The year 2010 has been unique in both challenge and opportunity.  We are inspired by the commitment of the teachers, parents, and the old boys in dealing with all fronts to support the school with a sense of urgency at this historical moment of time.  Strategic leadership from across the globe in the last twelve months has been tremendously encouraging.   Wesley stakeholders have been pulsating under a dedicated band of visionaries.  A very splendid flavour of collaboration has been seen, where all stakeholders have been advocating a unity of purpose at Wesley.  This united cooperation has tremendously helped to uplift the identity, the brand image of the school and to promote Wesley’s commitment to excellence in studies, sports and co-curricular activities. The enthusiastic and loyal students have rallied around to make the school better and stronger than ever before.  Thank you!

In the First Team, from the 2009 GCE Advanced Level batch, 7 students entered Universities in Sri Lanka and a half a dozen more enrolled in degree programs in foreign universities and many more in professional qualifying programs, especially in the field of accounting and management.  The 2009 GCE (O/L) results were recently released. The outstanding achievements of all 9 distinction by 3 students and 8 distinctions by 6 students are a good indicator of the dedication and hard work put in by the teachers and the students.  In December 2009, a total of 187 students sat for the GCE (O/L) examination, of which over 85% qualified for the GCE Advanced Level program, while 124 students obtained Distinctions (“A”) for English Language and over 85% passed in Mathematics. 

 This year we have recruited over 20 teacher trainees under a new program for graduate teachers, including one with a Master Degree in Science.  The objective is to help students achieve better grades and to improve our performances at the Grade 5 scholarship exam and the GCE (O/L) and (A/L) examinations.  The target is to increase the pass rate by at least another 10% points to reach a 90 to 95% in the first attempt.  More than 10 teachers in the staff have completed over 25 years of service at Wesley. Three teachers were selected to the Masters Degree programs in Science at the Peradeniya and Colombo Campus.    

 In English Debating, Wesley won the hearts of the judges with their persuasive arguments to win the Inter-School championships and the Law Faculty oratory competition. Proudly, one of our students made it to the prestigious National Schools debating team, which competed with the world’s best in Doha, Qatar in February 2010. The much accomplished English drama group excelled to become finalists at the Inter-school drama competition, carrying away laurels for their talented performances. The Speechcraft program run by the Rotaract Club saw over 100 Grade 1-3 students walk up the stage to deliver speeches, while the Poetry club and the English Day program saw over 200 students displaying their oratory talents. The Commerce students proudly organized the Commerce Day and the Quiz competition along with the A/L examination and Career Guidance programs, which were open to students of other schools; more than 10 schools participated in these events. Congratulations to the dedicated team of teachers who helped the students to complete these events successfully.   

In the field of sports, the Rugby team is currently preparing for the Presidents Trophy “A” division championships after emerging “B” division champions last year.  The Under 10 Rugby team that remained unbeaten last year is once again preparing for the junior tournament along with the Under 14 and Under 16 teams for the forthcoming Rugby season.  Six of our athletes excelled at the District Athletic Championships to win three first places. The Fist XI Cricket team did extremely well and exceeded expectations with two outright wins and four first innings wins. Remarkably, our Table Tennis Juniors have been ranked Number One in the Island, while the seniors have the distinction of being ranked a close Second by the Sri Lanka Schools Table Tennis Association.  The Chess and Badminton teams have fared well and with the current level of participation and interest we expect the teams to do better this year.  We have re-started swimming after a lapse as well as Basketball.  The Hockey juniors and seniors played well to beat some of the more fancied teams, while the soccer has yet to prove that they are performing at their full potential. 

In the realm of Scouting the 14^th Colombo troop has been honoured with one of our Old Boys being appointed as the District Commissioner for Colombo District. The teachers in charge of Cub-Scouts are doing yeoman service by training over 100 primary students to obtain their Bronze, Sliver and Gold badges. 

 Soon we will be back to reality, all students will be competent in English along with their mother tongue and literacy and competency in mathematics will be better than the national average.  The university entrants hopefully will be doubled next year from 7 to 14. To achieve these goals, let us once again renew the blue rays of ambitions and desires of the students, unleash the passions and aspirations of parents, focus on the dedication and commitment of teachers, and let the loyal Wesleyites obsessively and compulsively stand together as one team to ensure Wesley’s future will remain true to its traditions of Wilkin, Hillard, Passmore, Moscrop, and more recently to those of Highfield, Cartman and Oorloff.

 “Ora et Labora”