Record IGCSE & A Level Results

Congratulations to all our exam students on their superb results in last summer's public examinations.

At A Level, over half of all papers were graded A* or A, and 74% A* ­ B. Out of 29 students, an astonishing 22 students gained an A grade in at least one of their subjects. Of these, 11 students gained 3 or more A grades:

Jameel Ur Rahman achieved an average of over 97% across his four subjects, including 99.5% in Physics.

At IGCSE, over 75% of papers were graded A* or A, and well over 90% A* ­ B, which are outstanding results which compare with the very top schools worldwide. A record 13 students gained 7 or more A or A* grades, with six obtaining at least 7 A* grades:

Shamira Ghouse gained 10A* at IGCSE, having already achieved an A (the highest possible grade) on one O Level subject last year. Her eleven top grades are the best ever results by an Elizabeth Moir School student and among the best ever by a Sri Lankan student.

Sri Lanka Unites Future Leaders Conference 2011

Five of our Prefects attended the 3rd Sri Lanka Unites Future Leaders Conference, which was held at Trinity College, Kandy from 11th to 13th August, with the main events taking place at the Asgiriya stadium. Over 750 students from all around the country were divided into 30 teams to participate in sporting and cultural activities designed to promote team-building and help students to bridge the ethnic and linguistic divide. It was designed so a boy from Jaffna who spoke no English would find himself playing cricket with a Sinhalese student from the South who hadn't had a Tamil friend before. Speakers included former UN Under Secretary-General Jayantha Dhanapala and a team of international delegates from countries including South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congratulations to Vimukthi Caldera who won the English Oratory competition at the conference, which had particular prestige as it occurred during the visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the conference.

Rumesh Ratnayake appointed Sri Lanka Cricket Coach

Congratulations to Rumesh Ratnayake on his appointment as Coach for the Sri Lankan Cricket team on a temporary basis for the current series against Australia. Rumesh was Coach of our Cricket Squad from 1998 to 2002 and has continued to be involved with the school since, mentoring aspiring cricketers at the school like Gayan De Silva and Hassan Ibrahim. We wish Rumesh and the Sri Lankan team the best of luck for the remainder of the series against Australia.

Harvard University Scholarship

Congratulations to Sabrina Ghouse who was offered full scholarships by Harvard, Princeton, Chicago and NYUAD. She has opted to go to Harvard and has taken up her place now.

Congratulations Nadeera Wickramasinghe, who has been given a full scholarship to the newly opened Abu Dhabi campus of New York University to study Biomedical Engineering; and Hanako Itsubo, who was awarded one of only 20 full scholarships to the University of Osaka in Japan to study Biological Sciences.

Hong Kong University Scholarships

Congratulations to Naslam Basheer and Jameel Ur Rahman who have both been awarded full scholarships to Hong Kong University, the top ranked university in Asia, to study Biomedical and Electrical Engineering respectively, and will be starting their courses soon. Naslam had earlier been invited to attend a workshop in Hong Kong with Professor Malik Peiris, a world-famous virologist and the first Sri Lankan to be a fellow of the Royal Society.Well done as well to Ahmed Ikram, who has also won a scholarship to Hong Kong University to study Economics.

Sri Lanka Model United Nations Conference 2011

During the holidays, 28 students along with Miss Srimali Fernando attended the 4th annual Sri Lanka Model United Nations Conference, held at Water's Edge from 8th to 10th August. Among the topics they discussed were the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and multi-lateral approaches to alleviating poverty.

Eight of our students were members of the Executive Committee that organised the conference, which was the most from any school, including Avishka Mendis, in the important role of Assistant to the Secretariat; Vimukthi Caldera, Reema Mohamed and Lukshmee Saravanapavan who were Chairs of different committees; and Junaid Jafar, the youngest member of the committee. Congratulations also to Jameel Ur Rahman who won the award for the Best Position Paper in his committee.

National University of Singapore Science Camp

Thirteen Lower 6th students, accompanied by Mrs. Sunila Ganhewa and Mr. Patrick Van Twest, travelled to Singapore from 12th to 18th June to attend a Science Camp at the National University of Singapore. They had the opportunity to work in some of the best laboratories in Asia on activities including building a simple motor, handling liquid nitrogen, analysing air track collisions, and using scanning electron microscopes. They also visited a water treatment plant, as well as other well-known sights in Singapore. The students gained a valuable insight into university life, which should help them as they begin to prepare their university applications.

Under 15 Football Team reach Final

In May and June, we hosted an Under 15 Football tournament for eight international schools. High hopes for a strong team were more than justified as the team scored an astonishing 25 goals in their three opening games (ten by striker Aron Rahim) without conceding any, beating Lyceum 10-0 and netting four against Asian International School. One of the strongest footballing schools, Royal Institute, awaited in the Semi-Final but an opening goal by Sandesh Mendis settled the team's nerves. In the end, the team won comfortably 3-0 with Jang Pyo Hong, the Captain, scoring the last, gaining revenge against Royal Institute who had beaten us in the Semi-Final of the Under 19 tournament earlier in the year. The tournament ended in an anti-climax, though, as a strong CIS team played their best game of the tournament to win 2-0. We can certainly look forward to more great performances from these players as they progress up the school.

'Spreading Smiles, Brightening Lives'

In February, Form 1 students visited the Preethipura Home for the mentally or physically handicapped in Wattala to conduct an art workshop, serve lunch and make a donation of Rs. 20,000 to buy equipment for the home's physiotherapy room, with money they had raised themselves. This visit had made such an impact on the Form 1 students that we then invited some of the residents of the home to the school on Community Service Day in April for activities including a Paralympics organised by our students. The visit undoubtedly achieved its aim of 'Spreading Smiles, Brightening Lives' and will be a day to remember for both our guests and our own students.

Debaters placed 4th in D.S. Senanayake Competition

Congratulations to Nimesha Perera, Asma Reza and Hana Rajap who overcame very stiff competition to come fourth out of sixteen teams, including all the main local schools in Colombo, in the Impromptu Debating Competition hosted by D.S. Senanayake College.

Founders' Day

Elizabeth Moir School's 15th Founders' Day Prize Giving was held on Saturday 2nd July. The evening began with brilliant renditions of 'Consider Yourself' and 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' by the new Infant Choir and ended with a beautiful and emotional performance by an Upper 6th Choir that included half the graduating class. Serala Ranatunga, the outgoing Captain of School, encouraged the students in her speech not to have any regrets by taking part in as many school activities as possible and thanked Mrs. Moir for providing a school that had been a 'home away from home' and a 'family' for her in her fifteen years at the school.

Congratulations to the new Head Prefects appointed for 2011-2012:

Term Dates 2011 - 2012