Our Mission

क्षिप्रं भवति धर्मात्मा

ONE SWIFTLY BECOMES ENDOWED WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS

The mission of the school is to impart such knowledge to its students that makes them empowered enough to make choices that are true to themselves, their parents, the society and their country.

Our Vision

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

FROM DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE TO LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE

Light of truth illuminates the path of righteousness and The Aarambh School with its unique approach to education welcomes this intrinsic trait present in every human being thus transforming them into better individuals for life.

Our Motto

सत्यम वध धर्म चर

FOLLOW TRUTH; ACT VIRTUOUS

The aarambh school is a humble initiatives to address the core purpose of education-choosing the best path of life and being strong enough to walk on it. Aiming towards the ultimate goal of education, The Aarambh School believes in not only breeding good students but to personify them into ‘better individuals’ for a lifetime.

Is taken from the Taitteriya Upanished and it makes the beginning, the Aarambh, of teaching education. For our students, it signifies the commencement of an ‘Education for Life’.

FOUNDER'S FOREWORD

सर्व ज्ञानं मयि विद्यते

ALL THAT I HAVE TO LEARN IS WITHIN ME

"The humans of nature and the nature of humans are in an eternal bond."

The Aarambh School's commitment is towards the civic life of the modern world. Best of conduct and alignment to truth is our credo and we hope to pass the same to our students. Our goal is to impart such education to our students that they choose the righteous path, always. We aim to restore a balance and provide a quality education such that humanity can make a difference and pass on a world that is worth living to our future generation. To nurture students who would contribute towards building meaningful relationships and their society and community is the divine dream of Aarambh.

- Palash Khandelwal, Vikram Thakur

PRINCIPAL'S FOREWORD

Education is not a preparation for life, education is life itself. -- John Dewey

A seed doesn’t require to be formally educated to reach its potential! However it requires nourishing conditions; light, water, soil, air and space! When these five elements organize, life is manifested! Seed symbolises the potential and intelligence that lies within every living form. Learning happens only when there is spaciousness. What a school should do is to nurture a child’s potential, the seed of possibilities that folded within through designing meaningful learning experiences. School education is that bridge between the potentiality and reality that a child could transform into. There is long list what a good school should do but one crucial thing that what a school shouldn’t do is not to put off the flame of curiosity and children’s own natural propensity of inquisitiveness, the very natural potential of a child’s desire of learning and curbing children’s creativity. School life plays a significant role in a child’s life. Any good or no so good experience leaves a permanent impression and imprints on a child’s mind forever. Considering this fact then it becomes so crucial for a school to design the entire learning climate with utmost care and sensitivity. Learning in schools should be celebration of those experiences that aims at developing children with fine intellect and sublime humane traits such as compassion, empathy, leadership qualities, resilience and tolerance; the skills and mind set quintessential for meeting challenges of 21st Century. Humanity has seen cruel devastations in the past, not to repeat the History essentiate to develop our children with values based on the fundamental idea of co-existence such as compassion, empathy, tolerance and collaboration. However, the ultimate goal of education couldn’t be realized until one is disconnected with the self. That is to say, lack of awareness about one’s own true essence. The process of self-awareness is the core of any educational endeavour. Indian ancient wisdom defines the aim of true education as the process self-realisation, enlightenment, and meeting with the true self. This aim cannot be realized through structured curriculum and looking outwardly until human consciousness is not evoked through mindful practices right from the childhood.

