Loading...
Dear Parents,
Please accept my respectful obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I would like to first thank all the staff and parents of SMIS who have given much support and encouragement to me in taking this role in service to the Vaisnavas.
Srila Prabhupada has given us many directions on how we should educate the next generation of devotees, and we in the Administration team are taking this service very seriously, thinking how we can best fulfill Srila Prabhupada's vision for the school.
We have several initiatives in the pipeline that will enable us to give our kids the very best chance to become upstanding devotees and role models for the rest of the society, and ultimately to be able to perfect their human form of life and go back to home back to Godhead in this lifetime.
In discussion with teachers and administration staff we have identified four areas of the school that need to be developed:
We will give more details of new curriculum initiatives as we develop them, but please be assured that all our current programs of academic and devotional arts will be maintained. At the same time, we are working on evolving other programs for occupational and vocational training so that our students have the best chance of getting meaningful engagement, either here in Mayapur, or elsewhere in ISKCON, or indeed in outside employment, when they leave the school.
Over the past two weeks we have been phasing in a Behavior Management system that has been successful in many schools. This model allows the student to have a number of different warnings and signals that their behavior needs to change if they are to continue working as part of the class group, with successive levels bringing greater consequences if the behavior is not modified. The underlying rationale behind the system is that students should not be able to disrupt the learning of others, so they are gradually removed from the group, until such time as they are ready to work cooperatively with others, and not disrupt the development of other students.
We have included the outline of the Behavior Management Procedure at the back of this newsflash. Please contact us if you have any queries regarding this system. We ask for your support for this system, so that together we can provide a peaceful and productive environment for your child's learning.
To adequately serve the needs of the students, our school needs more facilities, especially in the areas of technology based learning and also classroom learning resources.
Regarding, the number of students, we are confident that if the first three items, namely curriculum, behavior management and facilities are in place, then naturally the number of students will increase, and the good name of the school will grow.
As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child”, so we are hoping and praying that we can all work together nicely to present a unified presence to the students, so that they feel a sense of security and stability coming from the parents, teachers and school administration. Because respect for the teacher is such an integral part of learning, I would humbly ask that you please try to always speak positively about the teachers to your child, and if you have any queries about the education your child is receiving, please approach me so that we can resolve any issues quickly. This will go a long way in assisting the learning of your child.
Again let me thank you all for the support you have shown, and I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with you, working together to care for and develop your children and our students; the next generation of Vaisnavas, in service to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Your humble servant,
Deva Gaura Hari das
Principal