St. Mary's College is a leading boys' school in Kegalle, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka.
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St. Mary’s College is one of the oldest boys colleges in Sri Lanka, which has a history of nearly 150 years. It is the Alma Mater of many distinguished citizens in Sri Lanka. Established in 1867 adjacent to St. Mary's Church as an Anglo - vernacular school and come under the direction of Benedictine Missionaries, on the Colombo-Kandy road in the Kegalle district. It was Rev. Fr. Domenico Pingulani who initiated the school and was in religious missionaries between 1864 and 1880. St. Mary's College Kegalle was the fifth established Catholic boys' school in Sri Lanka after the schools of Colombo, Jaffna, Kandy and Galle.
In 1893, the Jesuit Missionaries from Belgium took over the management of school and they were in charge of college from the year of 1883 for 76 years. This period could be called the "Golden Era" of the history of St. Mary’s College and it is during this period that the school took its initial steps in the direction of the "Pathway to the Heights". The first Parish Priest was Fr. Neut, who came from the Belgium. From the beginning, the school was famous for the best results at the Cambridge Junior & Senior Exams. The school maintained a very high standard and this is best illustrated by the fact that it admitted overseas students (especially the Indians.) in as early as the 1990s.
From the early times, St. Mary's has been famous for scouting. The scouts of yesteryear have participated many activities both in Sri Lanka and overseas as well. Moreover the school has also been famous for its sports and extra curricular activities. In the sports arena, it has an unparallel record and many Marians excelled in sports and taken part of national level and even represented Sri Lanka In several international events. For instance, in the 1950s Mr. John Perera and Mr. Farook from St. Mary's College were members of the National Youth Football Team and participated in foreign tour as well. The other sports Marians excelled in are Cricket, Volleyball, Table Tennis, Carom & Boxing. Under the guidance of the Master in Charge of Cadet Platoon, there was a Shooting Club in school.
In the late 1950s, St. Mary's College had its own observatory with a powerful telescope. And from this very early point of time, which St. Mary’s College was honored as the pioneer school in relation to astronomical studies.
"Non sibi sed patriae", which means "Not for self but for Country".
"To be an excellent school in Sri Lanka"
"To build a generation of children who are healthy in physically as well as mentally respecting views of others, facing unexpected challenges and with a balanced personality!"
The house system was reintroduced in St. Mary’s College Kegalle in 1947. One change introduced along with it was the renaming of houses. Previously each house was called after the name of a person who, at some time or other, had been connected with the college and had deserved well for it. The idea of the house system is to afford pupils an opportunity for healthy rivalry. The college has four houses: Red, Gold (presently named as Yellow), Blue, and Green.
It is impossible to believe that the traditional relations (like annual "Big Match" with Kegalu Vidyalaya) with other schools in the area has quite a short history, While practicing rich traditions in St. Mary’s College itself more than a Century. The reason for this is that there was no parallel school in the area for it to compete. With since St. Mary's College was the only boys' school in the area, which maintained a high slandered and can be considered as an isolated giant. Kegalu Vidyalaya, the only school that is even "entitle" to compete with St. Mary's College was opened in 1942.
Initiated with an Advanced Level Project "Web Approach to St.Mary's College" by R.M.Kusal Dissanayake, a student in 2009 with the guidance of the Science Sectional head Mr.S.A.Dayananda.
SMC is the first school in Kegalle to register for Google Apps Educational Edition and actively use them in accounts system.
SMC were the first school in Sri Lanka to do Online April Fools' Day hoaxes. avoiding regular online web culture started in 2009. Some of the most popular hoaxes were,
The First Student Community group in Kegalle district (that is fully college owned, college hosted and under control) was the Api Marians Online Community started in 2009 now it exceeds over 1000 users.