Hillwood College
| Hillwood College, Kandy | |
|---|---|
 The Utmost for the Highest | |
| Location | |
|
Kandy Sri Lanka | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent Private |
| Established | 1890 |
| Founder | Ms. Elizabeth Bellerby |
| Principal | Nelum De Alwis [1] |
| Staff | 140+ |
| Grades | 1 - 13 |
| Gender | Girls |
| Age | 6 to 18 |
| Enrollment | 2000 |
| Pupils | Hillwoodians |
| Colour(s) |
Gold and Silver |
| Website | www.hillwoodcollege.com |
Hillwood College is a prestigious private girls school situated at the heart of the hill capital of Kandy, Sri Lanka. The school is famous for their well-mannered girls, who are being nurtured basically in a Christian-based environment. Even though the school is of a Christian origin, different pupils of different races as well as of different religions attend the school while keeping there identity as it is. Through this approach the school has been able to produce youngsters who can live cooperatively with different ethnic groups. The school is situated in the lake round area nearby to the Malwatu pirivena (Buddhist Monastery).
Origin
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Hillwood College Kandy was founded in 1890 by Miss Elizabeth Bellerby as a result of an appeal made by the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society(CEZMS) to open a school in benefit for the Kandyan girls. Miss Elizabeth Bellerby along with Miss Ethel Jones arrived Sri Lanka on 1889 to fulfill the request of the CEZMS. Upon arrival she went to Christian Mission School, Kotte to learn Sinhalese which might have surely made her easy to tackle the local folk. Miss Elizabeth started the institute between May and August 1890.
At start there were only seven pupils at the commencement. In those times there was a prejudice of people as "not educating girls", but she convinced the parents telling that ”If you educate a son, you educate an individual but if you educate a daughter you educate an entire family”. With these remarks the vision of Kandyan people about educating girls changed vastly.
After founding the college, she served Hillwood College Kandy as the founding principal for almost 21 years.
Nowadays the school is acting as a facilitator to almost 2000 girls.
Opportunities for students
Hillwood College encourages their pupils to take part in group work as much as possible to ensure and develop there attitude towards cooperatively living. As a result the school is happy to offer more than twenty clubs and societies as well as many sports to take part. Sports include swimming, netball, basketball, volleyball, hockey, tennis, chess and athletics.
Notable alumni
- First Lady Seelawathie Rambukwella Gopallawa- Wife of Governor-General/ First(Non-Executive) President of Sri Lanka William Gopallawa
- Chandra Ranaraja - Kandy's first female mayor ( elected in 1990)
- Duleeka Marapana - actress
- Sachini Ayendra Stanley - Miss Sri Lanka 2003