Kingswood College, Kandy

Kingswood College is a Sri Lankan Public school offering boys primary and secondary education. The school was founded by Louis Edmund Blaze on 4 May 1891, with eleven students at a site on Pavilion Street in Kandy. Later, the school was moved to Randles Hill. Since then, the school has grown considerably, having over 3,500 students and 300+ faculty members. It is one of the oldest schools in Kandy and is commonly known as KCK.

History
Kingswood College was founded by Louis Edmund Blaze, with eleven students, as a boys' high school. At the time, most schools on the island had been classified as stateaided government schools or missionary schools. Government grants were available until a school showed itself established, with a solid core of teachers and an expanding role, but institutions run by individuals did not qualify for government assistance. The first few years of the school's existence were a struggle for Blaze. Fee income barely covered the cost of running the school, so Blaze handed the struggling institution over to be managed by the Methodist mission. In 1961, the school was taken over by the state.

From the outset, he modelled the school on the English public school system. A house system was introduced to the school in 1922, and the names selected were those of major English public schools; (Eton, Harrow, Rugby and Winchester) he built up the school on the strength of his reputation. It was he who coined the term, Gentlemen of Kingswood, to describe the body of students of his school and he who chose a motto for the school in Latin; Fide et Virtute. He then chose the school colours, maroon and dark blue, and wrote the words of the school song. The school was the first in Sri Lanka to introduce rugby, the first boys' school to employ a female teacher, the first to introduce the sport of rowing and one of the first to establish a Cadet Corps. The first prize-giving was held in 1895, only four years after the school was founded and became an annual feature. One feature of the Kingswood Prize Giving was the Prologue written by Blaze, a review in verse of the year's events in the country and the world. It was generally recited by the boy who won the annual Oratory Prize. Blaze continued to write the annual Prologue for three decades after his retirement as the principal in 1923, almost up to the time of his death.

In 1900, Blaze wrote the first comprehensive school textbook on the history of Sri Lanka. It ran to several editions before it was superseded by the works of one of his earliest pupils at Kingswood, G. C. Mendis, who served for many years as a lecturer (and later reader) in the Department of History at the University of Ceylon.

Blaze held office at Kingswood for 32 years, retiring in 1923. He had seen the school through its formative years and had securely established it. Before his retirement, he planned the removal of the school from the small premises it occupied in Pavilion Street. As the number of students continued to grow, the need for a more spacious and less noisy environment became a matter of increasing urgency. The location selected was in the village of Wel-Ata in Mulgampola, then a quiet and seemingly distant suburb of Kandy. The new site and the new buildings were made possible by a gift of money from a British industrialist, Sir John Scurrah Randles. The new complex of buildings consisted of classrooms, an administrative building, a large hostel and staff quarters. The school's new location (and railway halt just opposite) was named Randles Hill to honour Kingswood's main benefactor of modern times. The new buildings were opened in 1925 under Blaze's successor, Reverend E. Pearson, who ran the school for four years. He was succeeded by O. L. Gibbon (1929–1937) and F. A. J. Utting (1937–1942). They consolidated the work that Blaze had begun and, during their administration, the school continued to develop.

Although Kingswood was a Methodist missionary school, the student body contained Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Burghers, Eurasians and a mix of Ceylonese identity groups such as Malays, Chettis and Moors. A strong multiethnic admission was seen in the years leading to Independence. Methodist students did have some advantages when it came to the award of scholarships, but the special scholarships were awarded on merit and were open to all. The 1940s was a crucial period in the development of the school. Wartime conditions put an end to the practice of sending Englishmen as principals of the school. In 1942, P. H. Nonis became the first Sinhalese national to head the school, holding the post for 15 years. The school admitted some boys from S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia when the latter had to vacate its premises during World War II.

When the free education system was introduced in the late 1940s, the Methodist mission had to decide whether the school should opt out of it and retain its independence as a feelevying school, or join the national education in which the state would pay the teaching staff and relieve its students of the need to pay fees. Some elite schools on the island opted out, but few missionary schools could afford to forgo the advantage of having the salaries of the staff covered; Kingswood was one of them.

