Dear parents, The College will be conducting assessments for Grade 6, 7, 8 and 9 from 17th August 2020 to 27th August 2020 according to the following schedule: Please note: The common timetable will be followed for Grade 9 on 24th August 2020 and for other grades from 31st August 2020. The timetable can be found here: Class Timetables for Middle & Upper School – from 10th August 2020 Rev Sanath Madagamgoda – Headmaster, Middle School
We have two reviews by students who went on this excursion: On the 28th of February, 2020, the grade 6 students went on an education excursion to Ritigala and the Moragahakanda dam. We travelled in 4 busses. It was awesome! We played many musical instruments such as the guitar and sang many Sinhala and English songs. We also listened to songs. We were swinging and falling in the bus as the driver went very fast in the curves. We ate a lot of junk food! We had left the school at 5.50 in the morning and had breakfast on the way. As soon as we got there we posed for a group photo. Then we were taken through the forest by the guides who were there to teach us. By around 10am we reached Ritigala in Ganewalpola which is an isolated mountain. Ritigala holds the ‘Banda Pokuna’ which is the largest pokuna in Asia. There are 1200 types of plants at Ritigala and 5 of them can only be found in Ritigala. There is 3500 acres of land. The climate there is cooler in comparison with the hot and dry climate of the region. It is believed that Buddhist monks came here to meditate 100 years ago. Then, we had lunch. We also had a group photo taken with the Moragahakanda dam in the background. After lunch we went to the Moragahakanda dam which is a hydro electric dam used for generating electricity. It is 213 feet tall and impounds the Amban river. Finally, we went back to the college. We had tea at 4.00 pm and sang songs and watched movies on the way. We reached the school at 8.30 pm where we were handed to our parents. I really liked this trip very much, but to make it better maybe they could have taken us all the way to the summit of Ritigala. Review by Chaniru Senhas On 28th February 2020, the grade 6 boys of Trinity College went on the most exciting trip they’ve ever been in their school life so far. That is the trip they went to Ritigala and Moragahakanda. We left school early morning saying goodbye to our parents. We were so excited that as soon as we left the school we started playing drums and singing songs. When the driver put some pop songs we had to cover our ears with our hands. A boy had brought some sunglasses that showed different coloured lights which took everybody’s attention! By 7.00am some of us were standing on seats. We had completely forgotten that teachers will give remarks for our discipline and that the grade head had given a booklet which was to be finished before the end of the trip and it was considered as a monthly test. Soon, we stopped near a field at Naula. That was the most beautiful scene I have seen, which we enjoyed while having our breakfast. After having our breakfast we sett of again. We can consider Trinitians as “Pop Music Lovers” as we sang non-stop pop songs. Finally, we arrived at Ritigala. We first went to a pond which we later on found that it was named as “Banda Pokuna”. According to the guide it was Asia’s biggest pond. It used to cover 2.5 acres. The pond was destroyed by Cholas. Now they are renovating it again. Next, we walked a long way and came to a place called the hospital where the guide explained us interesting things. The most amazing thing was that at that time when someone was sick they would keep him on a bed that was made of stone. For a long distance we climbed up Ritigala Mountain which was very tiring. Somehow we climbed up, and got to the next landing which was known as “The Dharmashalawa”, which had an extremely appealing cooling system made by wooden planks laid upon water. With the help of this system it was very easy for monks to meditate. The most tiring part of the journey was to climb up the steepest part of the mountain. After much struggle we finally made half way through the mountain but security guards didn’t let us pass beyond that due to security measures. At midway there was an old foundation and Ritigala’s tallest tree. Afterwards, we climbed down the mountain and returned to our buses at about 11:30am and went near the car park at Ritigala where we stopped to