ශාන්ත මරියා විද්යාලය, කෑගල්ල
St.Mary's College, was established on 1867 parallel to St.Mary's Church lying proudly in Colombo-Kandy road in the Kegalle district. It was Domenico Pingulani who initiated the school and was in religious missionaries between 1864-1880. SMC Kegalle was the 5th established catholic school after the schools of Colombo, Jaffna, Kandy and Galle. At the very first time there were only 22 students and 1 teacher.
In 1885 SMC has been a mixed school. All the educational activities at that time was done in English. In 1890 many students have showed their talents internationally by a certificate examination conducted by the University of Cambridge. It was father Paul Nium that has done a remarkable service to uplift the standard of education in 1886 to 1901.
SMC was transformed to government school in 1960. At that time there were 688 students and 36 staff members.
After transferred into a government school SMC acquired Meepitiya primary school in 2001. School was enhancing its quality of education by leaps and bounds.
The house system
The house system was reintroduced in St.Mary’s college Kegalle in 1947 after a fief toll. One change introduced along with it was the renaming of houses. So far each house was called after the name of a person who, at some time or other, had been connected with the college and had deserved well for it. The idea of the House System is to afford our pupils an opportunity for healthy rivalry.
Now college has 4 houses RED, GOLD (presently named as YELLOW), BLUE, GREEN
Red
The symbol of sacrifice and of love or of loving sacrifice even to the shedding of blood, even to heroism in the highest form to success, then through heroic, loving sacrifice.
Blue
High above as high as the sky. It is the symbol of initiative without limit, the symbol of audacity. The sky is the limit! Is the challenging message that comes constantly down from the blue vault of heaven.
Green
The ever pleasing and cheering color. The symbol of perseverance and hope! “Evergreen” Never say die! Perseverance, endurance till the end. Who has persevered till the end and has failed. That success is the price, the reward, the crown of perverting effort has become axiomatic.
Gold
The symbol of genuine, precious sincerity honesty and goodness! The symbol of nobility of character, par excellence, the symbol of perfection. This is our most exalted ideal the aim of our educational effort.