by Janudha Illangasekera  – Grade 5D I woke up early, today was the day of the fifth-grade annual school trip! When I got to school it was 6:30 a.m., the teachers marked the register and students of grade 5 set off to the bus. Two classes had to go in one bus, and everyone ran around the bus to find a good seat, once all the kids settled down the bus started moving. What the fifth graders didn’t know was that this was the beginning of an extravagant, beautiful expedition. The members of the trip headed to Pinnawala, where we would visit four exciting and adventurous places. The first stop was “Ape Gama”. The village wasn’t connected with the outside world, every piece of furniture in the mud huts was of old style. We first visited the village doctor who showed us all the ancient medicines and told us how he cures people without any modern medical equipment. Then we visited the village chief, who showed us old instruments used to make food. He even showed us an old torture device which was used to punish villagers who committed crimes in the olden days. Then was the most exciting of the events, when a villager took a real-life python and wrapped it around his neck like it was rubber! Then he took out a flute, and when he started playing it the python started dancing! On our way back we spotted the “Wee Bissa” which was a traditional structure in the olden days used to store grains. While walking back to the bus one of the students asked a teacher what our next stop was, and she said that it was the elephant orphanage!  When we got to the orphanage the students stuttered with excitement as we walked down the path to see the elephants bathing! Some laughed, some screamed when we saw more than forty elephants bathing in a crystal-clear river. The elephants wandered around waving their tremendously big feet. After a while one elephant stepped on land, soon followed by more until it became an elephant parade! Everyone cleared away to let these majestic animals pass.  While returning to the bus the teacher announced that our next stop would be the Pinnawala Zoo! The Pinnawala Zoo was the first open zoo in the country and the students were very excited to see it, so we scrambled onto the bus towards the zoo. It only took a few minutes to reach the zoo. When we got there, most of the students ran around and a hand full of them marveled at the rabbits, ducks and turtles loitering in the area. After a while, the teachers led us deeper into the zoo where we were about to see majestic creatures we had never seen before. Our class teacher led us up some stairs and onto a balcony. At first, nobody could see anything but then someone spotted something on a rock, everyone advanced to get a closer look to see a real-life leopard! The students stared in amazement and shock as the leopard started prowling around. Soon after we were wandering down the path. The students thought we were going to see another animal, but the teachers led us to an open building. Here we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch of rice and chicken. After lunch, the young explorers set off to discover another gorgeous animal. We were walking when someone shouted, “Look a Bengal tiger!” Everyone turned their heads to see a tremendously sized Bengal tiger! The tiger was quite a distance away, but you could see it loitering in its cage slowly. Afterwards, we got back onto the bus. The teacher announced that our final stop would be the elephant dung paper factory! When we entered the factory the first thing  we saw were dozens of shelves, full of huge sheets of paper which we were yet to know were made of elephant dung! One of the workers took us to a different room which was where he showed us how they make elephant dung paper. He said that the first thing they do is put the dung in a big water tank that warms it and burns all the germs in it. He mentioned that they mix it with other scraps of paper and then put it into a machine which flattens it into the paper shape and left to dry. After it dries up the texture of the paper is very rough, so they iron the paper to make it soft! The worker then took us to the gift shop, some of the students who had money bought some elephant dung products like notebooks and files. Finally, we headed home. On the bus ride back to school the participants of the trip chattered about what they had seen on the expedition. Most of them slept while a few of them were dancing to music. When my parents picked me up at 6: 30 p.m., I told them all the exciting events that occurred during the trip and how the fifth-grade annual educational expedition came to an end.

Reviewed by Disalana Jayasooriya and Shahrukh Fairooz  On the 24th of February 2024, 34 young scientists of the Junior School Science Society along with a few teachers, had the luxury of exploring agricultural extension services at the Gannoruwa Agricultural Facility.  With an aim to widen their knowledge, and the determination to master the field, they set out on a remarkable excursion.  Their first visit was to the local ‘Hela Bojun’, where they purchased seeds for their home gardens in hopes of growing their own food.  The excursion continued with the students visiting the museum and the home garden which were the key visits in the excursion.   Further, the young masters visited more than 10 different agricultural demonstration plots which include, a spice garden, soil conservation unit, herbal unit, Yams collection area, tea garden, lake culture, sorjan and rice cultivation areas, various field crops, vegetable gardens, and a weather unit. The students were also able to witness many weather elements and measuring instruments. In addition, they were given the opportunity to gain knowledge based on practical environment-based activities as well.  After the visit, the students gathered up to summarise and discuss the fields, cultivations and plots that they observed, in order to further enhance the knowledge they gained throughout the excursion.   Finally, TCK’s Junior Scientists returned to school with brighter minds, fond memories and a deep love for the various fields of science.   Our heartfelt gratitude goes to the MIC of the Junior School Science Society, Mrs. Mayanthi as well as the other members of staff who contributed in making this event a success.   