have our lunch. It was 1.30pm when we were provided lunch due to a delay of supplying the food. Our lunch was fried rice with chicken, dhal and vegetable chop suey. Once we had finished our lunch, we set off to Moragahakanda. By 5pm we arrived at Moragahakanda. At Moragahakanda Dam first we walked to the top of the dam where there was a fabulous view of the blue waters. There was a big hydro-power plant and lot of big buildings. The garden was full of lot of flowers and grass which made it look very beautiful. We spent about an hour at the dam and started back to school. By about 8:30pm we arrived at school, said goodbye to our friends and went home. That was the best trip I have ever been on. Information about Ritigala 1. It is 766 meters above sea level. 2. Ritigala is one of the 3 nature reserves of Sri Lanka. 3. There are 3 climates in Ritigala. 4. There are 240 types of medical herbs in Ritigala. 5. 54 plants endemic to Sri Lanka are found there and consists of 3766 Acres. 7. 90 acres are reserved for the Archeological Department. 8. The Name Ritigala comes from Prince Arritagala. 9. More than 8000 Monks lived in Ritigala. 10. Before monks arrived yakkha tribes lived in Ritigala. 11. Monks lived in Ritigala from 3 BC to 8 AD. 12. There were 74 caves for monks to meditate. 13. Ritigala didn’t have mosquitoes! Some facts about the Moragahakanda Dam The Moragahakanda
“Healthy Inter-House rivalry was at the core of the Trinity College I remember. The Inter-House competitions allowed many more boys to be involved in each sport and also learn teamwork, leadership, etc. I am very happy that Trinity has been reviving the tradition of Inter-House competitions over the past few years. I wish all the Houses all the best as the Principal – despite being a Lemuelite!” Dr Nalin Wikramanayake (Acting Principal) The annual football encounter was held on 16th of February 2020 at the Trinity College Rugby stadium, Pallekele. Both the middle school and upper school houses competed at this tournament for the respective titles. Junior Championship The junior football championship kicked off with 5 teams competing for the title. The little ones anxiously waited for their turn to play cheering on their brothers on the field. Gibson House performed exceptionally well with 14 goals for and just one goal against. They were titled champions of the tournament with 4 wins: 1st – Gibson 2nd – Sahayam 3rd – Squealery 4th – Saunders Senior Championship The game started with the representatives of the five houses on the field, the competition was at its peak as the boys played showing true trinity colours. The matches concluded with the Central Boarding House being crowned as the senior champions with 4 wins: 1st – Central Boarding House 2nd – Simithraaratchy 3rd – Garrett 4th – Oorloff 5th – Lemuel
Tuesday, 25 February 2020
/
Published in Clubs and Societies News, College, Junior School, Middle School
From 11th to 14th February the classes of grade 6 students went on a trip to the Trinity College farm at Pallekele as part of their Technical Skills subject. We travelled in a bus, two classes on each day. The Trinity farm is an animal farm as well as an agricultural farm. First, we went to see the broiler chickens and their chicks, and we saw the endearing red egg laying chickens. These chickens lay approximately 10-15 eggs a year during their breading season. Researchers say that chickens are cleverer than toddlers. The closest living relatives to the T-Rex are chickens, but not quite as scary! Next, we saw the cows and then we were playing around with the turkeys. Cows are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates and their scientific name is ‘Bos taurus’. We were then taken to the rabbit den where we fed the greedy rabbits. Rabbits can turn their ears 180 degrees, Wow! Oh, I almost forgot that we saw pigs as well. There are more than 2 billion pigs in the whole world. After that, a farmer taught us how to plant a seed and how to use a mamoty. Unsurprisingly, none of us could lift the mamoty all the way to the top, it was very heavy, that’s why. But those farmers must be extremely strong themselves. Then sadly we were told by our teachers that we were running out of time. So, we ate our lunch and came back to College, and that was the end of our trip. It took a long time to get back. It was an awesome trip. In my opinion, that’s the best ever trip I’ve been on yet!
