{"id":2115,"date":"2013-07-10T13:34:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T13:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2013-07-10T13:36:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-10T13:36:39","slug":"an-experience-of-a-lifetime-visit-to-john-donne-school-uk-from-a-school-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/an-experience-of-a-lifetime-visit-to-john-donne-school-uk-from-a-school-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"An experience of a lifetime: visit to John Donne School (UK) from a school in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 25th<\/sup> June 2012, I was fortunate to visit a school in South East part of London at a place called Peckham. Peckham holds significance as during the London riots it was a hotbed of violence. It has a mixed racial community of Africans, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, and people from South East Asia.<\/p>\n

\"aerharghrarf\"<\/a>\u00a0\"Untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr.Phil Mayo (see above photo) explained about the sign \u201cPeace at Peckham\u201d made creatively by the pupils of JD after the riots with all used polythene bags, rags and waste paper. The pupils from a mixed racial background strongly wanted to convey the message of peace to their community thru this sign.<\/p>\n

John Donne School is situated in the heart of this vibrant, exciting and multi-cultural area and is a community primary school, which is part of Southwark Local Authority where the admitting body is the London Borough of Southwark. JD as it is popularly known among people is an exceptional school of London. I got to see many facets of a school and different approaches adopted by their academic faculty. The learning derived in spending half a day at JD has not only been enriching but enabled me to gain a better insight at the teacher student dynamics which I would have not explored earlier.<\/p>\n

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Let me take you thru a journey of discovery thru JD\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

Reaching school at 7.15am I waited for Mr. Chris Souvlis (South London Schools Internationalism Support) who played a crucial role in coordinating this visit. As UK rules for visiting a school are very strict and without an official invite from a school no person is allowed to enter. Mr. Souvlis was a contact of another contact Mr. Chris Williams (Comenius Expert, British Council Ambassador for the East Midlands) who has been a vital link for the ISA and without whose assistance this visit would not have been possible.<\/p>\n

Being early gave us time to discuss various school projects undertaken by Mr. Souvils. At 8am we met Mr.Phil Mayo (Pastoral Manager) at JD who was very welcoming and eager that I viewed their assembly which was scheduled for 8.30am in a large hall with no stage where about 200 pupils had gathered. The Assembly was conducted by the Deputy Head teachers Ruth Moyler & Simon Wattam on the theme London Olympics 2012 and started with a piece of music \u201cChariots of Fire\u201d. \u00a0After which the pupils were asked to identify that piece of music. They showed high awareness and a lot of hands went up giving the right answers. The various sports to be played at the games were then mimed one by one by Simon and Phil. This was a very interactive assembly where all the pupils were enjoying and learning simultaneously. The energy and enthusiastic manner with which the teachers conducted this was a visual treat.<\/p>\n

This reinforced my belief that enthusiasm in a person is not only infectious but also a energy booster for the pupils. The school provided 5 pupils with wrestling tickets for the Olympics which was a real time treat for them. Purple badges were given for full attendance; the child who was a star of the week was announced to motivate others to be regular at school. The school had also purchased new special Olympic themed tyres which were displayed on the play ground and the students were excited to explore the same.\u00a0 They were asked to respect school property without damaging it.<\/p>\n

After this wonderful assembly we wrapped up for a school tour. Seeing various creative classrooms decorated with artwork by pupils was a total \u201cWOW moment\u201d for me. What impressed me more was they were from the 1st<\/sup>-5th<\/sup> grade and with the help of their teachers they brought out the best of their creativity. This ability of the teachers to capitalize and bring out the best from them was awesome. By giving those options to choose from it enabled them to become independent and smarter. The teachers\u2019 found innovative ways of teaching which boosted the pupil\u2019s creativity.<\/p>\n

\"arfarfef\"<\/p>\n

Speaking with their 4th<\/sup> grade teacher was informative as she shared while teaching a particular topic for the month all other subjects would be correlated with the main theme. e.g. While she was doing Africa as the \u00a0main theme even the art and craft was correlated in which animals were made in a jungle setting.<\/p>\n

This creativity extended to different subjects and with various teachers as I spoke with the English and Math Teacher Mrs. Jabbar. Who introduced math in the form of various games where the pupils were learning but best of all they were looking forward to the classes. Creating interest is all in the hands of the teachers by being innovative and different.<\/p>\n

Mr.Phil shared that JD was an example of an exceptional school where the staff were very involved with the pupil\u2019s welfare as they were coming from different multi cultural backgrounds. Some were from broken homes or having one or no parents. All pupils would eat breakfast at school and no one would attend class if they had not eaten. The councilor\u2019s room was a place to express their feeling through drawing, colouring, writing or just talking. Parents could also join in on the discussion over there. They had a very unique way of punishing a pupil who had repeatedly been naughty. There were made to fill out a questionnaire where they would actually reflect upon their behavior. It was called the 5 W\u2019s form. This way of punishment really worked as it enabled the child to really think about their behavior and not just brush it aside.<\/p>\n

I learnt and saw so much in the span of half a day that the overall experience and learning was nothing short of awesome in every way.<\/p>\n

Charmaine Vida Tayal<\/b><\/p>\n

International School Award Coordinator,\u00a0Facilitator Projects,<\/b> Khaitan Public School Sahibabad, India<\/b><\/p>\n

Email: charmainetayal@gmail.com<\/a> <\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks Charmaine for sharing your visit with us! \u00a0Currently we have 71 international schools<\/a>\u00a0listed in India on our website, with many of them having comments and information that have been submitted on them. \u00a0Check them out here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 25th June 2012, I was fortunate to visit a school in South East part of London at a place called Peckham. Peckham holds significance as during the London riots it was a hotbed of violence. It has a mixed racial community of Africans, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, and people from South East Asia. \u00a0 Mr.Phil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[1731,448,1732,1729,1730],"class_list":["post-2115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-highlighted-articles","tag-international-school-visit","tag-international-schools-in-india","tag-john-donne-school","tag-khaitan-public-school-sahibabad","tag-visit-to-a-school"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-y7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2203,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/school-partnerships-valuable-learning-for-growth-visit-to-john-donne-school-uk-from-a-school-in-india\/","url_meta":{"origin":2115,"position":0},"title":"School partnerships valuable learning for growth: visit to International School KEF Nepal from a school in India","author":"ISCommunity","date":"September 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"School Partnerships valuable learning for growth Being in the education sector provides valuable oppurnities to learn from overseas school interactions. 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There are many international educators interested in working at these schools.\u00a0 Currently, there are 21 international schools listed under Germany on International School Community.\u00a0 There are 20 international schools listed on the How\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Great Resource"","block_context":{"text":"Great Resource","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/great-resource\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.howtogermany.com\/images\/higher-ed-bbis.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1509,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/teachers-international-consultancy-this-time-next-yearteachers-get-planning-for-international-opportunities\/","url_meta":{"origin":2115,"position":2},"title":"Teachers International Consultancy: This time next year\u2026teachers get planning for international opportunities.","author":"ISCommunity","date":"November 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s not an easy time of year for many teachers. 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