A Home Away From Home

My stay at Fig Tree Cottage was nothing less than being at home with copious amounts of hospitality. The staff here made the stay beautiful, comfortable and inviting. Every morning, Mithlesh ji arrived with a fresh cup of coffee. These big windows offer a lush green and a small pond with lotuses about to bloom. Just a few steps away from the pond are Guava-laden trees. 

This is a privilege one receives when at Fig Tree Cottage - hospitality. The staff works harmoniously. Each morning, they prepared a homely and healthy breakfast, which is something one rarely finds when away from home. 

There are small details to the Cottage that are not to be missed - copper bottles and glasses, cleanliness in every corner, a beautiful bookshelf, and greenery in the space. It didn't feel like a work trip at all; more like a holiday with some work thrown in, all made easy by the presence of these people who ensured your stay was smooth and full of warmth. 

The staff meet you every morning with a smile! The Cottage is surrounded by some sweet little cafes, where one can always get more coffee for a change. 

Enjoy your stay at the Fig Tree Cottage in Dehradun; they are only on Instagram: www.instagram.com/fig.tree_cottage

Wamly,

Neelashi Mangal
Guest at the Fig Tree Cottage
September 2025

What Makes A School? - Paul Puthvenveetil Variath

I would look at schools as holistic well-being centres where children are taught how they wish to learn, addressing not only academic needs but also mental health, physical fitness, and social development. This approach fosters a healthy and balanced lifestyle, personalised teacher-student solid learning, fostering strong teacher-student relationships and a sense of community. 

Schools must be cultural exchange centres, connecting students globally through virtual classrooms and exchange programs promoting a deep understanding of diverse cultures and perspectives. Teachers play a pivotal role in the moulding of children into responsible citizens. I can summarise what a classroom should look like with the following analogy. 

In a garden, seeds are planted carefully, providing the right conditions for growing. Similarly, in a child-friendly classroom, educators plant the seeds of curiosity and love for learning. The environment is nurturing and conducive to the natural growth of each child's inquisitive mind. Just as plants thrive in sunlight, children flourish in an atmosphere of positive reinforcement.

Recognition, praise, and rewards act as the sunlight that encourages their intellectual and emotional growth. A garden is where diverse flowers bloom, each with a unique colour and fragrance.

A child-friendly classroom cultivates various interests and talents, allowing each child to bloom in their own way. Just as solid roots support plants, supportive relationships between teachers, students, and peers form the foundation of a child-friendly classroom. These roots provide stability and nourishment for emotional and social well-being. Gardens experience different seasons, each contributing to the life cycle of plants. 

Classrooms embrace changing "seasons" of learning, incorporating diverse activities, themes, and approaches that keep education dynamic and engaging. Just as a garden yields a harvest, the classroom aims to cultivate students' unique strengths and contributions to a rich harvest of knowledge. Teachers, Parents, and Students, like eager gardeners, participate in the joyous process of reaping the rewards of their learning efforts. In a garden, weeds can hinder the growth of plants. So it is in a child-friendly classroom. 

Teachers work to identify and eliminate obstacles to learning, creating a space where children can thrive without unnecessary hindrances. Like fertiliser enhances soil fertility, a positive classroom environment acts as the nourishment that fuels a child's academic and personal growth. Encouraging positivity and mutual respect creates a fertile ground for learning. A diverse garden is visually appealing and ecologically rich. Similarly, a child-friendly classroom celebrates diversity, recognising each student's strengths and contributions and creating a vibrant and inclusive learning community.

PAUL PUTHENVEETIL VARIATH
ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR-QCR&D
Email:qcghead@sunbeamschools.co.in

The Masterclass 2024 opened on the 7th day of January 2024, and this is the maiden Reflection by Paul.

REFLECTION - Food for thought!

Word Association: List 5 words that come to your mind when hearing the word, school? (Building, books, admin, teachers, work, students, learning, break, competitions, exams.)

If the school is the body, then the admin, buildings and rules are the bones, and the people (teachers, students and others) are the flesh and blood.

So, can we say that the School is a Community, Place of Work, Place of Learning, Sharing and Conscious Engagement… a mini version of the play of life with everyone involved playing their role?

If yes, can we say that the lead of each person’s role in the school is, in some ways, in their hands by how they fulfil their role?

How does that make you feel? (Liberated? Renewed? Burdened? Responsible? Afraid? Excited? Curious?)

My Classroom - Anvesha Rana

Teachers help students to find things that they have lost…

sometimes it's their book, bottle or bag but most of the time

it is the child's confidence, patience, courage and smile.

If I were an educator and had the opportunity to deal with students from diverse backgrounds, I would first understand that a classroom is like a garden blooming with flowers. Flowers that are of all different shapes and sizes, colours and fragrances. In my class, each student would be treated like a flower, nurtured with care, watered with love and planted with firmness. I only vision this garden right now, but I hope to visit it one day; oozing with so much learning, education, laughter and love. 

