Clubs and Societies

Animal Rescue Club

The Animal Rescue Club of Stafford International School was founded to rescue, rehabilitate and find homes for abandoned animals. Additionally, we aim to raise awareness about the ordeals that animals in our nation undergo.

One of the first projects the Club initiated was the rescue, rehabilitation and re-homing of five puppies. Four members and the staff advisor of the club helped rescue and transport five stray pups abandoned in a semi-constructed building. The puppies were taken care of and nursed back to health by the generous family of three of our club members, and eventually, after much effort, all five puppies found loving homes. This rescue laid a foundation for what the ARC aspired to do.

Our second project began when a cat owner who was unable to take care of her six kittens reached out to us. Hence, we decided to advertise and deliver these kittens for adoption. On the 31st of January 2021, we picked up the kittens from Kottawa and delivered three to their new homes. The remaining kittens were delivered the next day. All the kittens received loving and caring adopters who have been taking good care of them to date.

One of our more recent projects known as “Be Kind” involved asking our members to perform an act of kindness to any animal, such as feeding a stray dog, cat or even leaving out food for birds and other creatures. Many of our members engaged in this project and we received several pictures of their acts of kindness.

Our last project for the year was an interview on Instagram Live with animal activist, Shanuki De Alwis, about her own experiences with rescuing and nursing animals back to good health. We hope to be in conversation with more animal experts, activists and such to give our students insight into how these individuals help in their own ways.

We hope to motivate, equip and educate our students to continue to help animals regardless of what kind of animal it may be. We hope to further inculcate a better understanding in our students of the wildlife that surrounds them in this nation.

If you would like to join us on our journey, send a WhatsApp message to 071 952 5710 and don’t forget to follow our Instagram page, @a.r.c.s.i.s for updates on our projects and activities.

We truly hope to see you be a part of our movement to help the animals in this nation, because if not us, then who?

Harshada Siriwardana
President

Book Club

The Book Club is a newly established club hoping to aspire our students to indulge in the wonder of books.

Considering the financial constraints today and the possibility of inculcating sustainable purchasing, the EXCO of the club proposed the following idea to the school management – and it was gladly embraced.

Textbook prices have particularly gone up this year, making it difficult for some students to purchase new books, while many of us look to discard old ones at the end of each school year. Thus, we established a mini-school book market where students can buy or sell books at a discounted rate of 60%. The club only acts as the exchange medium – and makes no financial transaction.

Concluding our activities at the end of this academic year, we are proud to say that we have made over 60 matches. We are thrilled by the positive feedback we have received and will strive to help students in the future.

We welcome you to join our venture next year too, to promote sustainable purchasing and to help our fellow students receive all the materials they need to get that A*!

Meth Abeysinghe, Diren Gunasekera & Thinagar Chandrasekaran
Book Club EXCO

Choir

Music is an important part of the studies and helps in the growth of the child. We at Stafford International School focus on giving the members a rounded education in different types of music.

At Stafford, we are indeed privileged to have maestro Ishan de Lanerolle train the Senior and Junior choirs with a membership of 55 and 45 respectively. The Junior Choir is structured as a feeder to the Senior Choir. Some of our choristers join us with no previous experience, but as they journey with us, they learn proper techniques and gain confidence in their singing skills.

We encourage our students to express themselves through music by organizing events that bring the students talent on stage. Our objective is to enrich the confidence of the students and their well-being.

We are proud that singing has formed a key role in the lives of students at Stafford.

Commerce Society

The main objective of the Commerce Society of Stafford International School is to educate and convey to our fellow members the benefit and importance of pursuing commerce based subjects such as Economics, Accounting and Business. In addition, we aim to bridge the gap and promote easy access to adult figures in the corporate world for our members to get more frequent advice and information about the working world. Our strategy is to convey this information in a non-autocratic way, but instead in an atmosphere of interaction and vibrancy, where our members will get a chance to seek information in a deeper sense, regarding commerce subjects and the corporate world.

In the academic years of 2020/21, our first project “So far and the way forward” was held on the 16th of December. Various people from different industries were interviewed with the overall purpose of getting an insight of how businesses would respond to the pandemic and to encourage proactive leadership rather than being reactive in such challenging times.

Our second event “Project Leap” was a series of pre-recorded Instagram videos which were published on the 15th of June. This was done to encourage students to take up commerce subjects for their AS and A levels. The Instagram series featured students sharing their experiences of the subjects and the importance of the relevant subjects. Our next event “Brainaholics” was a series of entertaining kahoot quizzes which was hosted on the 19th of June. The quizzes were based on Economics, Accounting and Business. Our final project for the academic year was called “Action”. This was a two- part interview held on the 25th and 26th of June. This involved interviewing entrepreneurs. They shared their experiences in their careers and gave tips to our innovative members.

We hope the upcoming board will be able to continue the work of promoting commerce!

Saira Carder
President