School should be a space of co-creation; teacher and learner in collaboration, of knowledge wherein children come to realise the power of their own minds and their creative capabilities. Children learn best in an environment free from fear after all the entire process of teaching-learning is based on the foundation of good inter-relationship between the teacher and the taught! An environment which is supportive, don’t believe in tagging children and having non-discriminatory, no-filter approach, accepting each child irrespective of whatever difference apparently they carry. Most of the schools discourage children from exploring their own ideas and to make them feel that they have no important ideas of their own, or they have silly idea but they fail to realise that wonderful ideas do not spring out of nothing! Almost all the brilliant ideas have been emerged from the silliest trial and errors and with badges of multiple scars of failures! As Sundar Pichai, CEO Google quoted, “wear your failure as a badge of honour! Do schools provide such openness to the children to perceive success and failures in continuum and not in a polarised way? Schools must provide that supportive and inclusive environment that not only celebrates children’s achievements but also teach them resilience after un-successful attempts. Similarly, children should be exposed to various challenging and stimulating experiences that are planned deliberately in order to encourage them to explore their own hidden potential, where students are engaged through authentic learning opportunities that inspire them to develop into motivated and independent life-long learners, where learning is not equated with accumulation of ever expanding content but sharpening the fine tools of thinking through questioning, experimentation, reasoning, reflections, discussions, dialogues & deliberations.

Equally important is the role of teachers in the lives of children as mentor, guide, and nurturer. If you ask this question to me that what differentiate a teacher from a “great teacher”? I would talk about core traits like sensitivity, passion for impacting other’s lives and unconditional affection for children and of course a sound understanding of his/her subject’s nature & pedagogy. Teachers are co-learners along with the children in creating amicable, conducive and stimulating spaces of awakening the various dimensions of human consciousness.I believe a great teacher must be an artist who can actually create drama in the classroom! That keeps the spirit of the children alive, attentive and alert all the time; imperative elements for children’s learning.

The process of education is fundamentally an individual’s journey of revealing and exploring him/herself and the role of school is like a navigator, torch bearer , guide by the side of the learner. However, as nurturing of seeds depends upon multiple factors similarly school alone cannot ensure holistic development of a child unless community & parents are not joining hands and work collaboratively with school. The Aarambh school has visualised creating such a learning space which is welcoming for parents, community and whosoever wish to co-create and contribute meaningfully in the children’s lives. Conceptualization of Aarambh inherits the idea of schooling as catalysts in igniting young minds to unwind and manifest their potential already seeded within! Its about enriching all the dimensions of a child’s life through imparting education for life.

Committed to support freedom and mindful intelligence of children to build foundation of a compassionate Humanity

- Vandana Singh

Typical Day @Aarambh

When teaching, we sometimes lose sight of what our children are thinking. What goes on in their minds and how they feel about coming to school. To get our students’ perspective, once I asked a group of Aarambhar to describe their typical day to me. They took me on a journey so beautiful; I didn’t want to come back. Below are snapshots of what I learnt when I became an Aarambhar for a day:

“Ma’am, can you imagine getting up everyday at 6:00 am and getting ready in time for the school bus that reaches my stop at 7:15 every morning?”, she asked me innocently, unaware that I have to get up much earlier than that to prepare for the day.

“I have heard from my cousins and friends that this is the worst part of the day for them. I don’t know why they say that. For me, this is the most exciting part with a whole of learning, activities, and games ahead of me! In fact, after joining Aarambh, I have started to dislike Sundays because there is no school!”, she exclaimed.

“Wow, that sounds very exciting”, I egged her on to add more. “What is it that you like the best? Do you feel that the our specially designed assemblies are useful, or you wish that they go away?”

“Ma’am, I feel that the different assemblies that we have – Shruti assembly where we get to listen to different musical instruments in complete silence; Theme assemblies where we come up to date with current affairs and other assemblies where we get to listen to and chant different shlokas, prayers of different communities and inspirational songs – all of this have a very positive effect on me and my friends. That’s why I love our morning assemblies.”

“That is very interesting. What next? What do you like after that?” I prodded further.

“After the assembly, we go to our classrooms and sit in the ‘Circle of Life’. I love these 15 minutes because the teacher becomes our friend! She listens patiently to all of our thoughts and feelings and makes us comfortable which is a great way to start the day. I also love how ma’am talks to us about morals and values, life skills and also gives us a glimpse of the day ahead”. I was becoming more and more intrigued now with her narrative.

“Then comes the fruit break. Initially, I did not like the idea of eating fruits in the morning. I would much rather eat biscuits or Kurkure. But, the energy that fruits provide to me for the coming day is no match for such junk food!”

