April is a month when many things are happening in school. So we are adding news items to this newsletter throughout the month rather than compile them at the end of the month. Do visit this page regularly to read further additions.

A new display has been put up near the assembly hall, with information for students, staff and visitors about the Vallipuram Project. The project development is taking shape and new exciting ideas have come up. We hope to implement many of these at the new school campus.

Anyone interested in what actually might be happening in Vallipuram may have a look at the display.

On the display you can find general information on the ideas about this new campus, a survey map, and a copy of the current masterplan . There are panels with information on ecological sanitation systems (advanced dry toilet design), solar energy, wind energy , biogas and greywater treatment. One on Ooranis explains why it is worthwhile to revive an ancient south indian tradition of drinking water preservation... Curious ?

Come and see for yourself and be part of this exciting process to create a new Krishnamurti school campus with environmentally sound technologies.

The information on the display will be renewed, according to the development of the project - so watch out for this in the near future.

The roof of the Kilapakkam farm house was in need of renewal. 2 weeks ago the roof was cast using a techinque called 'filler slab'. Murugappa Shelter Trust is the agency who has been assigned  this work. We are happy to annunce that the roof is up. The picture below gives a sense of the process. There is much reduction in the concrete quantities used in comparison to a normal concrete roof.

As April begins, the sun starts to shine brighter and the temperature rises. The banyan tree spreads its shadow and covers the quadrangle like an umbrella. Within the quadrangle, during this time, the junior school children along with their akkas enthusiastically work on their annual projects. On the 5th and 6th of April the children displayed their project works at the quadrangle The children presented their understanding in many creative ways.

Jamun group had worked on "Adaptation of land animals", for the project. The children had an opportunity to learn to work collaboratively and responsibly.

Mango group had worked on Colours for their project. The children looked around and discovered how colours are part of their everyday life. They observed how colours mix, combine and even speak.

Banyan group presented a project on ' Mathematical stories'.   Stories were collected from different from ancient Greece, Arabia and some were from modern times.  The stories were related to measurement, fractions, and computation.

Peepul group had worked on "sea shores" for the project. It was a culmination of their study through field trips to various beaches from Marina to Kovalam, meeting resource people and referring books. They looked at how beaches are used in different ways.

On Friday 6th April students arranged a farewell programme for the outgoing students. It was a happy occasion and one where the junior students exressed their appreciation and continuing regard for class 12 students.

The class 12 students were happy to come to school after a very long exam schedule. Middle and Senior school settled down for the farewell programe. Each class presented an interesting programme for their helpful seniors.

First was class 5 with their beautiful song and they narrated some jokes for which every one had a good laugh.

Class six had a game similar to 'Pin the tail on the donkey' - this was 'Put a tie on a man.' Everyone nearly managed it but Abul did not. Instead of putting the tie around the man's neck he put it on the man's forehead.

Class 7 had come up with a game where half of the group had to pick four different lines from four different school songs. The other group had to dance to it. The dancing group did well but the singing group was too embarrassed to sing the song properly.

Class 8 made a nice game - a person was given a topic where he or she had to say something positive and then they had to switch and talk something negative about the topic.

The Middle school MAG had a game similar to dumbcharades. A person could draw clues for the topics that were their classmates. Everybody guessed correct! This shows how well they know their classmates.

Last but not least were the class which they engage with the most - Class 11. They asked three class 12 students to come up on stage and they had to jump over three ropes. They had to jump on the ropes blindfolded. When they were blindfolded, Class 11 students removed the ropes, and were told them when to jump and when not to. After they removed the cloth which was tied around their eyes they were surprised to see that there were no ropes there!

A small slide show by some class 11 students was interesting to watch. Then there were two Tug of War rounds for class 12 students just outside the assembly hall.

On 7th April teachers met all the class 12 students along with their parents. Each student spoke for a few minutes on 'How I feel prepared for life outside school'. The narratives were direct and often very moving for their simplicity and profundity. Each student had his or her own style. It was good to hear the students speaking from a fresh sense of autonomy and regard for the school and the teachers.

Padmavathy akka, Sumitra akka and Gautama anna spoke on behalf of the teachers, wishing the students well. The meeting ended with each student receiving a book from one of the teachers. Parents, students and teachers shared a lunch together.

We invite you to write and communicate with us and also send us information and news that could go into the e-newsletters.

Do you have comments, suggestions for improvement or words of encouragement?
We welcome your feedback. Thank you.