Girls' High School, Kandy

Girls' High School is the oldest school for girls in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Mission

Honouring the relationship with the environment to become disciplined responsible mature women who will be able to serve with humanity with but fear or favour be open to changes and to stand up to challenges be able to hold on to their belief while respecting the convictions of others.

History

Early years

In 1873, the need of a school in connection with Wesleyan Mission work was urged by Samuel Langdon and so a Day and Boarding school was built in Katukele,Kandy Sri Lanka.

The school was opened in 1879 at the Wesleyan school chapel adjoining the Girls' Boarding School, Katukele - Kandy, under the management of Mrs Langdon. Miss Payne, the next principal arrived in Colombo on 31 July 1879 but left the school in 1880. In May 1880 Miss Hay came from England and the school, which had 10 on the roll at its inception, increased to 70 and was registered to obtain a grant-in-aid from the government.

As numbers increased, in 1881 the school shifted to the more commodious precincts of the Mission in Brownrigg Street, but boarders remained at Katukele. Classes were held behind the church. Long desks and forms without backs and heavy pews from the church were moved weekly when classes had to take turn in writing. There were no games, Guiding, debating or netball, not even a library.

20th century

With the dawn of the 20th century, under the guidance of Miss Sansom, who served for 19 years, Kandy High School became one of the leading educational instructions in Ceylon. On March 21, 1917 the First Company of Girl Guides was formed in the Island. Miss Sansom prepared the way for this and Miss Jane Calveriey, the Vice-Principal was the First Captain. This was followed by the 1st Brownie Company and the Ranger Company in 1918 and 1921. In June 1920 plague broke out in Kandy and 262 students were ordered to leave the premises overnight. The kindergarten and Std 2 shifted to Trinity College, Std 3 and 4 were housed at the YWCA opposite the police station and the senior girls at the YWCA near the Kandy lake. Miss. Calveriey had a busy time cycling from one place to another supervising the classes, so she invested in a scooter which make her day easier. In 1917 the first company of Girl Guides was formed on the island, and the school was the first to play netball in Sri Lanka.

The four houses

The four houses are Eaton, Langdon, Lawrance, and Sansom . Their respective house colours are, Light Blue,Green,Yellow and Dark Blue.