| S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia | |
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Esto Perpetua (Be Thou Forever)
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| Location | |
| Mt. Lavinia, Colombo, Sri Lanka | |
| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1851 |
| Founder | Rt Rev James Chapman, |
| Gender | Boys |
| Color(s) | Blue and Black |
| Affiliation | Anglican |
| Former pupils | Old Thomians |
| Website | Official website |
The College of St Thomas the Apostle, popularly known as "S. Thomas' College", is a private Anglican school providing primary and secondary education in Sri Lanka. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious schools in Sri Lanka and its former pupils include four former Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka.[1]
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The College which is under the Anglican Church of Ceylon, is run by a Board of Governors which is chaired by the Anglican Bishop of Colombo, who is also known as the "Visitor of the College". The administration of the College itself is headed by a warden. Admission to the College is at the sole discretion of the warden.
There are three academic terms in the year
The College consists of three schools - Upper, Middle, and Lower.
There are 5 Houses at STC, four of which are "day houses", for those who do not live in the Boarding House. It was in the time of Warden McPherson that an organized house system was introduced, so to encourage boys to take part in extracurricular activities. In 1926, the day boys were divided first into 5 houses, namely Wood, Buck, Stone, De Saram, and Miller-Coppleston. Boys were allotted in them according to the location of their residences. Wood house consisted of boys from Ratmalana, further south and from Nugegoda and Borella. Stone and Buck housed children from Mt. Lavinia, the former consisting of those whose surnames starts from A to M, while the latter of the rest. Baly housed boys who lived in Wellawatte and Bambalapitiya. Children who were from Dehiwala, Slave Island & Fort were allotted in Jermyn House. This system was not found successful.
The College has many sports and games for its students.
The most prominent sports are those classified as the "Royal-Thomian". These sports take precedence because of the importance given to the clash between S. Thomas' oldest rival, the Royal College, Colombo.
A cricket match between these colleges takes place in the first term of Lent every year. As the rains begin in Michaelmas Term, the rugby season has kicked off and the main encounter is the Royal-Thomian Rugby match. As the year ends with the term of Yuletide, the highlights are the Royal Thomian Regatta and the Boat Race for the oarsmen of the two Colleges and simultaneously the two leg Water Polo encounter.
The Royal-Thomian, is the annual cricket match between the Royal College, Colombo and S Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia is the second longest uninterrupted cricket match series in the world, even older than the Ashes, having being played for 130 years continuously. The original match was played between the Colombo Academy and S. Thomas' College in 1879, with schoolmasters participating as well as schoolboys. From 1880 onwards, only schoolboys were allowed to play in the match. It is the only school boy cricket match in Sri Lanka to be played over three days. The match is played for the D. S Senanayake Memorial Shield, which was first presented in 1928. From 1979 matches were played for 3 days except in 1985 which was a 2 day match. A limited overs match (50 overs) was introduced in 1975 and is played for Mustangs Trophy.
The Royal-Thomian Regatta (or Boat Race) is the annual rowing race between Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia, having begun in 1962 the event has evolved into the Royal Thomian Regatta or The Regatta in 1966 and now is made up of 6 events. The races are rowed over a distance of 1000 yards and take place on the Beira Lake in Colombo. The regatta takes place in the month of October and is usually held on the last Saturday of the month at the Colombo Rowing Club. The Royal Thomian Regatta is the oldest inter-mural rowing regatta in Sri Lanka.
The Royal Thomian Tennis is the annual tennis tournament between Royal College and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia.
College has many clubs and societies which students can join. Many of these clubs and societies organize several projects on an annual basis. The Computer Club, The Interact Club, The Radio Club, The Aeronautical Society, the Stamp Club, the Senior Science Association and the Red Cross Society are just some of clubs and societies at S. Thomas'. All of the above are fully or partially funded by the College. Joining and actively taking part in club activity is strongly recommended. All such clubs and societies are supervised by a Master-in-Charge and have their respective President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer elected from among the students.
The Radio Club in College is regarded as one of the oldest societies, as archives show that the society started as a band of students operating and maintaining the public address system for Chapel services and prayers daily since 1891. However, this society disbanded once the school was shifted from Mutwal to Mt. Lavinia in 1927. The society started activities again only in the late 1940's and has been in action ever since.
The following bursaries and scholarships are available;
Past students of S. Thomas' are referred to as Old Thomians. STC educated the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.[2]
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