Year 12 Students Orientation Trip to Kalutara

The well awaited day of the orientation trip on the 9th of September finally arrived where we all gathered to embark on our journey to Kalutara. We were appointed to meet in school, bright and early at 6:45. To our dismay it started to pour down with rain however despite the tedious weather we finally managed to hit the road and in the span of one and half hours we safely arrived at our destination. We were all warmly greeted with hotel compliments of guava juice that perfectly replenished our thirst.

The whole grade was divided into four groups and thus the day began with a fulfilling and exhilarating game of dodgeball. We then ventured on to our next game, dog and the bone. The game consisted of two teams on either side of the field. The bone rested in the middle of the field which in this case was a tennis ball. Everyone in the team gave themselves one number which when called out, that particular number tries to deliver the bone from the middle of the field on to their side. This to everyone's amusement panned out successfully as their competitive behaviour and quick reflexes were put to the task. Finally, we have got to the most invigorating game of the day which was tug of war. The four teams had to put in their ultimate strength in order to revive the title as the strongest class of their grade. Sounds of anger, pain, and relief/content were projected throughout. We decided to convince the teachers to contest against the sixth form committee. Unfortunately, they were to leave with the upper hand as the committee was in fact defeated. (I’m sure it was due to the wet, slippery, muddy grounds on our side of the field). As the last game of the day we enticed ourselves in a game of a new invention called kick rounders. It was basically rounders however instead the baton and the ball was replaced with a football. The game was disrupted however due to a slight mishap of the ball being stuck in the tree. Our very own braved the height and climbed the tree to help get the ball out and that spontaneously served as entertainment for us, spectators.

After that amusing turn of events the game carried on for 10 more minutes and then it was time for what we were all waiting for, lunch was finally served. I'm sure everyone will agree in saying this, the food was simply exquisite with quite the variety and mixture between traditional Sri Lankan rice and curry and western cuisine.

After lunch we were all completely knackered so we took to the pool where we soaked in the last bit of luxury and sun. We all returned to familiar school ground in no time with our sun kissed skin and sandy feet, bringing back with us a little of Kalutara. We all had a tremendous amount of enjoyment on this trip. A huge thank you and appreciation to all the form tutors of Year 12, Mr. Shane, Mrs. Bartlett, Mr. Gareth, Ms. Jehan. A special thanks to Mr. James and Mrs. Peshani for making this memorable day possible. We wouldn't have liked to be defeated in the game of tug of war by any other set of teachers. A thankyou to the Sixth Form Committee for managing to organise everything and produce a successful day and thank you for all the year 12s for coordinating and we hope this could have been the warmest welcome to the most stressful yet most meaningful last 2 years of your school life.

• By Nikini Munaweera