Sadhanam – Resource Room

The Resource Room, aptly called “Sadhanam” has been functioning for more than 15 years now, in a child-friendly environment to support children having any learning difficulties from classes I to VII. The children are referred to the Resource Room by teachers or parents when they see any learning gaps in their children. The Special Educators working with these children, not only help them with academic work but also with any behavior or emotional issues hindering their learning. They are supported in the areas of Reading, Spellings, Comprehension,Study Skills, Thinking Skills, Organising Skills and Behaviour Management. The children attend the Resource Room one period per day during one of their leisure activity periods like art, music, etc. The Resource Room works towards reaching out to all those children who need inputs in the above mentioned areas with complete support, co-operation and encouragement from their teachers and parents.

Counseling services in school

People have always felt the need to share their concerns with someone, children are no exception.

Examples of some concerns are

“I wish I could do better in my exams”

“I feel lonely and very tense about going to class”

There are different categories of people who might offer some suggestions and help, but the question is “Is the help effective?”

Providing counselling in school ensures to some extent the concerns about seeking help from professionals outside school, such as stigmatization, inability to spend regular session time, travel time and also coordination with the school facilities in cases where problems need to be addressed by the facilitators in the school, as counseling in schools sees the students in their own schools.

Counseling services in Kumarans provide help for academic, behavioural and emotional difficulties and also network with other professionals in case referrals have to be made for diagnosis or clinical intervention and feedback.The sessions are held in the counseling room to ensure privacy to the students and their parents who wish to meet the counsellor. Some issues common to all are also dealt with in class with relevant inputs and presentations,to bring about an understanding of the issues and to deal with related matters appropriately, or seeking help when required. Providing support, crisis management and developing problem-solving and decision making skills are some of the areas of counseling and helping services.

Parent- Teacher Interaction

Consistent parent involvement dramatically increases the likelihood that quality learning will occur in the classroom and at home. Parents play a crucial role in their children’s academic, physical, social, and moral development that we, as a school recognize that it is important to have frequent interactions with the parents.
The school sincerely believes that the parent and school need to work in tandem for the growth of the child. We also believe that regular interaction between home and school is very necessary

• Parents are usually eager to play a significant role in their children’s education, but they often do not know how. By establishing caring relationships with parents, we can help them help their children.
• Consistent communication between the home and school enables parents to reinforce the skills, knowledge, habits, and priorities that we emphasize in class. This fact is especially true in situations where our teaching methods and approaches may differ from the norm and require parent follow-up on a regular basis.
• It is important that teachers are aware of students’ strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, areas of special sensitivity, and any factors at home that are affecting school performance. Parents are in the best position to provide this information and cooperate when asked.
• Students act, behave, and perform differently when they know that their parents and teachers communicate frequently.
• Frequent communication earns parents’ confidence, trust, and respect. With open lines of communication, it’s unlikely that feelings of uncertainty, mistrust, and alienation will ever arise.

Apart from face to face interactions, we do understand that it may not be possible for some parents to come on the designated dates and thus as part of the School Information System, we have a feedback form and parents voice their appreciation and concerns which is handled immediately by the school. In the beginning of each year, we have parent orientations for the new parents and for parent whose children are studying in Classes IV, VI, VIII , X and XI . These orientations help the parents on the activities designed for that particular year and also help their children to build a good school plan. We have regular workshops conducted for parents on readiness to learn, how to improve reading skills in children, safety of their children. These workshops provide practical tips on how to help their children and how parents can be more involved in the learning processes of their child. Apart from this, we have parents volunteering for various activities- It could be a reading program in lower classes, project presentation in higher classes, career talks for high school children. The parental involvement has helped us form long term relationships based on trust with parents.

 Career Resource Center

Making a career decision is one of the many stressful experiences of a student’s life. The right decision can lead one to a fruitful career and wrong decision can lead to disappointment and frustration. There are innumerable options for students to realize their dreams and with the right guidance and support; this process can be rewarding and fun rather than stressful and taxing.
At Kumarans, 10th standard students have a career counselling program, workshops are conducted to help them they gain an understanding of themselves- their interests and aptitudes; explore various career options and opportunities. The workshops expose the students to informative inputs and activities to help them explore their career preparation status to start with and proceed to learning about the various factors that influence their career decision making process. What is a career and how it is different from a job, understanding the world of work, relevance of the subjects to career development, the components of a career path are some of the topics that are taken up during the workshop. The students are helped to identify their interests and aptitudes using a standardized aptitude test. A comprehensive report of their potentials is given which helps them make informed career decisions. A “Careers Day” is also held in the school to help the students interact with professionals from various fields directly and gain a deeper understanding of several careers.

Teachers’ Training

Resource people affiliated to external organizations, conduct teachers training programs in the school. Teacher Mentors also regularly guide facilitators to prepare structured lesson plans, chalk out session plans and reflect on teaching practices. An online training program is offered throughout the year to all teachers in collaboration with an organization,p4p Consulting Ltd. The program is self paced and includes classroom sessions. Learning styles and adopting new methodologies, with focus on self –awareness are some of the topics covered in this program.

Facilitators of all subjects bring out workbooks for classes I to XII. Workbooks are designed to help students understand the questioning pattern in assessments and assignments. A step –by – step approach makes the preparation for tests and examinations easier. Different kinds of application oriented questions with appropriate descriptions make learning more relevant.