Review by Nilesh Siriwardane (web content team) Trinity College Kandy is most famous for rugby which has a history that spans for generations. The grade 1 Rugby Skills Program was held on the 17th of November at the junior school grounds starting at 8.30 a.m.This initiative was a wonderful approach to develop passion, love, and interest towards the noble sport. Many boys who have walked in had come out as men, making the sport a true personality builder. The grade 1 block consists of 7 classes and all students took part in this event. This was not just a great opportunity for these boys, but also had the power of building up great athletes for another generation. The Rugby Skills Initiative provided an opportunity to every student to take part and enjoy the game. The main aim of this session was to promote rugby, but I personally think fascinating doors opened for them to perceive a  fabulous, sporting future. There were three main skills that were introduced to the young enthusiasts on that day and by their responses, it was evident that everyone enjoyed it. This program was conducted by the Head Coach Mr. G. S. De Zoysa and his team.   Young Rugby- Lions of the Junior School look forward to more programs of this nature to hone their skills and team spirit.

Reviewed by Punsilu Jayasinghe (Web content team)  At the junior school grounds commenced the Annual Inter-Class Ripper Rugby Tournament where young lion cubs of Trinity battled to win the rugby shield on the 12TH 13TH and 14TH of December 2023.  Following the arrival of the chief guest, Mrs. Tissera, the Grade 4 inter-class tournaments began on 12th . Despite the gloomy weather every class gave their best enduring losses and achieving wins. But at the end it was a head to head battle against class 4-A and 4-D, yet class 4-A manages to secure the win with many close calls.   The places are as follows,  1ST Place – Class 4-A (18 Points) 2ND Place – Class 4-D (16 Points) 3RD Place – Class 4-B (12 Points) 4TH Place – Class 4-E (8 Points) 5TH Place – Class 4-F (4 Points) 6TH Place – Class 4-C (2 Points)  The 13TH of December morning, marked the beginning of the grade 3 inter-class Ripper Rugby Tournament. Filled with a lot of nail-biting matches and movements, the champions were the students of class 3-B.  The places are as follows,  1ST Place – Class 3-B (14 Points) 2ND Place – Class 3-D (12 Points) 3RD Place – Class 3-A (10 Points) 4TH Place – Class 3-C (2 Points) 5TH Place – Class 3-E (2 Points)  Grade 5 Inter – Class Mini Rugby Tournament started with the pattering of rain drops in galleons, but nevertheless our young warriors battled falling and slipping to the end. After a long battle 5-C snatchers the victory without a single defeat.   The places are as follows,  1ST Place – 5-C (20 Points) 2ND Place – 5-E (16 Points) 3RD Place – 5-A (12 Points) 4TH Place – 5-D (6 Points) 5TH Place – 5-B (4 Points) 6TH Place – 5-F (2 Points)  At the end of every tournament, the awards and the shield was awarded to the students and the words of gratitude were delivered by Mrs .Tissera. This friendly game of Ripper Rugby allowed young minds of Trinity College to acknowledge what victory and defeat feel like and taught how to bear them the same.   Our special thanks to the Junior  School TIC of Rugby, Mrs. Wijeyawardana and the class teachers of all the classes for encouraging, cheering and supporting our young players throughout the tournament. We owe our junior rugby coaches Mr.Faizal, Mr. Gavithra De Soysa, Mr. Depal and Master Harith for taking the hidden talent of these young lions to the surface and horning them to be the warriors they are now. We should also appreciate the staff members, students of grade 4 and the supporting staff who contributed towards the success of this event.  Photo Album – Grade 3 Photo Album – Grade 4 Photo Album – Grade 5

