Our Story
St Bernadette’s College, Chilaw is situated close to an ancient church built by the Portuguese close to the beach, away from the din of the busy city whist quite in the middle of it.
This school was established in the eighteenth century and is the oldest school. This school was first started as two separate schools for boys and girls: the Roman Catholic Boys’ Tamil College and the Roman Catholic Girls’ Tamil College, with many students from Jaffna. When Advanced Level classes started in 1980, the two schools were combined and earned College status. Mr. W. N. Lowe was appointed as the first principal for the combined school which consisted of 541 students. At the beginning there were very few buildings though the school has been blessed with many now. The first three story building was declared open by the then Minister of Education, Alfred Kulathunga in 1997.
Today, the school has all the major facilities including a junior laboratory and a new three storied building with a conference hall. Being a 1AB school, classes at St. Bernadette’s College are conducted from grade 1 to 13 with Science, Math’s, Arts and Commerce streams in the A Level section in the Tamil medium.
It provides a variety of languages to be chosen at the O Level examination. All three national languages Sinhala, Tamil and English are taught at the school, guiding students to meet global challenges in the future. Every year, many students participate and win in language competitions in all three languages. The school provides a well-balanced education for any child – Hindu, Muslim, Catholic or Christian regardless of nationality or religion, whilst maintaining its standard as a Roman Catholic school.
At present the school’s student population is 481 and with the dawn of peace in the North many students from Jaffna and the North- East have left for their respective areas.
The school enjoys superior results in the Grade 5 scholarship, O Level and A Level examination. The strength behind all this is the guidance of the principal, the vice principal and the dedication of the staff past and present. Twenty-one teachers from diverse cultural backgrounds from all roots of education teach here under the guidance of the present principal Mr. Azhar Khan.
Religious and cultural events of the Hindu, Catholic and Muslim faiths are celebrated every year whilst the St. Bernadette’s church festival is celebrated by the school every year in September. St. Bernadette is the patron saint of the school, and the school celebrates this festival in a grand manner with the participation of the western band, all students, parents, past pupils and well- wishers of the school.
St. Bernadette’s College has a unique culture of its own which reflects the ethnic diversity of students and teachers.
The vision of the school is to produce excellent children through a precise education system while its mission is to seek knowledge and maintain discipline. St. Bernadette’s sets various goals and targets to achieve its mission and vision. The sports meet language day celebration and subject day competitions at zonal, provincial and island level and religious festivals are celebrated towards this.
The school has won many firsts, seconds and third places in zonal, provincial and island level in singing, reading and writing competitions. A scout troupe, Tamil and literary associations and Red Cross association are among the extracurricular activities which are provided to students.
The school endeavors’ to nourish society with well-balanced personalities with the necessary knowledge, skills, competencies and attitudes.
Our Vision
Our school’s vision is to provide a nurturing and supportive learning community in the heart of the city, where every child is valued and educated to their full potential. We hope that everyone of our children develops into a happy, successful adult with a genuine appreciation for knowledge and a positive outlook on life.
Our Mission
We create a secure, inclusive, and supportive learning environment where students feel valued and respected. We cultivate a passion for learning and exploration. Students are challenged to think critically and creatively and to effectively solve problems. We prepare students to be engaged global citizens who contribute positively to society.
Message From The Principal - Mr. Azhar Khan
Our objective is that this website will keep all stakeholders informed by providing students with the most up-to-date, relevant, and useful information.
Please visit the website to discover more about the extracurricular activities available to students, sporting activities, upcoming special events, important announcements, career information, and much more. You will be able to review the numerous outstanding achievements of our faculty and students on a regular basis.
We are incredibly proud of our students’ continual growth.The College website will provide an opportunity to publish to all Marians worldwide.
I wish the Executive Management Committee of the Old Students Association (OSA) and the old students all the very best in launching the Official web site, which I believe will usher the school into a new era.
Message From The Vice President of Old Students Association - MR. BAHEERATHAN
As Vice President of the Old Students Association (OSA) at St. Bernadette’s College, I feel honoured and fortunate to write this message at the launch of the new website.
This new website is made so that information about school education activities and OSA events can be shared with our old students all over the world. Its layout has easy-to-use menus that make it easy to find out about school events and extracurricular activities, like the latest news about the Old Students Association.
It gives me great pleasure to invite our old students, their families, and our friends to enjoy the launch of the official website for St. Bernadette’s College, Chilaw. This is a very important event in our school’s history.
Last but not least, I want to thank the people on my committee and the old students for their helpful work and for making this job easier. We couldn’t have moved forward without their help.
MESSAGE FROM the scretatary OF OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION - MR. sathis
While we recognise and acknowledge the importance of a website to the identity and credibility of an organisation, we firmly believe that the same will serve as a crucial platform for virtual communication, coordination, and long-term relationships in today’s fast-paced world, where Old students live and thrive globally.
I am confident that the newly structured website will be of great benefit to all former students, and the site’s incremental development will provide all conceivable features of an ideal website in the future. I would like to invite all of our former pupils to visit us on a regular basis and join this network in order to stay abreast of the most recent developments.
school hours
M-F: 7.30am - 1:30pm
Address
St Mary's Road, Chilaw 61000, Sri Lanka.
admin@stbernadettescollege.lk
Phone
(+94)32-222-2447
