SAIIER 2016:Future School

Physical Education Teacher Training		Kindergarten
Future School

Introduction

Entity::Future School seeks to provide an environment in which Auroville youth and those dedicated to their education may reach their own unique potential through a balanced development of body, mind, emotion and spirit. Inspired by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the school aspires to create a platform for self-discovery. Students are encouraged to follow a value-oriented approach to life in which they have an opportunity to create a deeper understanding of their responsibility to self, community and the world.

The school reflects the international character of Auroville, bringing together students and teachers from many different nationalities, cultures and ethnic backgrounds in a spirit of openness and harmony. The diversity of the school community creates a very special opportunity to be immersed in a rich and positive sharing of experiences.

While offering the opportunity for a variety of choices, the school seeks to balance independence and freedom on one hand, with respect and responsibility on the other. Students are supported in an interactive and open communication environment. At the same time they are encouraged to be aware of their choices and to forge their own path for their growth and progress.

We hope that this environment and the educational program will help the students to become self-aware, self-motivated and self-controlled.

The program at Future School

Future School offers a high school equivalent education to primarily Aurovillian students. This year there were 75 adolescents/young adults from 15 nationalities enrolled in the school.

We offer a wide range of subjects to our students: Languages (English, Tamil, Hindi, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian); Mathematics; Pure Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology); Social Sciences (History, Geography, Economics, Psychology); and extra-curricular subjects (Information Communication Technology, Fashion Design, Photography, Film, Art, Theatre).

Where suited, we also offer the possibility of Practical Training with Auroville Units, making use of the diverse possibilities offered by Auroville at large.

Through our mentoring program we assist the students in making good individual choices that help them to explore, discover, progress and grow.

Teaching and learning methods

The school incorporates many different teaching/learning methods and environments: projects, tutorials, independent research, traditional lectures, online classrooms; small and large groups, one-on-one approach, peer teaching, work experience and self-study. In this way we hope to meet the needs of each individual.

We feel that the combination of required areas of study and choice of subjects gives students the chance to both get in touch with new areas of knowledge and well as explore their own interests and needs.

Evaluation

Reflective assessment are shared during the course of mentor meetings and other conferences. We also use school seminars to engage the students and teachers in reflective assessment.

Skill based assessment include the following:

Internal tests, assignments and journals of activities and progress
Project work with presentations, internal and/or public
Written progress reports
External examinations (UK IGCSEs and A-levels) if requested by the students

Highlights of the year

The Launch of Google Classroom

Future School is now connected with fiber optic internet access, giving us both better speeds and with far higher bandwidth for our educational use. In keeping with this opportunity, Future School asked for and were granted permission to use Google's Apps for Education. In addition to our physical classrooms, we can now offer these 'virtual classrooms' that can be accessed both in the school and from home. We are happy to have this resource since it is very versatile and can truly assist the learning experience. With this resource we can we can:

Share resources such as documents, videos or links with the students to make a richer learning experience;
Create assignments with multiple documents, links and videos, put the lesson in one place; make class and school announcements;
Give the ability for students to post back assignments, comments and questions;
Go paperless more than ever before;
Increase classroom collaboration;
Email student feedback.

We know that this experience will prepare the students to participate in their future interactions with more familiarity and ease. Over the next couple of years, we will try to reduce avoidable spending on paper and to increase the use of digital resources by the students.

Weekly Seminars

These have been an ongoing feature of our school for many years and are open to all students and teachers. This gives us a chance to invite interesting people to present a variety of topics. We also use this time to organize student presentations and debates. Here is some of what we explored this year:

“State of Information Today” by Amba and Ashwin, with a demonstration of the prowess of Ashwin's drone; “Film Making” by Irena; “Experiences after Future School” by past students Stav, Keya, Nisha, Kim, and Satya, among others; “Human Rights” by Malvika from Amnesty International; “Astrophysics” by Vrata; and a debate on cell phone usage in school by the students.

Open House and Fundraiser

In September, organized by the Student Council and with help from the student body, we hosted an Open House on our premises. The students ran a lively kitchen, serving snacks prepared by them with ingredients donated generously by local Units. There was plenty for the visiting friends and families to take in: demonstrations in the Chemistry laboratory, a flea-market, games, on-the-spot portrait photography, music, poetry and gymnastics performances by the students. With the help of the students and the community Future School was able to raise a significant amount to help it to keep its activities on track.

Potluck and Open-Mic Night

In December the students and teachers gathered together for a delicious dinner with a wide variety of mouth-watering dishes from all over the world. Then all gathered together in the Multi-purpose Space for an evening of games and interaction.

