Lyceum International School, Kurunegala started in 2016 with 136 students and 15 teachers to provide English medium education up to Grade 12. It is co-educational and committed to pursuing excellence in teaching and learning in where all the students grow with international ideals and character, in a Multiethnic, Multicultural and Multi-religious school environment. Academic and co-curricular programmes are conducted according to international standards. Lyceum Kurunegala committed to educating students, the importance of respecting and promoting sustainable development of our environment while preparing children with knowledge and skills to manage the world’s resources.

Within a history of three years time, Lyceum Kurunegala was able to contribute towards protecting the environment within the implementation of numerous projects. These projects were a great result of finding ways to overcome many inconveniences which were faced by the Lyceum family within the school premises. These projects were contributed by students, members of staff including the management and as well as the parents. Some significant projects such as tree planting campaigns were extended for external communities including fellow International Schools. Not only initiation, Lyceum always works on the continuous development of the above-said projects while making them much more sustainable. 

The school always looks forward to other opportunities in terms of creating an environment which is favourable for healthy living. Thus, creating bonds with family and friends in working hand in hand has enhanced the positive attitude among our students apart from the positive contributions to the environment which we add Lyceum cherish the most. We believe that developing positive attitudes and enrich a healthy environment is the finest gift we can offer to the future generations and our initiative has broadened our pathway in sustaining an Eco - friendly community.

How did we identify the need for our initiative?

Lyceum Kurunegala is situated in the heart of Kurunegala city which consists of an enormous rock boundary(Athugala, Andagala, Wanduragala, Elugala and Ibbagala), with least number of trees. The school population experienced dry weather which caused numerous inefficiencies in their teaching-learning process. As it is situated close to the town, environmental pollution around our school is easily observable and the main reason was the public consumption of plastic. The emission of smoke from the vehicles directly affects the school environment as well as the health of the school community. It was our idea that a school is the best place to inculcate environmental friendly attention so that we initiated numerous projects in order to address the above-said problems. What was the initiative and how did implement it? Many initiatives are taken by Lyceum Lyceum International School, Kurunegala;

Eco-Friendly bags/ water bottles

The school manufactures Eco – friendly bags/bottles to the entire school community.

Food Waste Management

All the food waste from school is collected, sorted and sent to a location where compost is made and it’s used as organic fertilizer for the plants which turned the 30 acres of barren land into a greenish Adventure Park.

Paper Waste Management

Using both sides of papers whenever possible, using one-sided paper for art and craft, using separate waste paper bins for recycling, sending notices via text messaging and reusing rough sheets to minimize paper waste.

Community Service Project

The public consumption of plastic has continued to rise over the years, amounting to about 20,000 plastic bottles being bought every second. Collecting waste glass and plastic from a selected area in Kurunegala city and sold them for recycling to reduce the threats towards the Earth. Initiated this on 10th of March by Lyceum Social Leaders, who conduct the project every three months.

Energy Saving Project

Conserving water is vital for survival. Therefore students were made aware to be responsible for saving energy by encouraging them to switch off lights and turn off taps when they are not in use.

Green Travel Plan

Promoting students to travel by school bus service and vehicles and have been scheduled with different timing to travel in an efficient way to reduce fuel consumption.

Eco-Friendly Selection in Purchases

The students buy Eco - friendly books from the school cooperative store. Usage of plastic and Polythene is prohibited in the cafeteria. Instead, leaves are used to wrap food.

Learning is a change in behaviour by experience. Lyceum created grounds for students to build environmentally friendly attitudes through the implementation of numerous projects such as Such projects have caused the students to become truly responsible in their behaviour towards protecting the environment. Students at Lyceum always make sure to use the right bins for their waste, to make the right choice in terms of environmentally friendly materials, to make sure that food, water or other resources are not being wasted and well preserved. Lyceum Kurunegala celebrated its third anniversary this September prioritizing the theme of tree planting “A Breath to Earth”.

In collaboration with that, the students’ present for the school was a plant. These plants were gifted to several areas around Kurunegala including campsites at Boyagane, a town close to school. Another remarkable project in Lyceum history was planting 1500 Sri - Lankan traditional herbal plants in a selected village in the dry zone named Ipalogama. In addition to that, we planted over 2000 plants in Mawathagama Police Station premises and the area with the help of the school community and the parents, inculcating team effort and enhancing the bond between the school and the parent's community.

Furthermore, reuse of disposed of tyres which were collected from areas around Kurunegala as well as from school was implemented in school premises especially for soil retaining purposes around the plants and trees. The community service project in which garbage around the city was collected and handed over to the Municipal Council for recycling purposes, was a very engaging project. The commutative involvement in this project was very high. The project was a very good example for all the residents around the area as it contributed significantly to make a pleasant environment.

Through such projects, we were able to create an ideal platform for society as well as for fellow International Schools to carry out nature-friendly practices. All the above mentioned set projects commenced by Lyceum are surely sustainable as they have been forecasted for many years. All the planted trees are inspected and well maintained periodically to the projects’ sustainability and its long term impact on environmental conservation is impressive and beneficial for the city, the country and also for the world. We at Lyceum are proud of the enthusiasm and co-corporation have given by the entire school community with regard to building an environment-friendly school in Sri Lanka.