College History
1920
In 1920 then Parish Priest of St. Anne’s Church Rev Fr. Charles Croctaine thought to build a school to give a sound education for the children in the area.
Mr. R. A. De Alwis a well-known philanthropist in Wattala built a school building in Aweriyawatta area from his own expense which enabled Rev. Fr. to accomplish his wish.
The day, 20th of April in 1920 was a significant day for the whole Wattala area. It was the day that Mr. R. A. De Alwis handed over the new school building to the Parish Priest Rev Fr. Charles Croctaine. Rev. Fr. then named the school after St. Anne and welcomed the Sisters of Good Shepherd Congregation to be in charge of the new school and lead the administration of the school. Thus the school became St. Anne’s English School which brightened the area shedding her light throughout.
Hence the school was established with Rev. Sr. Mary Bertha as the principal and three other sisters. The school was named after the great grandmother of Jesus Christ, St. Anne.
The school became St. Anne’s English School which brightened the area shedding her light throughout.
Even though the school was established for the girls to be educated in English Medium, the boys were also fortunate to study in grade one and two. Therefore at the beginning 3 boys and 10 girls were enrolled to be educated in this school.
Three of the boys who were educated in this school were fortunate to become priests later. They were Rev. Frs. Vincent Deph, Lucian Deph and Alex Ranasinghe.
1924
In 1924 Rev. Sr. Mary Bertha was transferred and Miss Elaine Lorage took over the charge of the school and became the first layperson to become the Principal of the school.
1928
The school was registered as the government funded school during Miss Elaine Lorage‘s term as the principal in 1928.
1931
In 1931 a new era begins with Rev. Sr. Mary Felicitas as the new principal.
1932
Rev. Sr. Mary Angel became the principal and the school which was formally established as an English medium school initiated to educate the students in Sinhala medium as well.
The lessons were conducted in both mediums English medium in the morning and Sinhala medium in the evening.
1935
By 1935 the student population was risen to 100 with 5 teachers.
1940
In 1940 Rev. Sr. Mary Angels was transferred and Rev. Sr. Mary Adrienne assumed duties as the new principal.
1941
In 1941 the school was raised to a Junior Secondary status during her time as the result of the great effort made by then General Manager of Catholic schools in Colombo diocese Rev. Fr. D. J. Anthony.
1943
It is in 1943 the school established a system of houses. The three houses were named as
Regina Caeli, Mari Stella, and Mater Admirabilis.
The student of grade 6 upwards were divided among those houses and appreciated for their achievements in various domains.
1945
In 1945 with the approval of the home science examiner Miss Weastrop the school forms its home Science Section.
The school marked a significant breakthrough in 1945 as it became a senior secondary school which also took place in the time of Rev. Sr. Mary Adrienne.
1949 - 1969
In 1949 Rev. Sr. Mary Good Shepherd became the principal and in the same year the houses were reformed and established as Andrew, Anthony, Chantal and Pascal and recognized the different accomplishments of the students.
In 1951 the students of the school staged a ballet called Fatima to enhance their sense of arts.
In 1953 bringing fame to school, the students of St Anne’s marched in the parade of the celebration hosted to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.
In 1955, Rev. Sr. Mary Good Shepherd retired and Rev. Sr. Mary Eugene became the principal .
This was the year the school initiated the studies in Commerce stream. The Advanced Level studies in Arts steam was also commenced in this year.
The buildings for this purpose were constructed along with a home science room and a science laboratory.
In the year 1961 under the government decision to acquire the catholic schools under the government administration St. Anne’s also became a government school.
In 1965, The Girl Guides Company was registered under Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association on 22nd November.
In 1968 the aesthetic section of the school staged a another ballet Hathpethi Mala adopted from a Russian Folk Tale which was performed at the Lionel Wendt theater and many other well-known theaters in several instances.
In 1969, First Ever Western Band was created. They became district first in the same year.
Both Western & Eastern Bands were formed in 1969 and they became district first in the same year.
During this period the school saw a progress in the co-curricular and extracurricular activities as well. The school Netball team was formed during this period and they became the district champions in the same year.
1971 - 1991
In 1971 St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Girls School was merged to the school.As the student population was increasing in that year the Sacred Heart Convent which was the dormitory of the Good Shepherded sisters was donated by those sisters to the school. The school again held another stage drama to raise fund for the construction of the new convent for those sisters.
In 1973 both Western and Eastern bands were able to win the first places in the interschool band displays. In 1973 Rev. Sr. Mary of the Angels became the principal.Eastern band was able to win the first places in the interschool band displays beating Visaka Vidyalaya and other Gampaha District schools.The Western band became first in the Inter School Band Display in the same year.
In 1976, The bands of St Anne’s Balika was selected to perform in the Non-Aligned Summit, Colombo in 1976.