Friday, 13 September 2019
/
Published in Drama, General Articles, Junior School, Middle School, News
A good story has an excellent appeal, and a social message communicated trough a good story has a universal, impact, especially on children. This was the idea behind inviting the “Power of Play” (PoP) performers led by Ms Sulochana Dissanayake to Trinity College to deliver a performance using puppets of various styles to share a message on gender biases existing in our society. A powerful message communicated through a little girl called “Sama” and her study mate “Sandun”, discusses the gravity and the long-term detrimental social impact of simple biases inculcated in children during their childhood, such as “boys shouldn’t cry like girls” and “girls shouldn’t climb trees like boys do”, etc. and how to breakthrough these barriers and build harmonious interpersonal, gender relationships by building self-confidence, trust and mutual respect for both the genders. Delivered through an interactive theatre style, the PoP performers continuously interacted with the student audience making them share their ideas on these social biases, their points of view, and eventually leading them to understand the worthlessness of these prejudices that persist in society through age old beliefs, practices and conventional thinking. The PoP initiative was a great method of delighting the audience of all ages and inspires students to learn and communicate frankly by breaking through barriers of age, gender, socio-economic, political and cultural backgrounds. More than 1,7 00 students their tutorial staff attended the PoP Performances that were conducted in two sessions. Full gallery is available on our Flickr page:
Friday, 28 June 2019
/
Published in College, General Articles, Interviews, Junior School, Middle School
At Trinity it’s definitely not strange to see gap year teaching assistants from abroad helping out and taking part in all sorts of events at school, you could say that it is almost a tradition. The newest members joining the Trinity family are Arthur and Patrick, who will be following courses in Languages an Economic Geography, respectively, at university when they return. They have mostly been in the Junior and Middle school, and the rest of the College might not have met them. Therefore, we at the Web Content Team had the idea of interviewing them and to find out what they think about the College and their experiences living in Sri Lanka, however, we never expected to hear about the huge impact the College and our motherland had on their hearts. When did you come to Sri Lanka? Arthur: I came on the 8th of January, and I’ve been here for 3 months now, that’s one term. Patrick: I came later, in the beginning of March, it’ s just my fifth week now, it was a lot of help that Arthur’s been here a long time so I’d got used to it lot quicker. Is this your first time in Sri Lanka? Arthur: No, both of us had already come here before on a cricket tour. We came to Kandy and we played at the Pallekale stadium. We didn’t play with Trinity College, but we did give a good performance, I had one of my best cricketing experiences at Pallekale. Patrick: We both like our cricket. Arthur: Both of us really enjoyed it, so we thought we’d come back and play sooner or later. Where are you from in England? Patrick: We’re both in west London, I’m near Twickenham, near the rugby stadium and he’s a bit more north of me. Did you both attend the same school? Patrick: We’ve been in the same school for five years. Arthur: It’s a day school in Barnes, London with slight rivalry with Eton College. Patrick: We never really liked Eton that much! What was your first impression of Trinity? Arthur: I came here not knowing what to expect, I hadn’t heard of Trinity that much. My first impression was that it was a prestigious school and a lot of people around Kandy had a lot of respect for Trinity. When they heard that I was working at Trinity, they were very impressed as they knew what Trinity was like. And, also a lot of the kids were very disciplined, very polite and all that, so it was definitely a good first impression. Patrick: I obviously asked him before I came out. I asked him a lot of questions about the school, so I kind of had a feel for what it would be like. When I arrived everyone was very welcoming and very nice to me and was like “Am I the other English guy?”, and also the school students were very proud of my being here. What did you think of the boys at Trinity? Arthur: At first, they were very polite to me, you know like “Good morning sir”, and then as they got to me, they became more and more familiar. Patrick: And, they get cheeky over time, the younger ones especially! Arthur: So, before they were like “Good morning sir”, very serious, and then weeks later they were giggling, pointing, laughing, pranking you and stuff. So, I say polite to start with, but when you get to know them, they’re much more cheeky, much more fun to be around. How would you rate them on a scale of 1-10? Arthur: I couldn’t give them a 10 because some of them were very annoying! Patrick: You know, as a class they’re good and easy to control, and then you get other classes full of “devils”! Arthur: But, they’re obviously never