General Awareness

Special assemblies - The morning assemblies are used as a platform to provide exposure to the children in various fields. Special guests are invited to speak on interesting topics such as the army, natural dyeing, etc. Story telling sessions are held weekly in the assembly. This year, stories from the Bible and Krishna's life were narrated to the children.

Cycle trips - Once a week cycle trips are organized for classes to visit Auroville and surrounding places. The children have seen many of the Auroville units through this activity.

Long distance cycle trips are organized during the holidays. This year there were overnight trips to Gingee .

Environmental awareness

Last year under the encouragement of the Pitchandikulam outreach program, the school started its own Eco-club. The Eco-club has started a vegetable garden and is able to provide occasional supplies to the school kitchen. The Eco-club members are also learning about different varieties of vegetables and soil preparation. 'No plastics' is the social message they propagate to other students.


TEACHER ENRICHMENT

Quality teaching can only be accomplished by quality teachers. As a learning institution we try to provide opportunities for teacher training as well. This year saw the following developments in the field -

Workshops and Talks - Heidi from USA, a former teacher at the Antioch University, held a series workshops at Udavi on stages of development . These were also attended by teachers of Auroville and Auroville outreach schools.

Shradhalu from Sri Aurobindo Ashram gave a number of talks on education in the light of Mother and Sri Aurobindo for Udavi teachers and Aurovillians.

A series of in-house workshops were organized by the teachers of the school. This was a wonderful opportunity for them to share their knowledge and experiences with each other. Some of the themes of the workshops included - 'games for education', 'scientific / experimental aids for imparting learning', 'health and fitness', etc.

Special courses - Two of our teachers went to USA to attend  courses at the Antioch College,Keene,New Hampshire. They came back brimming with new ideas which they are putting into practice in their work.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

This year we started a life-skills program for the women from the surrounding village of Edyanchavadi. In this program the women were taught English and trained in computers and tailoring. They were awarded certificates at the end of the year.

PHYSICAL SPACES

Given the growing needs of the school there were a number of changes in the physical environment of the school.

· The construction of the compound wall (150 meters) around the playground area continued this year as well. New gates were constructed on the sports field side.

· Karl, a German national, who has been doing voluntary service at the school since the last few years joined our team as an in house caretaker. A house was constructed by him at the entrance to the playground, which is generally the most deserted area of the school. His presence there has enhanced the security of the area.

· Two studio apartments are in their final phase of construction. These are for the teachers who live within the campus.

· The library was shifted to a larger space with an additional project room to promote research among the students.

  We believe the school is slowly occupying a position as a model school where all those working in conditions that prevail in our villages can find good ideas to emulate from our work. It is always heartening to hear praise about the school which comes often but we are careful not to be satisfied with what has been achieved so far  and try to keep in the forefront  Mother's message which is also the motto of our school: "Progress endless progress ".