In 1997, Mrs. M. L. J. Ferdinandes became the principal of the school and she was the second layperson to become the principal of St. Anne’s.Construction of a new three storey building for the secondary school and a two storey building for the primary section was began in this year.
In 1978, Sinhala School Anthem was created in this year. The lyrics was written by a former teacher Ms. Sriya Fernando and the melody was composed by veteran musician Mr. Shelton Premaratne.
The houses were renamed as St. Mary, St. Agnes, St Theresa and St. Cecilia and are existing up to date.1978 was a significant year in the history of St. Anne’s as it became the best girl’s school in Gampaha district.Out of 17 students who sat in the Advanced Level Examination 15 students passed and three students were selected to the university for the first time in the history.Furthermore, the primary section of the school got the first place in the grade five scholarship examination among the schools in Wattala division.The western band won the first place in the school band display competition in Gampaha district in that year.
In 1982, Mr. Hiran Solangarachchi led off to prepare students for the Advanced Level Examination in the Science Stream and four students succeeded in entering the Medical College.
In 1983 Mrs. Mary Perera initiated to start the advanced level studies in Agriculture stream in the school for the first time and Ms. M.D.F.S. Mallika resumed the studies in the Commerce Stream and then onwards the students of the Commerce Studies were selected to university each year.
In 1984, Then principal Ms. M.L.J. Ferdinandes was able to secure the school land by taking legal actions to solve the dispute regarding a footpath which ran through the school premises.
1986 marked another significant achievement in the history of the school as it won the first place in the advanced level results in Gampaha district. From 1986 to 1988, Annites won admission to universities from all streams of A/Ls.
In 1987, The Annites led by Mrs. Nemali Amarasinghe were also able to win the music and dancing competition conducted in the Gam Udava Programme in 1987. From 1986 to 1990, Annites were able to win first place in various categories from the All Island Inter School Dance and Ballet Competitions Under her guidance.
In 1991 Samanthi Kannangara won the first place in the SARRC Quiz Competition. The primary section of the school was established as an independent school and the secondary school has been called St. Anne’s Balika Maha Vidyalaya from this year onwards.
1993 - 2005
In 1993 an exhibition called “Nipunatha” was held in order to showcase the talents of the student of the school.
In 1999 Mrs. M. L. J. Ferdinandes who had been the principal of the school for a long tenure retired from her post and Rev. Sr. Mary Rita Fernando assumed duties as the Principal.
In 2001, During the period of Rev. Sr. Mary Rita Fernando’s administration, construction of another three storey building was started. Establishment of a new lighting system for the school main hall and the school Computer section were also done under her administration.
In 2004, the school which was led by the Good Shepherd sisters was passed over to a sister of Dominican congregation. The present principal Rev. Sr. Kanthi Perera took over the leadership of the school. The completion of the construction of the new three storey building which was being done then and naming it as St. Rose of Lima, the renovation of the home science building, Science Laboratory and the library were done under her guidance.
In 2005 the chapel of the school was renovated and opened, blessed by then Roman Catholic Archbishop of Colombo Oswald Gomes.
The construction of three-storey building and by landscaping the school premises in order to create a conducive teaching learning environment was also done during this period.
2010 - 2018
In 2010, The school Cadet Corps was established on the 8th of March in the year 2010 and the creation of school Cadet Band was followed in the year 2011.
In 2012, St. Anne’s became the owner of a new college bus with the guidance of Rev. Sr Kanthi Perera.
In 2016, The school also initiated to develop Karate in the school and the daughters of St. Anne’s brought fame to school by winning an international tournament. Kaushalya Madhuwanthi won the 1st place and Ishara Devindi won the 2nd place at the South Asian Karate Tournament held in India in 2016.Elani Muller won the 1st place and the school Western Dancing Troupe won the 2nd place at the All Island Music and Dancing Championships in 2016.
In 2017, The revolutionary beginning of a new era was dawned when St. Anne’s initiated the transformation process to become a smart school. The process was strengthened with the donation of two smart classrooms by the old girls of the school.2017 marks another significant event in the history of St. Anne’s with the installation of the first ever smart board to one of the smart classrooms.http://sabsmart.blogspot.com/
In 2018, empowered by the system of Smart School concept the entering and analyzing of term evaluation marks was started online.Air Scouting was started on the 6th of June 2018. This was initiated under the guidence of Mrs. Marian Nimalika.
2019
The first ever Buddhist School Head Prefect was appointed in the year 2019. On the 12th of March in that year, Sumudu Saumya took oaths as the head prefect at the prefects’ investiture.
On the 31st of May 2019.
The declaration of Centennial Year was made by the General Manager of Catholic schools in Colombo diocese Very Rev. Fr. Ivan Perera.
Another Smart class was donated by the 1986 batch of the old girls on the 4th of June 2019.