A Note of Caution
We strongly advise that parents read this information carefully to assess that they believe in and are willing to accept and cooperate in this different system of education before taking admission and committing their child to our care.
Mission
At a Progressive Education school a child is a total personality to be developed through education and not just a machine designed only to score high marks in an examination. This school does not have the typical, conservative and inflexible education environment generally prevalent in the country today.
Our mission is to equip the child to succeed in tomorrow’s world – the world of the child’s future.
What is the world of the child’s future?
- There will continue to be an exploding and bewildering world of knowledge, too vast for any child to grasp at that age.
- Complex fruits of science and technology will surround the individual.
- The competition to survive will be world wide and intense with the relentless rise in ‘educated’ populations.
Objectives
To fulfill our mission, we have set out the following objectives. The child should:
- Possess the skills to acquire, comprehend, process and successfully apply throughout life, the knowledge appropriate to her / his chosen field or career.
- Develop logical reasoning and conceptual ability suitable for comprehending and imbibing science and technology.
- Be self-assured, confident and expressive both verbally and in writing, and be capable of independent and creative thought and action.
- Have acquired the values and character to make the appropriate decisions in both personal and professional life, and also be a socially responsible person.
We have assessed that the two major current obstacles to our stated objectives are:
- The prevailing reliance on text books for imparting education, which severely restricts and confines the foundation, mental growth and potential of a child especially at the pre primary and primary stage.
- The overwhelming emphasis on frequent, repetitive examinations which serve little purpose to the child’s future but on the contrary often have a great adverse impact on both the child and the family.
The System
The existing syllabi laid down by the educational authorities coupled with the prescribed textbooks are still so rigid and pedantic as to have little relevance to the child’s current needs or to the child’s growth towards future needs. There is currently little effort towards practical application of the knowledge being gathered by the child.
We have designed our system up to class VII with a syllabus much broader than purely academic and which is flexible and can easily accommodate new ideas and techniques whilst fulfilling our objectives.
At the kindergarten level
“The education of even a very small child, therefore, does not aim
at preparing him for school but for life.” Maria Montessori
- The child is exposed to an environment in which he/she enjoys learning activity in a school and develops fine motor skills through planned alternate activities preparatory to formal writing.
- Simultaneously, the, child is encouraged to develop confidence through oral expression and develop individual creativity through drawing, painting etc.
- The emphasis is on developing oral skills in the languages of English and Hindi (as a pre-requisite to reading & writing skills), and the mental awareness of numbers and their basic and simple application.
- There are no tests or marks; instead the parents receive a detailed report on the child twice in the academic year at the end of the months of October and March.
At the pre-primary level
- We use exercise books but not textbooks. Books from the school library are used as aids and for reference in developing the required skills in the children. For reinforcement and review, we also prepare and use work sheets, which may be completed in class or at home.
- Up to class IV, the children develop adequate oral, reading and writing skills in the languages of Hindi and English; oral skill in the Sanskrit language; comprehension of, and skills in, application of mathematical operations appropriate to the age/class level skill in the operation and creative use of computers. Knowledge of history, geography and basic sciences are conveyed while teaching the languages. Besides the purely academic side, creative thought, action and development of the individual is fostered and encouraged through art, writing, dramatics, public speaking etc.
- We do not have any formal or form of examinations but instead there is a process of continual evaluation and review during the year. A detailed subject wise assessment and qualitative report on the progress of the child is given to parents twice in the academic year in October and in March.
At the primary / middle level (V – VII)
The students are automatically absorbed into Progressive Education II for class V and upwards till class XII. PE II is affiliated to the CISCE New Delhi for the Class X and Class XII Board Examinations and is managed by a registered body titled the Friends of Children Society.
We use exercise books but not textbooks. As an alternate system, books from the school library are used as aids and for reference for developing the required skills in the children. For reinforcement and review, we also prepare and use work sheets, which may be completed in class or at home.
Up to class IV, the children should have well developed oral, reading and writing skills in the languages of Hindi and English; oral skill in the Sanskrit language; comprehension of and skill in mathematical operations appropriate to the age / class level; skill in the operation and creative use of computers. Knowledge of history, geography and basic science would have been learnt during teaching of Environmental Study.
From Class V, the children continue to develop as above and commence writing in Sanskrit as well. The subjects of Geography, History and General Science subjects of Physics, Chemistry and Biology are now introduced as separate entities. In addition, we educate the child in study skills to better her / his performance. Besides the purely academic side, creative thought, action and development of the individual is fostered and encouraged through art, writing, dramatics and public speaking.
