Throughout History, Sri Lanka has been admired for its natural beauty and for containing so much variety within a small area – from beaches to rainforests, from the Cultural Triangle to the Hill Country. Every year we take students on educational trips around the whole island to take advantage of all these wonderful opportunities

Students learn far more by seeing a site for themselves and doing their own fieldwork than they ever can in a classroom. We aim, therefore, to take students on trips as often as we can, whether it is an overnight trip to a remote area or a simple walk down to the canal that runs next to the Senior School to study its flora and fauna.

The Early Learners annual visit to Dehiwala Zoo is a real highlight of the year for our youngest class, from the excitement of going on the school bus for the first time to seeing their favourite animals. Trips continue throughout the Junior School: Pre KG visit the Aquarium and the supermarket, KG2 visit temples, a church and a mosque as part of their education into different faiths, and Junior 2 take an excursion to Thalangama Lake to learn more about birds. There are also trips to streams and a plastic factory.

At the Senior School, History students go on annual trips to Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura and other nearby sites, as part of their study of Sri Lankan History each Summer Term. As well as conducting their own independent fieldwork, Geography students go on regular visits to rivers, coasts, factories and national parks, investigating issues as diverse as the environmental effects of tourism, corporate social responsibility and the impact of the tsunami. A Level Biology students go to the Genetech laboratory in Colombo, a pioneer in genetic engineering, to witness DNA replication and genetic testing.

Senior School students also make an annual trip to Jaffna. This trip serves to build friendships and establish ties between Elizabeth Moir School, St John’s College (SJC) and Chundikuli Girls College (CGC) in Jaffna. The students spend a great deal of time in fellowship with their peers, as well as visiting key historic sites including the fort, the library, Point Pedro, Nallur Kovil, the Thondamanaura Mohan Ashram, the temples on Nainativu/Nagadeepa and more. In turn, students from St John’s College Jaffna journey to Colombo for a reciprocal field trip which includes a tour of Colombo and Galle.

Students also have the opportunity to go overseas. There is a regular trip to Paris for French students to practise their language skills and visit the sites they have learned about in class, such as Versailles and La Tour Eiffel. Science students also attend the Science Camp organised by the National University of Singapore every other year. They gain valuable insight into university life as well as working in some of the best laboratories in Asia and listening to lectures by world-renowned experts.

There are also Class Trips at the end of the year to reward the students for their hard work and strengthen class unity and team spirit. Although the beach remains a popular destination, classes increasingly opt for more adventurous Outward Bound activities from canoeing and climbing to paintball, while Leisure World is a popular destination for the Junior School