One of the premier schools in Gujarat, Navrachana School, Sama, Vadodara (estb. 1967) is a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) – affiliated, K-12 institution which through education, shared experience and community service, enables it’s students to become responsible global citizens, who are politically and environmentally aware, committed to the ideals of peace, justice, understanding and cooperation, through action and personal examples.
Founded by the Navrachana Education Society, the co-educational day school draws its strength from a 53-year track record of K-12 educational excellence. Presently, it has an enrollment of over 2,789 students and staff strength of more than 150. The school has been awarded the Computer Literacy Excellence Award for Schools (2004) and the International School Award from the British Council.
“As a school leader, my effort is to create an environment in the school where fear has no place and one which is nourishing for all – teachers and students alike. I strive to empower my team so that each member contributes constructively towards creating an environment that is competitive yet collaborative, ambition driven yet compassionate,” says Suprabha Menon, principal, Navrachana School, Sama, Vadodara who has been in the teaching profession for the past four decades.
She adds, “Navrachana School is committed to fostering the spirit of excellence in our students without them losing sight of their responsibility towards the society they live in. Thus, a Navrachana student is an environmentally aware and socially responsible member of the society. It gives me great pride to share that Navprerna, a school for underprivileged children operating from our premises, is a brainchild of the students of Navrachana School and is being nurtured by the students and teachers of the school for the last 16 yrs.” Menon has also been selected for the India Inspirational Women Award.
Student-centred curriculum and pedagogy
The curriculum has been designed keeping in mind the integration of 21st century skills and activities like collaborative skills, communication skills, leadership skills, global citizenship skills.
The school regularly drives international projects and outbound trips to foster the spirit of global citizenship. Students are encouraged to engage in collaborative projects with their counterparts from other countries.
The school has a robust Student Council that enjoys freedom of being a part of designing the student-welfare policy making of the school. It also organises training programs for student leadership by inviting national level facilitators.
A ‘green’ school
Navrachana School, Sama, has pioneered several programmes for driving environmental awareness and sustainability such as well creating vertical gardens in the school, participating in ‘Plant a million trees’ mission, giving out plants to each class to nurture and develop a sense of ownership for the plant and much more. The school has also been awarded the ‘Green School’ awards at various national platforms.
Focus on mental wellbeing of students
The school has an active counselling department called the Aadhar Counselling Centre and the head counsellor is a National Awardee, with a compassionate team of counselors whose engagement with students is also integrated in the school time-table. The centre provides care and support to over 90 students with special needs in the school. The school also hosts various mental health programmes.
Community service
Navprerana is a programme offered by the school for the underprivileged, housed in the main building after school hours. The children from economically and socially-deprived sections of society in the neighbourhood are enrolled every year in this programme, which is affiliated to National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).
Teacher-training
The teachers are trained by the best in the field to use the latest teaching methodologies. They are also encouraged to explore and experiment in the area of STEAM Education. The school has a fully equipped STEAM Laboratory and is a part of the regular curriculum. They have been trained to integrate Art into their regular curriculum to help students broaden their horizon of expression and imbibing of concepts.
A part of the Incubator School Program for Microsoft Showcase Schools, the school has fostered excellence in Digital Literacy and received the National Award (2004) for the same. Many of the teachers are Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts. The school has been a leader in nurturing digital competencies of teachers and hosted multiple CBSE IT Workshops for Gujarat Region.
Flipped classroom and adapting to online learning
Flipped Methodology has been used by Navrachana teachers since the past four years. The teachers are well-trained to create content, right from handouts, videos to powerpoint presentations for students to have read/viewed before starting the topic. As a result, teaching during the lock-down became very effective and the parent fraternity has been extremely happy about the teaching.
Navrachana School, Sama has quickly adapted to online learning during the pandemic, which begun right on schedule from the new academic session on April 6, 2020. The students who were out of station have been able to access their online classes from wherever they were stuck during the pandemic.
The admission process has been executed online with parent interactions being done telephonically or through Microsoft Teams platform. Parents interacted from the safe environment of their homes, without having to put themselves or their wards at risk. Fee payment has been made easy by fixing ECS for parents, who found it difficult to make fee payments during the ongoing pandemic.
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