History

At the beginning of the 20th century Gampaha was not yet urbanized and there wasn’t a girls’ school except an English school for boys. Therefore, the Roman Catholic Church started Holy Cross School to educate the young girls in Gampaha, with just 7 students, on 10th March 1924. The first school building was attached to the Holy Cross Church, Gampaha.

Memories close to a century

  • First Principal was Ms. Amelia Francis Perera
  • Staff consisted of a lay teacher
  • There were seven students (6 girls and one boy)
  • In 1927, Rev. Fr. James Dominic Ponweera O.M.I., Parish Priest of Weliweriya took the initiative to build a separate building for the school apart from the church buildings.
  • In 1928, the school was registered and the first school day was celebrated on the 14th September 1928.
  • In 1938 3 Apostolic Carmelite sisters, Sr. Carmeline, Sr. Lutgard, and Sr. Melanie joined the Holy Cross staff.
  • IN 1948, Ms. Francis Perera handed over the school with its 200 students to the Apostolic Carmel nuns. During the Second World War, there was a considerable migration from Colombo to Gampaha. As a result, the number of students were increased and thus upper school was shifted to Bandiyamulla, the present existing premises of the school. Rev. Fr. Elias Weerakkody and Mr. Victor Danapala, worked hard to get the old Samarakkody ancestral house and the land for the school and there were temporary sheds at this initial stages, as school class rooms.
  • By the year 1956, Fatima hall, Loretto hall and few other buildings were built.
  • IN 1960, the school became an unaided private school and an accepted Catholic senior private school.
  • After the School Take Over Act in 1961, Mother Euphemia, then Principal, was able to secure the school as a private school under the Apostolic Carmel administration, and today HCC functions as a Government-aided Catholic private school.

Since 1950

    • Fatima Hall – 1950
    • Loretto Hall – 1955
    • New Section to the Fatima Hall – 1988
    • Child Jesus Hall (The present Veronica Hall) – 1985
    • Little Flower Hall – 1988
    • Carmel Hall – 1994
    • Indoor Stadium – 1997
    • Nimala Kumari Sevana – 2001
    • Present Child Jesus Hall – 2006
    • Computer Laboratory – 2008
    • Helena Hall – 2011
    • Joseph Vaz Hall – 2016
    • Auditorium – 2016