“After that, generally, we have a language class”, she added without needing any further encouragement. “Be it Hindi or English, all my friends and I really look forward to this because I get a chance to read. I have developed a habit of reading books now because of the amazing books that my teacher suggests to me. Now, any spare time I get, I just want to pick up a book and read!”

“Next we have our Maths class.”, she was unstoppable now! “On the first Maths class, ma’am started by telling us a story. We were all confused – is this a Maths class or English class? After the story ended, ma’am made us play a game. I thought to myself – this is the best class ever! And that is how we have been learning Maths ever since! All my friends just love the Maths class especially because how we are able to apply what we learn in school to solve problems in our life!”

Now I was truly immersed in her narration. “But you know what I really enjoy during school ma’am?” She did not wait for me answer. “The community lunch. It feels so awesome that all the students of Aarambh, along with our teachers, directors, every one sits down and has lunch together. We love sharing with everyone whatever we have brought for lunch and the conversations that we have with our juniors, seniors and teachers are just too good!”

She clearly did not need any further pushing. “After lunch, we go for sports. The different activities and games that we play are so much fun. In fact, the activities that sir makes us do are really helping me during my badminton practice in the evening. I have also learnt to play games like Kho-kho, sitoliya and my father is really happy because he says that these are games he played during his childhood. But what I enjoy most is learning to skate!”

I knew she could go and on about sports class, so I had to stop her. I asked her, “So what happens after sport? You must be really tired?” “Tired?”, she exclaimed! “We don’t get tired! After sports, we have EVS class. I really like EVS because we get a chance to ask so many questions. But the best part is to look for answers to these questions. We love exploring, experimenting, observing for our EVS assignments. Last week, we finished a survey of our society about different types of household wastes and now I know everything about waste!”

“And what about Music and Art classes. After you’ve had so much fun, do you really have energy left for those?” I questioned. She didn’t even pause for a breath. “Ma’am, next week, we are going to have a clay workshop that Art sir is organizing for us. After the fun I had during the bamboo art workshop, I can’t wait for that to start! And music class is so much fun too! We are learning the basics of classical music. My cousins say that it must be very boring. But the way Music sir teaches these makes it so interesting, I feel I want to grow up and become a musician!”

I did not want this conversation to end, but the school bell rang and it was time to go home. I completely agreed with what she had to say while getting up and leaving – “I don’t want to go home!”

Respect

“Respect is a lesson that everyone should learn
Respect must be given before an expected return

Respect is something that’s given for free
Respect is about us and never about me

Respect is the basis on which relationships are founded
Respect is the anchor that keeps a person well grounded

Respect builds the character and defines who we are
Respect sets the standard and raises the bar

Respect is magnanimous and helps to fulfil
Respect is the partner that sits with good will

Respect is like honey so sweet it’s perceived
Respect a taste to savour for when it’s received!”

At Aarambh, we believe in respecting all our stakeholders at all times. We proudly say that we are one Aarambh family since we all respect each other for who we are and for our roots – so we are able to fulfil this amazing journey of happiness.

Empathy

“God bless those who strive to be better. God bless those who learn to live in love. God bless those who fill their heart with empathy and compassion for all living things! ”

Being empathetic makes our heart pure, and we learn to live a life where we understand everyone around. Our school practices empathy at all the levels – be it by our Facilitators in the class to understand what the students are going through or by our students towards our Facilitators to make them feel loved and valued for the efforts they put in each day in order to provide an excellent education! We empathize with our parents by giving them a listening ear and by understanding that their love for their children cannot be compared to anything else and that they are our equal partners to bring about a positive change in our society. We empathize with our support staff by looking after them and helping them in their roles in the school, thereby creating an environment full of care for everyone.

Commitment

“Commitment leads to action – Actions bring our dreams closer!”

Commitment makes us more resilient, more powerful and focused towards our aspirations. At Aarambh, we strive to remain committed to provide an education which is beyond the conventional classroom traditions.

We provide an environment where everyone is committed for a common goal –which is being happy and spreading happiness all around.