Nonis presided over the transition from an independent school to a school in the national school system. The control of the education department bureaucracy, though, was neither vigorous nor rigid. Thus, the change in status was a subtle one, and the school was able to maintain both its independence and its traditions almost undisturbed. Even now, Kingswood is a small institution (with about 700 students and about 35 teachers) compared to other schools in the hill country.

During this period, the school built up a reputation in sports. The school's reputation for hockey was enhanced during Nonis' period. He was a well-known school cricketer and he built up a good cricket team. If one single individual personified the schools' achievements in sports during this era it would be Frederick A. White, younger brother of Olympian Duncan White.

After Nonis' retirement, B. A. Thambipillai became acting principal and held office till the arrival of Kenneth M. de Lanerolle (1958–1967). His was a much more difficult task than that of his predecessors, for during 1960—1961 the school became fully statecontrolled. When the state took over the school, the number of students increased, as in other state schools in the country. Although the state-financed the salaries and wages of the teachers and the support staff, it became more difficult to maintain sports and other extracurricular activities and to manage facilities to the same degree. Nor was it as easy as in the past to finance the construction of new buildings. Nevertheless, new buildings were erected thanks to the initiatives of de Lanerolle and his constant search for funds from parents, old boys and well-wishers. E S Liyanage, who was principal from 1977 to 1984, was the first old boy to become principal of the school. The principalship of Nihal Herath and R. B. Rambukwella was also important. Herath introduced changes to the college which brought progress in discipline, the standard of education and sports. He also made preparations for the centenary year that was to come in 1991, before he left to become principal of Dharmaraja College, Kandy. The post-1961 principals had a more difficult task in the management of the school. They were part of a complex administrative system and were in transferable service; their control of admissions was limited; they had little influence on the choice of teachers for the school. Thus, they faced challenges in maintaining the school as a distinctive entity within the state system and keeping alive the school traditions of the past. The solid and elegant old buildings are a legacy of the past and even the playing field has been expanded only to a limited degree. Thus, the physical shape of the school is much the same as in the days of the Methodist mission. Those who led the school during this century would need to preserve as much of the original shape as possible, but would also need to add to the buildings to cope with the increase in the number of students.

Ranjith Chandrasekara (2000–2013) ran the college for almost thirteen years and was then promoted as National Schools Director for Sri Lanka. He serves for the Ministry of Education and as chairman of the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Foundation. During his tenure, he arranged for the construction of the swimming pool complex, an auditorium and main hall, a gymnasium, and a new playground.

House system
There are four houses in Kingswood College. The house system was introduced to the school in June 1922, and the names selected were those of major English public schools in England.


 * – Eton House


 * – Harrow House


 * – Rugby House


 * – Winchester House

College anthem
The college song is "Hill-Throned", sung at the start of the school day and on important occasions. The words of the song were written by Louis Edmund Blaze, the founder of Kingswood College with the lyrics from the song of Kingswood School in England adapted to local conditions.

Kingswood Week
The most important function of the school will take place in this special week. Kingswood Week was first started in 1906 by the founder of Kingswood Louis Edmund Blaze. Since then Kingswood gentlemen and the school staff carry on the Kingswood Week as a tradition for over years.

Kingswood Week 1993

 * 1) Kingswood Sunday
 * 2) The Guest of the Week
 * 3) Sportsmeet
 * 4) Prize Giving
 * 5) Fellowship Dinner and Old Boys' Day

The Colours Night, which originated in 1986, was brought into the Week much later. In the late 1990s, the Sportsmeet was taken out of the Week. During the last years of Ranjith Chandrasekara's days, Kala Ulela and Scouts Day were brought in. Both those inclusions have tilted the balance of the Kingswood Week. At the very beginning, the Week used to start with the Guest of the Week, who would address the main assembly. The Week would conclude with the Kingswood Sunday. The Kingswood Sunday religious activities (according to Blaze) were an initiative by the students of the school. The administration had not known of the boys visiting places of worship. Later, it had been formally annexed to the agenda.