We do not have any formal form of examinations planned till class VII but there is a process of continual evaluation and review during the year through in-house class ‘tests’. The purpose of the reviews is to ascertain if the teacher has been able to successfully impart the desired knowledge and thinking to the children. These tests are also designed to develop in the child the skills required for answering a typical, written examination. Adequate emphasis is placed in all classes on further development of writing skills.
A detailed subject wise assessment and report on the progress of the child is given to parents twice in the academic year in October and in March. There is normally no requirement to detain a student in any class up to class VII unless the child has inadequate attendance in school for that class. Each case will be considered by the school on its individual merit and decision communicated to the parents.
Home Work
Spending about six hours in a day at school is normally sufficient work for a child. The current concept of homework is to make teaching easier for the teacher at school; show the parent how much is being taught in the school syllabus and to reinforce the tuition system. We are not in favor of this concept and believe that homework should:
- Be an enjoyable self effort
- Be a reinforcement of what has been learnt at School
- Be of a short duration
- Be creative as far as possible
At class VIII and at the secondary / senior secondary level
For Class VIII, the student selects the optional subjects she / he intends to appear in for the ICSE (Xth) Board Examination and commences a three-year preparation for the ICSE Examination. In this class, we use selective textbooks of the class IX as required. One mid-session and one examination towards the end of the academic year will be held and grades will be awarded in the various subjects. The purpose of these examinations is to prepare the children for ICSE examinations and help her / him make a final choice of the optional subject(s), since subsequently in class IX no change will be possible after end August of the academic year.
In the event a child in class VIII has not yet achieved the standards to be able to enter the secondary level and clear the ICSE examination at the end of class X, the school shall advise the parents accordingly. The parents and student then have the choice to:
- Change the optional subjects to the ones the student appears to have more aptitude for or,
- Continue and take the possible risk of not clearing the ICSE examination with its consequences or,
- Shift to the CBSE or State Board System of education at the secondary level in another school or,
- Repeat the class if mutually acceptable to the school and the parents / student.
For Classes VIII to XII, prescribed textbooks will be used to prepare the students for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (Year 10) and Indian School Certificate (Year 12) Board examinations. Practice examinations will continue as will our system of assessments / reports.
Besides the compulsory subject of English Language, Literature and Environmental Education the other subjects offered for class XI include Hindi, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, Commerce, and Computer Science. In addition History, Geography and Fashion Designing are also available depending on the number of students opting for them. Subjects of Fine Arts and Sanskrit will be available on a selective basis and on seeing the numbers of students. Other subjects may be added in due course.
Please note
- We have incorporated in our syllabi all information, knowledge and academic skill required by the existing system for a student to appear for the ICSE and ISC examination.
- Our students are also competent to study in and / or appear for any other school or examination system in India or for that matter abroad where English is the medium of study.
- We do not believe in tuition or tutoring at home for the secondary/senior secondary academic school syllabus or earlier classes either by parents or others and our methods in school do not encourage this.
- We arrange all the books and stationery required in the learning process in the school.
- The parents receive a detailed report on the child twice in the academic year in October and in March / and for the Board year in February.
Discipline
Punishment as a concept is strongly discouraged. We prefer to talk to children and reason out the undesirability of any incorrect actions or words used.
*There is no corporal punishment in this school*
Activities
The children participate in development activities such as dramatics, debates, public speaking, music, dance, art and crafts, chess etc. These enhance the positive traits of a child’s personality and bring out the talents she / he may possess. These activities are added over the years as the facilities / resources increase.
Sports
We view sports as a recreational exercise to be used to foster certain desirable values in a child.
We provide sports and general coaching to be explored by the child to ascertain whether she/he would like to further develop in to any particular sport and thereafter the parent(s) and school can support their endeavors to accomplish the desired level of competence.
The Eastern campus on NH 59 A (Dudhiya) offers all the open spaces and facilities required for a wide range of sports and extra curricular activities. Effort to deliver competition grade sporting is being encouraged here.
As is our policy, all children, unless due to health or disciplinary grounds, participate in sports during the allotted activity periods in the daily curriculum.
Interaction and Feedback
This school is a professional organization with an appropriate attitude to all aspects of functioning.
Our team is highly motivated, cohesive, experienced and is continually trained ‘on the job’, with the freedom to be creative and innovative in fulfilling the organizational objectives as well as the objectives laid down for each class level.
Parents may take an appointment to discuss in detail their child’s progress with the staff after prior consultation on the telephone, or during the parent – teacher meetings held in the academic year.
Remedial classes for some children, requiring additional help or to complete their unfinished class work may be held after school hours/holidays at school and the parent is required to drop off and pick up the child for the remedial class on these days.
Individuals from our team have set out to to train and initially handle the screening of children who are suspected to suffer from a learning issue or disability. We are currently equipped to report, handle and counsel many of the cases that present them selves, however, not for serious or special needs cases.