St. Joseph's Girl's School situated in Negegoda is highly acclaimed as an institute that has a close relationship with sports. Considered as one of the prominent girl's schools in the area, St. Joseph's was established in 1942 as a leading Catholic school by renowned educationalist Rev Fr. Maurice J Legoc. In 1962 the school was taken under control of the government and since then has been running at steady pace despite minor setbacks.
The school which had a humble beginning with a handful of students under a tin roof with mud plastered floor and one teacher has now grown in strength.
Today over 2,500 girls attend St. Joseph's from the first to the highest grade. Out of the entire count of students over 1,000 take part in sports activities. The keen interest of its students and administrators has brought St. Joseph's the reputation as a leading sporting school in the area.
"During the early days since 1942 a good number of girls from Catholic and Burgher families attended St. Joseph's. These girls have been really active at sports and in the early days itself the school has been involved at many sports competitions.
This valuable trend has been preserved to date and many girls at a very young age show the keenness for sports. The parents and even the society have identified the school as a girl's sports school. This is one of the reasons why St. Joseph's remain to be leading at sports," elaborated Chandani Perera, the Principal.
St. Joseph's is well known among all Sri Lankans for their outstanding performance and dominance in girl's basketball which is the leading sport of the school. Other sports such as netball, athletics, swimming, chess, karate, badminton and table tennis too have the keen interest among its students. Recently the country's leading sport cricket and football were also introduced to their sports curriculum.
In addition to sports activities, 12 active clubs and societies, girl guides and Air Force cadetting have managed to grab the interest of the girls at St. Joseph's. However the school has been a dominant figure at netball in the past though basketball has taken its place today. The St. Joseph's girls have also been dominant at track and field events but quite recently these sports have lost the stronghold.
"We don't experience the lack of abundance of students' participation or talent. But during the past decade we could not obtain the services of qualified coaches for sports like netball and athletics where we have been quite strong at. But we are hoping to revive all sports back to the usual standards. All students are very keen in sports and we have the support of the parents," said Chandani Gunawardena the Prefect of Games.
St. Joseph's Girl's School has a very good recognition scheme for its students who excel in sports. Sportswomen who also achieve good results in studies are been rewarded with leadership roles as prefects or sports guides.
The school's games captain Jayani Nugi Ransiri, her deputy Thinoli Kotalawela, who is also the basketball skipper, and the head prefect Sanduni Perera are examples for the rest of the students. They have obtained high marks at GCE O/L and are continuing their higher studies with great confidence as well. These three students are also leading figures in the basketball team for years and have also represented the country's Youth team.
"Three of us have been team mates at basketball at school. We have a very good following for sports here and we have a very good reputation as a sports school. As the games captain my role is to work very close with our POG and promote sports activities at school. It's very easy to convince the youngsters as the school has a rich trend in sports," said Jayani. She, who is also a netballer and a short distant runner said.
Thinoli who leads the basketball team also plays netball. She also takes part in javelin and shot putt events. "I too began basketball at a very young age as there is a very good continuation of talents. The trend still continues to date and we have a strong pool at all age levels," she said.
Since the inception, the school has been governed by 15 principals during various times which saw many developments. However the school which is located on a prime land in the heart of Nugegoda that spans up to nearly an acre and a quarter still sees the existence of many of its old buildings.
Though these buildings has a legacy to its name, the school's failure to upgrade or construct new structures is a major issue for the students who are growing in numbers each year.
"We have about 55 classrooms from the Primary to the Upper School level. We made requests to relevant authorities to increase the number of classrooms as well as other facilities. But so far except for a building which was approved by the former Minister of Education nothing else has worked in favour of the school. We find it difficult to cope up with space with the increasing demand for new enrolments each year," added the principal.
According to the Head Prefect, Sanduni who is also a basketball player, the Prefects' Guild has a gigantic task in helping the teachers maintain the students' discipline. But her task has not been as tough as it appears. "Each prefect has to participate at workshops before their appointments.
There we receive the training by experts on how to handle youngsters efficiently. In addition most of the prefects are sportswomen, so the students are likely to listen to us. But significantly the discipline level of students is at a higher level," Sanduni stated.
Along with sports St. Joseph's students have obtained very good results at the grade five scholarships, GCE O/L and A/Ls. Nearly 20 students have qualified for the scholarship scheme while over 83 percent of success has been maintained at CGE O/L. After the advanced level nearly 75 percent of the students have qualified to enter universities. Many students tend to leave the school after grade five and O/L while at the same time a larger number joins the school from other schools.
Though their achievements are at a considerably good level, the school barely receives funds from the higher authorities. Contributions from the parents, past students who live abroad, the school development board and the old girl's association are the main sources of generating funds. St. Joseph's maintains a good quality playing court for basketball but the facilities to engage in other sports are not at a satisfactory level.
Currently they are preparing fund raising projects to coincide with the 70th year anniversary celebrations which falls in 2012. They also have initiated a project to buy a micro bus for transportation purposes of the sports teams which is a badly needed facility especially for a girl's school.
"We have made it compulsory for every student to take up a sport at the third grade.
The response is quite overwhelming but when the numbers go up we face the difficulties in providing the basic facilities. We don't have a playground, at least a common one for all schools of the area. Presently we are doing well at studies and at sport but our aim is to do better at both.
The girls here come from different religions and races but when they join the society they go out as complete all-rounders. We wish our facilities could be upgraded to support the students better," explained Perera.
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