27th December, 2022

Dear Parents,

Following over two years of trials and tribulations, I am glad to inform you that the 2022/23 academic year has
ushered in a promising beginning for a new era at Gateway College. The courage and the determination that
the entire school community displayed during the troubled years have contributed towards the school excelling
in all aspects, including academics where Gateway students received the highest and an unprecedented number
of awards at the Pearson Edexcel Awards Ceremony; sports, where our students won most inter-international
school tournaments and performed outstandingly well at national level too; and co-curricular activities such as
MUN (Model United Nations), YCS (Young Computer Scientist), Commonwealth Essay Competition, Sri Lankan
Mathematics Competition (SLMC), etc. where our students shone in all areas.

25th Anniversary Celebrations

With the school completing 25 years, we had planned many activities from the beginning of 2022 to celebrate
this important milestone. However, with the disturbances in the country during the first half of the year, many
of these events had to be postponed to the last term which turned out to be a very busy term for Gateway. I
am pleased to inform you that, we have now, completed most of the activities that were planned including the
religious ceremonies in all schools, a celebration and a presentation of awards to over 700 members of both
academic and administrative staff at Shangri-La Hambantota, Applause 25 – a musical production with the
participation of all schools and a tree planting campaign to plant 2500 trees. The only remaining activity is the
walk and the carnival which will be carried out in Colombo on the 28th of January.

I trust many of you by now would have seen our Anniversary Video and the unique Coffee Table Book that
describes our past 25 years and how our students envision the next 25 years to be. If you haven’t, I invite you
to use the following QR codes or links to see them both.

Anniversary Video Coffee Table Book

https://youtu.be/D8iyR4Ec_xE www.gatewaycollege.lk/25anniversaryctb

Academics, Sports and Co-curricular activities

We also made necessary arrangements for our dear students to receive the awards that they failed to receive
during the last 2 to 3 years. It is for this reason that we recognised the achievements of all students who
performed well during the last 2 to 3 years at our Awards Days and the Colors Nite. We are pleased that Pearson
Edexcel too, at our request, has agreed to recognize the performances of high achieving students in 2020 and
2021. For all students to get back to their sports and co-curricular activities, we have increased our house and
inter-Gateway events in sports and co-curricular activities; and with the hope that more students will participate
than in the past.
Page 1 of 3
Important developments for the future

As a school that wishes to be future ready, we wish to implement the following during the new year:

1. Strengthening of Higher Education Counselling

In September this year, we had a consultation with La Mentoraa, a leading higher education counselling
organization based in India. We requested Namrata Pandey, the Founder of and Chief Mentor at LA
MENTORAA, who has almost 30 years of experience in the field of Guidance and Counselling, to review our
systems and procedures. We have now made a considerable investment to sign up with LA MENTORAA for
a fixed term contract by which they will dedicate one hour every weekday for the Gateway Group of Schools.
During this time, Namrata and her team will carry out group sessions and one to one sessions providing
advice on personal statements, teacher recommendations, etc. Being the first professional Career
Counsellor employed by the famous Doon School, Dehradun, Namrata will closely work with Pubudu
Wijesinghe, our Higher Education Counsellor for the Gateway Group and her team of counsellors from all
Gateway Colleges, with the guidance and support of the Principals of the Gateway Colleges, targeting to get
as many students as possible into the leading universities in the world.

2. Gateway PLUS programme

Chosen as the only Ambassador School in Sri Lanka, Gateway has joined hands with KRUU, whose mission
is to develop critical next-century skills among high school students making them future ready. They connect
global minds from academia and industry with high school students to enable creative problem solving
through a project-based learning approach. Associate Professor Anil Srinivasan, the Founder of KRUU, who
visited our schools in early December to present the project to our Secondary School students highlighted
the keenness of the South Asian Academics who serve in the world’s best universities such as Harvard
University, Oxford University, IIT Madras, etc., to assist and guide the South Asian students to be creative
problem-solvers.

The Gateway PLUS (Problem based Learning from Universities to Schools) programme which will kick start
in Jan-Feb 2023 will be open to all Gateway students from Year 7 upwards, completely free of charge.
Students are required to work in groups of 4. I kindly request you to encourage your child to take part in
this novel initiative that will develop their skills in creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and
communication.

3. Gateway Goodness Project

As you may be aware, ‘Global Perspectives’ is an important component of our curriculum from Years 1 to
9. Whilst it is incorporated into other subjects in the Primary School, it is taught as a separate subject from
Years 7 to 9. At Year 8, students learn about giving back to society through the unit: Making a Difference
under the topic Changing Communities. After completing this unit, students will embark on the ‘Gateway
Goodness Project’ as a whole class project during their study in Year 9. The objective of the project is to
encourage students to engage in focused community service from a young age. We solicit your support
not just to encourage your child to participate but also to facilitate the class project in any way that is
possible for you.

4. VSAK (Values, Skills, Attitudes and Knowledge)

Page 2 of 3
 You will agree that there are many skills and attributes that are essential in adult life which are not covered
in the traditional school curricula. It is for this reason that Universities and Corporate entities invest heavily
in programmes that develop important soft skills and life competencies. We at Gateway, wish to equip our
students with skills and attitudes that will make them capable of carrying themselves with dignity and grace
from a young age which will be beneficial at future universities/workplaces and social gatherings.

Accordingly, the newly designed VSAK programme will be carried out as a series of workshops in Year 7
(VSAK – Basic), Year 9 (VSAK – Proficient), Pre-Advanced Level (VSAK – Advanced) and Year 12 (VSAK –
Accomplished). Carried out by experts in their respective fields, the topics will include Grooming and Good
Manners, Personal and Social Wellbeing, Sexual Health, Internet Safety, Addiction, Dining Etiquette, etc.
The attendance at the workshops will be recorded and maintained in the student files that are kept in the
school office.

5. Online School and the BYOD Policy

Our school’s online teaching and learning programme that was put in place during the pandemic was
considered by many Educators as one of the best in Sri Lanka. During the process, both teachers and
students used many new tools. It is important that this good practice is kept alive so that the use of
technology will not be just a backup but a regular practice. Therefore, from 2023, we will have 2 days of
online school every semester for the secondary school and 1 day of online school every term for the
primary school. The days of online school will be notified by the Principals of the schools.

Our BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy allows students to bring their laptops to school on a daily basis.
We encourage students of Years 10 and upwards to bring their devices and use them in school for their
learning. The school will provide necessary connectivity to all students.

6. Satisfaction survey

As you are aware, we publish an Annual Review along the lines of an Annual Report of a public quoted
company. We are probably the only school in Sri Lanka that undertakes the task of carrying out a
comprehensive review of its operations, activities and performance on a yearly basis. Gateway has
embarked on this venture not by compulsion but purely on our own desire to examine ourselves. Our past
annual reviews can be seen by visiting our website www.gatewaycollege.lk For this year’s Annual Review,
we wish to conduct a satisfaction survey of Gateway College's response to the difficulties faced by the
country during the past couple of years. We will be grateful if you will please respond to this anonymous
survey that will be sent to you in January.

Having the satisfaction and the belief that the worst is over, I also wish to bring to your kind attention that we
are still faced with a few challenges. Staff turnover is a concern that all organisations are faced with today and
we too are experiencing somewhat the same, with a few teachers going overseas for work, study and migration.
With your support and understanding, we assure you that we will manage this situation in the same manner in
which we overcame the challenges of the past.

Best wishes for the season and the new year.

Sincerely,

Harsha Alles
Chairman
Page 3 of 3