Three day Orientation Programmes held for classes II to V, VI to VIII and for Grade I at Podar World School, Sherkhi, Vadodara.
Orientation programmes were held for parents of Primary and Middle school children on 22nd, 23rd and 24th June'17 respectively to familiarise them with their child’s school, changes in the assessment pattern, examination pattern and the new report card system. Each of these programmes were presided over by the Principal Ms. Preeta Pillai who in her gracious manner extended a warm welcome to the parents and as customary practice showed them the slides that depict the rich legacy of Podar and the achievements at National and International levels won by the Chairman, Mr. Raghav Podar, and those of the outstanding achievements of the School and students both in Curricular (including the recent grade X results with nearly 50% students securing a perfect 10 CGPA) and other Co-curricular activities.
Then the details about the new assessment pattern was informed through a Power Point Presentation to the parents for grade 2 to 5 consisting of the Internal assessment of Note-books, Sub-enrichment activities and the number of Periodic tests held for the whole academic year with their weightage fixed for each of the tests. Besides they were also informed of the pattern for Co-scholastic assessment and the criteria on which the learners would be assessed. The invited parents (especially for the new parents of the academic year) were once again reminded of the regular day school timings, the uniforms for regular days, Wednesdays and Saturdays, the different short breaks and its healthy and rejuvenating purpose (fruit break, sprout break, long recess and happy time after the 7th period), the details of creative learning periods on Wednesdays and change in Saturdays school timings. In the query session, all the queries of the parents directed to the Primary Co-ordinator, Ms. Dolly Patel and to the subject teachers were satisfactorily responded or attended to.
On the second day, soon after the customary addressing of the august gathering of parents of grade 6 to 8, by the Principal, Ms. Preeta Pillai and having shown the slide show on Podar's rich legacy, the parents were informed through PPT slide show about the new assessment pattern (of both Scholastic and Co-scholastic aspects) the examination pattern and the new report card system. The queries of the parents were satisfactorily attended to by the Principal, Secondary Co-ordinator, Ms. Durgeshwari Gussain and her team of teachers.
The most crucial of all was the orientation programme for class I graders (section A, B & C) held on Saturday, 24th June'17. Every care was taken to solve all the queries required of the parents especially for those (mother and child) who attended the orientation programmes held in different classes for each of the sections. Besides all help was extended for their counter parts, their husbands who were kept engaged at the atelier through video shows depicting the rich legacy of Podar, parenting tips and the varied activities carried out during the academic year like slide shows on Annual programmes, field trips, Picnics etc. For the young siblings of the students, arrangements for playthings, (like the toy cars, buses, and wooden horses) drawing books and colour pencils and crayons were made available at the atelier.
Ms. Dolly Patel, the Primary Co-ordinator and the Symphonic In-charge Ms. Siji John along with the class teachers of each of the sections and the subject teachers, all attired in formals quite smartly and confidently responded to their queries regarding the forth coming periodic test, syllabus, the frequency of availability of the books retained in the school etc. Finally as a part of building a rapport with the parents, a housie game was played pairing the mother and her child in each of the classes where the orientation was held.
On the whole the orientation programmes were a great success from the point of view of maintaining the idea of transparency between the school and the most valued customers, the parents ensuring them of the best practices adopted for their children’s holistic development and well being under the auspices of the Podar Management. The enriched resources of the CRDC of Podar Innovation Centre is then carefully and effectively handled by the teacher educators under the guidance of Ms. Preeta Pillai, a very thoughtful and a great promoter of student centric environment for learning by exposing the learners to real life situations at work and also by providing an opportunity to hone their problem solving skills.
