Situated in Hyderabad the school was established to exemplify Sri Aurobindo’s vision of Integral Education. The school is affiliated to the ISC board catering to students from pre-primary to class XII. The school has also procured accreditation from the NIOS (National Institute of Open School) to facilitate students with special needs. Dr. Chhalamayi Reddy has been the principal of the school over the past 25 years.
Features
The school has a differential naming and teaching methodology for Primary, Middle and High school classes. It consists of three wings namely Liberty, Harmony and Truth.
Liberty
Students from class I to IV come under the Liberty section. They have no prescribed text books. Dr. Chhalamayi said, “This is to ensure conceptual understanding rather than content based learning.” Students are provided well-equipped learning environs to facilitate experiential learning through games and activities.
Harmony
Students from class V to VII come under the Harmony section. Dr. Chhalamayi said, “Children are evaluated through different types of assessments. Specific tasks are developed focusing on various skills such as observation, understanding, reasoning, data analysis, experiments, etc.” Focus is on the development of their physical abilities, aesthetic sense and emotional growth. Dr. Chhalamayi said, “Learning of children depends totally on his/her ability to acquire the basic skills.”
Truth
Students from class VIII to X come under the Truth section. Dr. Chhalamayi said, “Unique Self-Reflective sheets are provided every year to each child and self-analysis is consciously facilitated.” Seminars and workshops are conducted for the students by experts across various fields.
Dr. Chhalamayi added, “Talks and discourses are conducted on ‘Unity of Religions’ for senior students. ‘Spiritual Parenting’ is being introduced for parents.”
Motivate Teachers
The school conducts periodic workshops and meetings to support teachers enhance their performance.
Dr. Chhalamayi said, “The philosophy of Integral Education believes in the teachers to be self-reflective practitioners.” Rubric method is followed by the school to evaluate the performance of teachers.
On hiring teachers, Dr. Chhalamayi said, “Yes, we find problem in hiring new teachers. We need to orient them in house training workshops at school.”
Safety, Health, Academic Growth
In order to ensure health and safety of all, the school has installed CCTV cameras, water purifiers and fire extinguishers. The school also conducts mock drills.
Students are encouraged to take part in Olympiad, ASSET, Spell Bee and Bournvita quiz competitions to enhance their academic growth.
Sri Aurobindo School has adopted various IT tools to impart education. Math Online, Mind Spark by Education India Initiative, School Cinema for primary, Interactive learning modules, Teacher Tab from 23.4 degrees education services Pvt. Ltd, etc., are some of the teaching methods adopted by the school.
Awards
The school has won many accolades to mention. Below are some of the awards won by the school. ‘International School Award’ by British Council for excellence in environmental, social exchange program with schools across the globe between 2008-2011. Third prize in Green I project by CIT for designing sustainable practices in the school in 2009. Top 5 position in Green I project in 2011.
‘Best school Award’ for community outreach as part of ‘Education for sustainable unity’ project, a German collaboration in 2011.
Three students were selected for National level ICSE Sports after winning at District level.
Admission Process
Parents are required to fill an online admission form and carry original documents mentioned in the form. Dr. Chhalamayi said, “Interaction with the parents and student is the final deciding factor for admission.”
Challenges
Speaking about challenges Dr. Chhalamayi said, “The main challenge is in regard to the changing conduct and attitude of the students and there by the need of the teachers to cope with them. Unrealistic expectation from parents is another challenge.”
Specific Incidents
On specific incidents she told us about “Dr. Abdul Kalam’s Visit to her school on 1st August 2014.” She added, “One of our P.E. Teachers fulfilled a challenge of reaching Jangaon from Hyderabad (88 km) by bicycle.”
Alumni
Ajay Kumar Kalavala, Vamshi Mohana, Ravi Teja, Dr. Kiran, Dr. Radhika, Somasundaram and Azam Monidduin were some of the alumni names shared by Dr. Chhalamayi.
Sri Aurobindo International School was established in 1965 under the aegis of Institute of Human Study.
Please visit the school website for more information: www.sriaurobindointernationalschool.org