3 May 2021 12:45 pm Views - 1115
Lyceum International, Panadura, the second branch of Lyceum International, launched in the year 2000 under the guidance of Lyceum International Founder, Dr. Mohan Lal Grero and Coordinating Principal, Dr.(Mrs.) Kumari Grero, is celebrating its 21st anniversary this year. Since a modest beginning in an old colonial type house in Jayathilake Mawatha, with 3 teachers and 23 students, it has now expanded in to a fully fledged international school with a wide range of both educational and co-curricular facilities and, today, stands as a beacon of hope to the youth of the area.
The main school is located at Walana, at the Northern entry point to Panadura town, a tranquil setting bordering the Bolgoda lake. Over time, consequent to rapid growth, the Primary School moved to the new premises at Bekkegama in August 2014. Both schools have continued to evolve, complementing and satisfying new and emergent changes in education, technology and infrastructure, and setting benchmark standards as a leading international school.
Currently, both the Primary and Main schools comprise three large five storey buildings with 10 spacious classrooms in each floor, accommodating a co-educational student body of 3600, ranging from Pre-school to Advanced Level. Whilst academic and co-curricular programmes of the school comply fully with international school standards, the vision and philosophy of Lyceum International also ensures the harmonious development of students within a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious environment.
Today, Lyceum International, Panadura celebrates a landmark event, in a journey signposted by many achievements. Behind the individual successes of the students is the operational leadership of the Principal, and the contribution made by the complement of over 300 members of teaching and support staff. The Principal, Deputy Principal, Warden, Headmistresses, Operations Manager, Coordinators, Sectional Heads, Grade coordinators and all other staff, too numerous to mention by name, have played significant roles providing high educational standards and instilling in the students, social and cultural awareness and sound moral values.
The School infrastructure provides a wide range of amenities to facilitate learning; a spacious library, a conference room, air-conditioned computer laboratories and state-of-the-art Science laboratories enable a comprehensive theoretical and practical learning experience. Other facilities include a 4 acre cricket ground, standard basketball court, swimming pools, dancing rooms, children’s play area and school infirmary. The School’s Career Guidance Department advices students for their higher studies and Counselling Unit provides psychological assistance. The school also regularly hosts concerts, dramas, singing competitions, dance performances and cultural and religious events.
Lyceum Panadura follows a specialized curriculum up to Grade 8 and provides students, from grade 9, with the option of enrolling in the National or Cambridge International examinations at both Ordinary Level and Advanced Levels. It has received accreditation as a Cambridge Examination Centre. The school felicitates the students who have brought credit to the school, by achieving success and international awards at the annual, Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards.
Many students of Lyceum, Panadura have secured Top in the World, and Top in Sri Lanka positions in Accounting, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, English Literature, French, Human and Social Biology, Mathematics and Physics. Such significant achievements have enabled students to secure scholarship placement and qualifications in a variety of fields, from many prestigious international universities.
During the recent years around 24 Lyceumers have gained entrance to prestigious National universities such as University of Colombo, University of Moratuwa, University of Peradeniya, etc. The school was nationally highlighted and publicly commended in the recent past, when Senadi Damya de Alwis of Lyceum Panadura, was placed Island First at the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination 2018 in the Arts stream.
Annually, the School Calendar is replete with several Athletic and Sports events, inspiring sportsmanship and promoting healthy competition. Under the concept, ‘A Healthy Mind In a Healthy Body’, the Keion Sports Grounds of Lyceum International School Panadura opened on the 15th of June 2019, providing the students their own modern sports complex. Students of Lyceum Panadura have gained both all island and world recognition in a range of sports and co-curricular activities, some with outstanding skills and capabilities receiving National Colours in sports.
The school provides a range of co-curricular activities; Athletics, Basketball, Netball, Cricket, Tennis, Badminton, Swimming, Karate, Chess, Scrabble etc. consequently, annually, students get opportunities to visit many foreign countries, associating with scholars and sportspeople from various parts of the world. This exposure to a variety of linguistic and cultural platforms helps broaden the students individual, social and global perceptions.
Notwithstanding its busy events calendar, the school also features many Community Service Projects and events, designed to inculcate in students an awareness of social responsibility. Similarly, the many cultural and linguistic events are aimed to promote the acceptance of diversity and harmony within groups with varying religious and cultural orientations.
The school has also established, under the guidance of the Lyceum School Board, several digital and technological platforms, as well as strategic interventions, to overcome the Covid driven obstacles to conventional educational processes. Even traditional events such as the Sinhala/Tamil New year and Vesak, have been successfully celebrated on virtual platforms, as well as Gardening Challenge Projects. Such innovations have been made possible by the dedication of the well-trained teaching staff, who have responded magnificently to unstructured situations.
The moral is that whilst we celebrate 21 years of accumulated achievements, we need to move ahead together and, instead of fretting over what cannot be controlled, meet fast evolving challenges with creative solutions. That will surely be well within our scope, with the guidance of our Founder, Dr. Mohan Lal Grero.