As we recall that we are eight years old, a sense of reflection appears to be setting in. How far back one would go into the past or in what manner is not clear. Awareness of the intent of this article, in a very subtle manner, influences it to provide a glimpse of the state of our school!

The assembly presentations of the senior and junior schools this morning centred on Christmas. They were interesting and heartening to watch because they were organised by teachers not raised in the Christian tradition. The Christian teachers, who could have done better, were celebrating the occasion at home.

Our school celebrates all the festivals enthusiastically and with relative ease. We find it difficult to distinguish children from the different communities or regions. We come across interesting and challenging questions related to God and Religion in a scientific manner, rather than in a faith-oriented manner.

This morning we were was surprised to hear a small temple bell ringing outside our door. We were surprised to see two little children, one of them dressed as Santa Claus, standing to greet us! The combination of their dress and the temple bell was marvellous, symbolic, and reflective of the emerging culture of our community. The fact that some of our teachers and house parents come up with such ideas, tune them to our context, and implement them so well was heart warming to observe. The little ones gave us dry fruits, which are “permitted” by our school, and not chocolates, which are not “permitted!” In return, we gave them Petha of Agra, which was available with us.

Going back a few days, one recalls the cultural program where the invited dignitaries lit the lamp on the dot at 6.00 PM, as scheduled, and the program ended at 8.33 PM instead of the scheduled 8.35 PM. This was the first time that we ended a program almost on time, which is perhaps more challenging than beginning on time. It was a benchmark achieved due to the well-coordinated enterprise of all the staff and students involved. We called it a happy day with smiles right from our hearts.

As is the intent and practise of our school for the last five years, every child of the school participated in at least one item of the cultural program. Our program was more classical with more involvement of students. Our students conceived, designed, rehearsed, and presented some of the items without involvement of teachers. Surely, we can reward responsibility and talent with more freedom.

The theme of our ORCHIDFEST was Bachpan. The children re-iterated the theme through different media like songs, dances, tableau, dramas, and presentations chosen appropriate for the age group. It was amazing to observe that almost every child enjoyed with ease. It seems to have become a tradition for Orchid to celebrate the cultural programs with the minimal props, costumes, and make-up so that we witness the intrinsic, creative, and expressive potential of our children. We designed the program to promote, inculcate, and instil values of our ancient aesthetics, ethics, and culture in an enjoyable manner.

Where are we with respect to academics? It seems that the academic processes and teacher-student interactions are improving steadily. At the end of this year the ICSE and ISC results are expected to significantly better than the previous years, which should provide the required confidence and impetus to the school.

The sports, games, and athletics of the school is improving steadily too.
The residential PE team is in place. The strategy of inviting appropriate, value based and serious minded external coaches for improving the physical development and education of the students is working out well. Our school participated in several inter-school events in the town and our children not only played well but also bagged some awards!

The hostels are one of the strengths of our school. With most the house parents now having experience of a few years, the quality of supervision, guidance and counsel provided by them is much better and richer than in the previous years. The hostels seem homely.

We guide the students who join the hostel with unacceptable language, behaviour, habits, and tendencies to learn and change their ways by introducing them to interesting activities in the hostels.

The understanding and cooperation of the parents has served us well. The rich inputs from well-wishers and friends of our school were invaluable. We stand grateful to all the segments of people who made the school what it is today.

Let us hope that the New Year will provide the requisite stability for moving forward.