Nothing is perfect, but our imperfections are what make us. Imagine how monotonous a classroom would be without the troublemakers, the backbenchers and the ones at the root cause of the chaos. They are the imperfections that make you imperfect. Similarly, perfection will not be the key in my class, but accepting your flaws and trying your best will be one of the core principles. So no flower will be perfect; all of them will enter the gates of the raw garden only to learn how to appreciate themselves, just the way they are.

I don't want perfect flowers, but I like happy flowers, so if a fearful student or an impatient learner enters my class. I will try my best to make them grow. 

A fearful student will be afraid of others, but more than that, they will lack trust in themselves. Fear is nothing more than an obstacle in the way of progress. In overcoming our fears, we can move forward more robust and wiser within ourselves. First, I will try to understand my student's fear of making friends, coming to school or interacting with teachers. Then I will try to counsel them. Also, I will open up with the student to increase their confidence. As a teacher, I will be frank towards them, like regularly cracking jokes or talking about simple everyday things. This way, I will develop a comfort and fun level with the student, and then I would ask them to do the same with the other kids and maybe with every new person they meet. 

I hope that I will be able to pull the fearful student out of his pot and help him grow into a beautiful, lush green tree. 

If an impatient student ever enters my class, I would make them learn patience and appreciation. Most impatient people are attention seekers and think that they are the best. So humility will also be an integral value for the impatient student. I would try to interact with the impatient student separately and give them exercises to increase patience. As a teacher, I would demonstrate how patience helps in life and why it is important to inspire them to walk onto the path of patience. 

I hope that through all this, I will be able to ameliorate patience in this young learner. 

I would love to be a teacher because a teacher is not only an educator but a learner, a counsellor, a parent, an entertainer and a confidant. 

Anvesha Rana,

Grade 10-B,

Gyanshree School

Mould the Future: Intellectually sharp, mentally alert, spiritually elevated and physically fit children

The effort to acquire human perfections is not only linked to loving support and encouragement, a disciplined environment, and direct study of the Word of God, but also to engagement in the arts and sciences, hard work, the capacity to overcome hardships, and the development of the capacity to serve others.

Education must provide the children with the advantage of every useful kind of knowledge. Let them share in every new, rare and incredible craft of art in realizing own self. It must bring them up to work and strive, and accustom them to hardship. We must teach them to dedicate their lives to matters of great import, and inspire them to undertake studies that will benefit mankind and so the individual’s fulfilment lies in contributing to society. The ability to judge the difference between right and wrong is the self-realization. Spiritual development is that essential element of education which enables the children to realize the social responsibilities and leads a man to become a leader.

To accomplish every task, the physical fitness of children facilitates to synchronize with all other feature like mental steadiness, moral values and regular improvement. Physical fitness enriches the psychological condition. Only physical fitness or mental fitness cannot restore each other as these are two diverse essentials, but both are necessitated to each other. Education through sports and physical activities is the aim of physical education and not only winning matches. The overall development of a child is not merely teaching subjects, playing sports and learning other skills. Physical fitness enhances mental alertness. A child cannot be alert if he is physically unhealthy and alike cannot be physically fit if he is mentally disturbed.

I strongly believe education is an overwhelming need which aims to develop and nurture tomorrow’s leaders intellectually sharp, mentally alert, spiritually elevated and physically fit children.

One day in the public garden I see, on a small patch of grass under some trees, a father and a two-year-old girl. The father is lying down; the little girl runs everywhere. What a joy to run! Suddenly she stops, looks intently at the ground, bends down, picks something up. A twig! A pebble! She stands up, runs again, sees a pigeon, chases it, suddenly stops and looks up into the sunlit trees... Seeing what? – Perhaps a squirrel, perhaps a bird, perhaps just the shape and colours of the leaves in the sun. Then she bends down, finds something else, picks it up and examines. A leaf!! - Another miracle.

Gears, twigs, leaves, little children love the world. That is why they are so good at learning about everything. For it is love, not tricks and techniques of thought that lies at the heart of all true learning. Wonder, why we always try to teach which they don’t like and don’t teach what they love. We teach by our brain without even realizing that learn everything by heart. If we give them access to enough of the world, including our own lives and work in that world, they will see what things are truly important to us and to others. They will make for themselves a better path into that world than we could make for them.

“A school is a building that has four walls and a tomorrow inside which aims to mould the future.”

Dr Gautam Mukherjee | Co-Founder & CEO

Sportify Sports Education & Management Services Pvt. Ltd.

India HO: No. 12. 2^nd Floor, 3rd Cross. Narayana Reddy Layout. 6^th Block. Koramangala. Bangalore 560095. Mobile: +91 953 808 8111 | gm@sportify.asia | www.sportify.asia

Singapore ● Delhi ● Kolkata ● Bangalore ● Hyderabad ● Mumbai ● Chennai