Northwood Global College opens its doors

Northwood Global College, located at 103 Cotta Road, Borella Colombo 8, marked its inception on 19 January 2013. Gracing the special occasion was renowned veteran artist Kala Keerthi Sybil Wettasinghe and founder of D.S. Senanayake College and Chairmen/founder of Gateway College Sikamani R.I.T. Alles.

This day also marked the laying of the foundation of the purpose built school located at Mahawatte Road, Battaramulla.

This occasion was graced by the Mayor of Kaduwela, Buddadhasa, Ramana Prasad and his wife from BVM Global, the board of governors of the school and their families, and special Corporates invitees also participated in the events.

This school is sponsored by many corporate players while the main promoters of the school include Orange Electric and Hameedia and also BVM Global.

The board of governors of the school include many different corporate heads such as Orange Electric Managing Director Kushan Kodituwakku, Virtusa Vice President/GM Madu Ratnayake, Vidullanka Managing Director Riyaz Sangani, Hameedia Deputy Managing Director Hussain Sadique, BVM Global Managing Trustee Ramana Prasad and Hameedia Managing Director Fouzul Hameed.

They are also supported by Hayleys Group human resource management and development former General Manager J. H. Marikar and now the Northwood Global College Director of School Affairs of and Northwood Global College School/Academics Head Kumari Wickramasinghe.

The schools’ motto is to ‘inspire values’ and it already many students enrolled. Going with the concept of cultivating an education that focuses not only on knowledge but also on traditional Sri Lankan values, the school employs the standard white uniform used in national and government schools island wide.

Classes comprise of pre-school to grade six for this year and will move up to grade seven and upwards gradually starting from 2014. Equipped with classrooms that can seat up to about 30 students, the school curriculum incorporates both British and local with a special period dedicated towards robotics from grade five and above.

Furthermore, the school has an auditorium, a garden and a clay hut that is built to encourage concepts of team work, taking care of others and other core values of humanity.  

“We, the board of directors believe that every child has the right to quality education,” said Orange Electric Managing Director Kushan Kodituwakku.

“Our school is for students from all walks of life and we are only concerned about giving a quality education utilising the best new methods available in teaching.”

Probably the first school that is backed by the corporate, Northwood Global College is unique when compared to other schools due to several reasons.

They are being guided by people that integrate many different ideas and concepts from the corporate sector and combining old values with modern concepts.

“This will be a home away from home,” said Vidullanka Managing Director Riyaz Sangani. “We have brought many leading figures from the corporate sector to give inspiring leadership and we are focusing on promoting a new concept when it comes to education.”

The school promotes inquiry based learning, making way for developing analytical thinking as well as practical skills among the students from a very young age.  While text books are used in the class room, the teachers encourage interactive learning focusing on creating an individual who is confident, independent and at the same time humble.

“We will focus on values and habits that are important in cultivating a good citizen,” said Virtusa Senior Vice President/GM Madu Ratnayake.

“Also Northwood Global College is not only about teaching, but will also promote and incorporate important life skills into the school curriculum.”

The school will conduct the students in English and Sinhala/Tamil mediums, focusing on creating a bilingual individual while through its vast and diverse curriculum it will help students to discover more job opportunities especially in the corporate sector and parents can communicate with the school through email as well.

“The school will practice global education management systems,” said BVM Global Managing Trustee Ramana Prasad.

“Furthermore, this will be taken as an opportunity to redefine the education in Sri Lanka as we have done much research about bringing the necessary changes that are needed.”