Bishop's College | |
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Address | |
15 Boyd Place Colombo Sri Lanka |
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Information | |
School type | Private Day & Boarding |
Motto |
Latin: 'Non Sibi Sed Omnibus' (Not for one but for all) |
Founded | 1875 |
Founder | James Chapman |
Principal | Sharmila Gunatilleke |
Grades | Nursery - Gr. 14 |
Gender | Female (and males in the nursery) |
Enrollment | ~2500 |
Medium of language | Sinhala, Tamil and English |
Hours in school day | 6 |
Houses | Henley, Ford, Chapman, Copleston |
Colour(s) | Purple & gold |
Song | Oba Kithu Gosa Pethirewa (School Hymn: "We build our school on thee, O lord") |
Website | bishopscollege |
Bishop's College in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is a girls' school founded by the Anglican Church of Ceylon in February 1875.
Bishop's College is a private fee-levying Anglican girls' school in Sri Lanka with about 2,500 students at all grades from kindergarten to Grade 14. It is located at 15 Boyd Place, Colombo 3, Sri Lanka. The current principal is Sharmila Gunatilleke.
Bishop's College started in 1857 as one of the earliest mission schools of the Church of England in Ceylon, and it was first known as Bishopsgate School. The Bishop of Colombo, the Rt. Rev. James Chapman (1845–1862), and his wife Frances were instrumental in setting up the school. Frances Chapman had set her heart on setting up a school for Christian girls with funds collected while on furlough in England. In 1857 she established a school in their own residence in Mutwal called Bishopsgate, with the 20 pupils she desired. The principal was a Mrs Long, who had served earlier at the Church Missionary School in Nallur, Jaffna. However, in May 1859, Frances Chapman returned to England due to ill health, Mrs Long died in 1861 and the school had to be temporarily closed. No reference to its reopening is available in the Diocesan Archives.
Bishop's College dates its beginning to 1875, when the school with 13 pupils was established at Fairfield House in Darley Road, under the same name - Bishopsgate School. Fairfield House is the present site of Link Holdings Ltd. Even today the word "Bishopsgate" stands engraved at the entrance to the building. The first principal to come out was Georgiana Down, who married Harry Drew, the son of Joseph Drew and music director at the nearby S. Thomas' College. Among the first girls enrolled were Minnie Von Possner, Hilda Obeysekera, Dorah Aserappah and Caroline Peiris. The first boys to enter the kindergarten were James and Donald Obeysekera and Leslie de Saram. Monthly expenses in running the school were about Rs. 300/- which included rent, salaries, and the hire of a piano. The income in fees in the first month totalled Rs. 302/50! In 1882 the school had twenty-one pupils, four of them in the school boarding. But the income was not sufficient to make ends meet. Even with the sale of the furniture, the debts could not be settled. Mrs. Drew resigned in April 1882, and with her departure the school had to be closed again. Mrs. Drew returned to England with her husband and four children.