වර්ෂ 2023 වූ බිනර මස 22 වැනි කිවි දා පූර්ව භාග 08:00 පසු වී මිනිත්තු 30 ට අප ත්‍රිත්ව විදුහලේ ප්‍රාථමික අංශයේ ප්‍රධාන ආචාර්යතුමිය ඇතුළු සිංහල භාෂාව උගන්වන ගුරුවරුන්ගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් අප විදුහලේ ගෞරවනීය විදුහල්පති පියතුමන්, ගරු උප විදුහල්පති තුමාන්, ගරු නියෝජ්‍ය විදුහල්පතිතුමා ඇතුළු සම්භාවනීය අමුත්තන්ගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් සිංහල භාෂා දින උත්සවය සැමරුවෙමු. සිංහල භාෂා දිනයක් පැවැත්වීමට ප්‍රධානම අරමුණ වූයේ අප ප්‍රාථමික අංශයේ සිංහල භාෂාව හදාරන සිසු දරුවන්ගේ භාෂා කුසලතා දියුණු කිරීමටත්, ඒ පිළිබඳ උනන්දුව, ආශාව ඇති කිරීමත් ය. මේ සඳහා පැවැත්වූ තරඟ වූයේ, සිංහල භාෂා දින උත්සවයේ ආරාධිත අමුත්තා වූයේ පුරා වසර 30 කට අධික කාලයක් ප්‍රාථමික අංශයේ සිසු දරුවන්ට අකුරු ඉගැන්වූ ආදරණීය ගුරුතුමියක් වු ඇය නමින් එස්තර් සේනාරත්නය. සුවිශේෂී කරුණක් වූයේ අප ගෞරවනීය විදුහල්පති පියතුමන්ගේ බාලාංශ ශ්‍රේණියේ සහකාර ගුරුතුමිය ඇය වීමයි. සිංහල භාෂා දිනය ඉතා ආකර්ෂණීය දිනයක් වූයේ අප ප්‍රාථමික අංශයේ සිසු දරුවන්ගේ උනන්දුව කැපවීම සහ සහභාගිත්වය හේතුවෙනි. ස්තුතියි. සිංහල අංශය භාර ගුරුතුමිය සරෝජනී ඩයස් .

An article by Seth Harischandra (Junior School Nature Club) A butterfly: wings, colours, flowers. That’s what most people think butterflies are, but if you were to observe them more carefully, you will understand that they are much more than fluttering insects. A butterfly haven Sri Lanka boasts over 248 species of butterflies, with 31 of them being endemic. A person who studies these flying beauties is called a ‘lepidopterist,’ just like Dr. George Michael van der Poorten. He is the proud owner of a 50-acre butterfly haven located in Wariyapola. This story is all about our encounters in this wonderful place that we were fortunate enough to visit. Dr. van der Poorten is an eminent lepidopterist who has researched and studied butterflies in Sri Lanka for over forty years. A few weeks ago, he gave an informative lecture on butterflies to the members of the Nature Club at Trinity Junior School. We were extremely delighted when we learned that a field trip to his butterfly garden had been arranged exclusively for us. With a few more weeks to go, I’m certain everyone was counting down the days for this grand expedition. After crossing out numerous days on the calendar, April 5th, 2023 finally arrived. All the members gathered punctually at the Junior School gate by 4.50 a.m., as instructed by our teacher in charge, Mrs. Indu Gunawardena. Everyone waited impatiently until the van arrived to take us on our 2-hour journey to Wariyapola, where we were expected to arrive by 7 a.m. To our delight, we were joined by the Head Master, Mr. Ananda Marasinghe, the Teacher in charge, Mrs. Indu Gunawardena, and Ms. Devari Alwis. At exactly five o’clock, we embarked on our long-awaited journey to step into the world of beautiful butterflies. We made great progress in reaching our destination, with everything running like clockwork. By 7 a.m., we clambered out of the van to finally meet Dr. van der Poorten and his wonderful wife, Nancy van der Poorten, in person. As everyone got off the van, we eagerly rummaged around to see if we could spot some butterflies right away. However, there seemed to be none, and we began to doubt if we would see any at all. To our relief, Dr. van der Poorten explained that butterflies prefer to dry their wings in the morning as the sun rises, and he was right! After a while, butterflies started to emerge one by one from all over the place and flew around freely. We kept seeing more and more butterflies, so many that we couldn’t even count them! The Van der Poortens offered us a delightful breakfast of milk rice, after which we took a look at the fish and turtles in the small lake close to the house. Dr. van der Poorten and Nancy taught us many tips on butterfly watching, and we set off to explore their garden. This 50-acre butterfly garden was truly magnificent and tremendously huge! It was so vast that you could almost call it a proper jungle. Many different kinds of trees and shrubs were planted to attract different species of butterflies. We learned that each kind of butterfly has its own favorite plants to lay eggs on, and the larvae also have their preferred plants to feed on. I think the Van der Poorten Garden is literally a Butterfly Hotel, and one needs over four and a half hours to see the entire place. We were able to spot many different butterflies and learned how to identify them by the patterns on their wings. It was interesting to discover that some of the most beautiful butterflies were actually poisonous, at least to their predators, not to us. As the sun rose, the day became hotter, and we often had to return to the house to refresh ourselves. Some members entertained themselves by collecting peacock feathers scattered all around. In the end, we had lunch and afterward, we had a little discussion about what we had seen on this expedition. Dr. van der Poorten kindly gave us some more peacock feathers and valuable copies of his book “Field Guide to the Butterflies of Sri Lanka” as souvenirs. As we waved goodbye to Dr. van der Poorten and Nancy, we felt a bit sad that the field trip had come to an end. However, deep in our hearts, we knew we would never forget this wonderful day!