St. Thomas' College, Matale.

the school was established in 1873 under the verandah of a small mud-and-wattle church. the first class of students included 75 boys and 12 girls. in 1876, the school was split into separate boys and girls schools by rev. fr. aloysius j. m. marrer. the headmaster of the boys' school was leo de silva, and the leader of the girls' school was rosa perera. the girls' school was named st. agnes convent school, which is now known as st. thomas girls' school. in january 1880, a secular priest (also known as a diocesan priest), rev. fr. pius fernando, from negombo, arrived at the school. fernando spent half a century of his priestly life in matale and died in 1930. in 1901, the robinson memorial hall was built on land donated by john croos of negombo. in 1904, joseph gregory perera, a former student of the school, joined as a pupil-teacher and retired in 1946. he was popularly known as “joseph master”. during that time the headmasters were j. m. direckse, a. s. scharnignivel, l. d’w. jayasig