Graduation

This year saw the successful completion of the program by 7 students. As per tradition on the last day of school, fellow students, teachers and staff members, and parents of the graduates gathered to acknowledge the accomplishments of these students. Beginning a poetry presentation of 'Who' by Sri Aurobindo, the program continued with songs (including an original number, composed and presented by the students), speeches, and poetry readings. The now traditional power point presentation with photos of each of the graduating students at different stages of their lives was, as always, most touching. Each student received the gift of their own 'Goodbye Book'. The event concluded with another tradition: the planting of a tree by the graduating class. This event has become a very important one in our school and is always filled with laughter and tears, joy and some sadness; it reminds us that we are a family.

Field Trips

An important element in any learning program, field trips connect classroom topics to real world experiences. They create an opportunity for closer bonding within the school 'family' and provide a break from routine. This year our field trips included the following:

Shasun Phamacuticals: On the 5th of April 2015, students from 4 different Future School Biology and Chemistry classes together with Inge, Sergei and Evgenya, visited the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) branch of the pharmaceutical company Shasun Pharmaceuticals, located in Kalapet, Puducherry. Together with 8 students from Last School accompanied by Ashwin, we left in the school bus at 9:30am and returned after lunch.

Established in 1986, the plant at Puducherry is dedicated to the manufacture of Ibuprofen for supply to world markets. Besides learning about how active chemical ingredients are turned into Ibuprofen, Shasun’s leading patent, the students also learned how the pharmaceutical industry operates, including approval of regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. After a power point presentation where the students were informed about the layout and history of the company, its environmental considerations, the logistics behind running such a company, and the safety aspects to be considered, we were each given a helmet and then began the tour of the company. We saw how the raw materials are stored in huge tankers underground, how their treatment plant operates, the gigantic boilers in which the products are made, as well the quality control department. Although we did not have time to visit the packing division, our contact person insisted that we come back for that next time.

Cuddalore Flood Relief Assessment: Led by Aneeta, the Geography students carried out an investigation to determine the impacts of the Tamil Nadu floods 2015 in two areas of Cuddalore: Ambalabanapet (a camp for Sri Lankan refugees) and Believers’ Church Nagar (a community set up for those displaced after the tsunami). The students used surveys and interviews to assess damage to property and that the secondary impacts. They also got to look at the mindsets of the population to examine why they think the floods happened.

Rural Inequalities Assessment: With the help of the Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) students went to one of the villages that are being helped by AVAG with their outreach programs. Through group discussions with women, the students studied the impacts of social inequalities (caste, race, disability, religion, health and education), economic inequalities (income and property), and environmental issues (sanitation and safe water availability).

Community Service

For the past nine years, Future School has been participating in a Community Service program that allows the new students joining school to participate in a unique opportunity and experience. For three weeks before the new school year begins, each student works in three different Services, Units or ongoing projects. We find this important as it aids in preparing each child for the future. Students learn to adopt a sense of commitment and responsibility. They get to experience working with and around different people. This activity has been an integral part of the school program and has been well received by the students and the community. The planning for next year's group as well as the introductory session, which took place at the end of this academic year, was taken up and successfully executed by one of our senior students, Pavitra.

Future Scribbles

"Future Scribbles", the monthly student newsletter which was launched by the Language Arts class last year was taken forward by the newly constituted student editorial team. Having acquired a spiffy new look this year, it has continued to serve as a platform for both school and community news, and for reflection on topical world events. It provides students with opportunities to create and present a wide variety of work: art, announcements, news, poems, comic strips, stories, commentaries. It is uploaded to the school website and sent by email to everybody who is a part of the school. A few print copies are circulated as well. It provides everybody with an opportunity to share and stay informed. Both an entertaining and intellectual project, it has been successfully nurtured throughout the year.

Chemistry class sourcebook

A question book containing hundreds of original problems covering variety of topics in introductory chemistry was prepared by chemistry teachers, Sergei and Evgenia. For now we use it as a sourcebook for the assessment of students. Further versions of the book will be made for use in the classroom or at home.

Reflections

We made specific explorations of ways and means to encourage and support self-motivated students. Through clarity and consistency of actions, seminar discussions, conversations and feedback, we were able to bring to the fore this goal from last year. As a part of the outcomes, students are going to take specific responsibility in several school activities, including the organization of the weekly seminars. The students also organized a collective analysis and feedback activity so as to influence future student experiences.

Goals for next year

We would like to create an environment in the school in which individuals, both students and teachers, are encouraged to increase their efforts to understand themselves, the world around them, and are able to apply this. This means providing a platform for self-discovery and self-application.

We would like to demand more engagement and more sincerity that can be expressed in regularity, self-discipline, improving performance and the will to progress.