The School of Our Fathers is the school song

School song

A school song, alma mater, school hymn or school anthem is the patronal song of a school. In England, this tradition is particularly strong in public schools and grammar schools.-Australia:*Melbourne High School - Honour the Work...

 of Royal College Colombo

Royal College Colombo

The Royal College of Colombo was founded in January 1835 in Colombo. It is considered to be the leading Public School in Sri Lanka...

. It is sung at the start of every school day except for Monday,when the National Anthem is sung, and on other important occasions. The words of the song were written by Major H.L.Reed, a Principal of the school in the third term of 1927. The music was later revised by S. Schmid.

It was first performed on 13 July 1928, that year Royal College Colombo won the Meaden Shield in the school's singing competition for the 8th year in succession, School of Our Fathers presented at the competition.

Lyrics

Thy spirit first to life awoke

In eighteen hundred and thirty five

Beneath the sway of Marsh and Boake

Thenceforth did Lanka's learning thrive

Refrain

School where our fathers learnt the way before us

Learnt of books and learnt of men, through thee we'll do the same

True to our watchword "Disce Aut Discede

We will learn of books and men, and learn to play the game

Within thy shade our fathers trod

The path that leads to man's estate;

They have repaid the debt they owed;

They kept thy fame inviolate.

Refrain

And we their loyal sons now bear

The torch, with hearts as sound as oak;

Our lusty throats now raise a cheer

For Hartley, Harward, Marsh and Boake.

The Sinhala version

A Sinhala version of the college song was composed in 1968 on the request of the Principal Messrs W.A. Wickramasena and S.J.F. Dissanayake, who were masters of the school and had been part of the combination which composed the first song.

External links

• The College Song Royal College Colombo