Present Kingswood Week

 * 1) Kingswood Sunday
 * 2) Guest of the week
 * 3) Kala Ulela
 * 4) Prize Giving
 * 5) Colours Awarding Ceremony

Kingswood Week 2023 commenced from Sunday, 26th of November 2023 to Friday, 1st of December 2023.

Sports and extracurricular activities
Sport is one of the major parts in Kingswood College with over 18 different sports played. Taking centre stage of the annual sporting calendar are the Battle of the Maroons (The big match), the L. E. Blaze Trophy, Lennie De Silva Memorial Trophy and the Kenneth De Lennerolle Shield.

The Battle of the Maroons and rivalries with Dharmaraja College
Kingswood College maintains close ties with their home-town rival school, Dharmaraja College, with whom they play the annual Dharmaraja–Kingswood Cricket Encounter, also known as Battle of the Maroons, which is the second oldest annual cricket match in Sri Lanka and the oldest in Kandy region. Also, Kingswood competes with Dharmaraja at their annual rugby encounter for the William Weerasinghe Trophy.

L. E. Blaze Trophy and Kenneth De Lennerolle Shield
The annual rugby match for the prestigious L. E. Blaze Trophy  and the annual soccer match for the Kenneth De Lennerolle Shield are played against Wesley College,  which is the methodist counterpart of Kingswood College.

De Silva Memorial Trophy
Kingswood competes with Royal College for Lennie De Silva Memorial Trophy in their annual hockey encounter.

Kingswood Rugby
Being the first Sri Lankan school to play the game, rugby is still the prime sport at Kingswood College. It had its golden era of rugby from 2000 to 2008 when it won three School Rugby League titles. In 2004 Kingswood was crowned as the undisputed triple champions under the captaincy of Fazil Marija.

Clubs and societies
Kingswood College currently has over 100+ student societies. Kingswood College Astronomical Society (since 1996), Kingswood Media Network, Kingswood Interact (Since 1988) and Kingswood Photographic Club (since 1935) are one of the oldest and the largest societies in Kingswood College on present days.


 * Kingswood College Astronomical Society (Since 1996)
 * Kingswood Photographic Club (Since 1935)
 * Kingswood Interact (Since 1988)
 * Kingswood IT Society (Since 2000)
 * Kingswood Media Network (Since 2011)
 * Kingswood Research Unit (Since 2020)
 * Kingswood Science Society (Since 1936) & etc.

Kingswood Scouts
The Kingswood Scout Troop, also known as the 2nd Kandy Scout Troop, was founded on 4 March 1914. The Kingswood Scout Troop is known all around the country as well as in South Asia for its, remarkable achievement of hosting the oldest memorial Hike in Sri Lanka, South Asia and most probably in Asia the J. J. P. Dehigama Memorial Orienteering Competition. The 2nd Kandy Scout Troop of Kingswood College, was hold the first ever Hiking Festival in Sri Lanka on October 23, 2014 to celebrate its 100 years of Scouting.

Music
The college has a strong association with the study of music, both western and oriental music.

The annual musical festival, "Sihina Dorakada", organised by the oriental Music Association with the assistance of alumni and SDB has become an important event on Kandy's and school's cultural calendar.

School magazine
Our Boys is the name the Kingswood Magazine and stated by a concept of founder of Kingswood and it was first put into print in the 1890s. Our boys started because, as Blaze records in KFE: The Story of Kingswood, Kandy, the magazine was initially an affair of a few pages held together: more like a pamphlet, which carried the creative work and other notices the school had to offer.

The Our Boys is still published yearly.

Notable alumni
Former students of Kingswood College are known as Old Kingswoodians.

Kingswood College Union
The Kingswood OBA (Old Boys' Association) formally known as Kingswood College Union was founded in 1904. The Kingswood Union was set up to further the interests of the college, its past and present members, teachers, and parents.