outside tuition classes and depend almost entirely on the work of the teachers of the School and their own efforts these results are very Unfortunately we were unable to complete Phase 2 of the Swimming Pool satisfying. Project i.e. the tiling of the surface due to a lack of funds. A number of our boys have already obtained entry to our parent School at Mount Staff Lavinia and our brother School at Bandarawela to follow Advanced Level Staff numbers as at 31st December 2010 were as follows: courses in all streams and disciplines.