nasty, always meaning well. It’s the same in England. Is it similar to your school? Patrick: Our school although it is a prestigious school in England, it didn’t have traditions as much as here and it doesn’t have a strict routine as much, but here it’s different, and it’s interesting to see. In our school we have traditions to do each week, and also it’s really different with the big games. We had big games but it wasn’t like the whole school knows about it or all get involved. I came out a week before the big games, rugby and cricket and it’s just very passionate. Arthur: I definitely think in Trinity there’s much more, not patriotic feelings, it’s much more sort of loyalty, much more. So, it feels like Trinity is like a big group of people together. In our school it’s definitely the same, but Trinity is another level. Like when all you guys turn up and watch a whole day’s cricket and then turn up for the second day as well, like you’re giving up so much time to support your fellow Trinitians, we never get that kind of support at home. Both of us were in the first 11 (Rugby) at our school, we never got a crowd. What do you think of the curriculum and the extra curricular activities? Arthur: The curriculum from what I’ve seen, a lot of it’s taught by a text book, so it’s quite similar to that in England. I haven’t taught much cricket myself, I’ve been doing General English classes. Patrick: In the middle school you get these text books and you try follow that, but maybe at times it’s easy and at others it could be extended more. I always try to bring up new stuff I knew and they could maybe learn from it. Arthur: One thing you could definitely tell is the abilities in each class are very different. You get some people who really excel in one area and some people sort of struggle and need more time. So, when you’re teaching the curriculum
The annual Inter-house football tournament took place on the 23rd of February 2019 at the Trinity College Rugby Stadium, Pallekele. The tournament was split into senior and junior matches, with a total of 10 teams, representing the 5 senior and junior houses. Football being yet another exciting sport at Trinity, we had parents and school boys and other spectators in the pavilion to support the teams. The tournament kicked off with the 5 junior house teams battling each other for victory. Many young boys played exceptionally well and showed great sportsmanship on the pitch. The Junior matches concluded with Squealary House becoming champions with 3 wins and a total of 10 points. Junior House results 1st Place – Squealary House 2nd Place – Sahayam House 3rd Place – Pilcher House 4th Place – Saunders House 5th Place – Gibson House The junior matches were followed all the senior teams. Many players were seen anxiously waiting for their match to start so they can earn points and go ahead to the next round of the tournament. The senior house matches concluded with the Central Boarding House and Simithraaratchy House becoming joint champions. Senior House results 1st Place – Central Boarding House & Simithraaratchy House 2nd Place – Garrett House 3rd Place – Oorloff House 4th Place – Lemuel House While we congratulate the winning houses, we also appreciate the participation of all the boys who represented their own house at the tournament. The tournament also showcased the talents of the youngsters and helped the school to recognise possible future football players who could be a part of the school football teams. – Review by Uthsara Dissanayake
The Junior Wildlife Club of Trinity College organized their annual excursion during the 3rd Term. Due to the increased number of members, two separate field trips – for grades 6 and 7 , and 8 and 9 – were organized. Mrs Udayakumaran was the main organizer for both excursions, supported by the two assistant teachers, Mrs Dissanayake and Mrs Hemadila. Grade 8 and 9 – Udawalawe National Park and Ridiyagama Safari Park The grade 8 and 9 members went on their excursion to two of Sri Lanka’s most extraordinary eco-destinations: Udawalawe National Park and Ridiyagama Safari Park. The outing took place on the 5th and 6th of December with 34 boys and 3 staff members. The one night field trip included a bus tour through the Ridiyagama Safari Park, where they witnessed exotic species that cannot be seen in Sri Lanka’s natural eco-systems; a jeep safari through the wilderness of Udawalawe National Reserve; and a game of traditional touch rugby on the lawn of a street side resort in Udawalawe. Students utilized the time to pursue their interests on wildlife, and many also took the opportunity to develop their photography skills. Grade 6 and 7 – Dehiwala Zoo A group of 45 students and 2 teachers from grades 6 and 7 students went two months prior, on the 24th of October to the Dehiwala Zoo. The young members got an opportunity to explore wildlife up-close and the youngsters enjoyed the trip very much, with many incredible photos to vouch for it. The excursion to Udawalawa was the final project of the Wildlife Club for 2018. It rounds up a very successful year whilst empowering a hopeful next. Mrs Udayakumaran hopes that the club will be able to further extend all the projects in 2019. Article by by R.M.P.M. Ratnayake