Message from School Committee

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We are excited to welcome you and our children back to school. Our focus for the first few weeks will be that of taking the time needed for mindful and healthy reintegration into a new school rhythm for everyone.

This year, our Kindergarten program will be Waldorf Inspired and the faculty is enhancing the curriculum to allow children to engage with each other and discover new and interconnected relationships with the Earth. We initiated a three-month Waldorf Inspired Teacher Training program on 19th February 2022 for aspiring teachers and parents. We intend to host another session later this year for more parents to join us.

Small groups of teachers are debating, discussing, and creating a roadmap to implement New Education Policy 2020. The ideas and action items are consolidated in the Whole School Improvement Plan placed on the school website. Our teachers are concentrating on the welfare, social and emotional needs of the children. This means creating plenty of opportunities to play, sing, draw, paint and socialise with friends and teachers. We believe that learning comes best when children are happy, relaxed and feel loved.

Significant changes have been made in the school calendar this year. Two weeks, one per term, is ear-marked for trans-disciplinary projects. No-Bag days are marked for Vocational Education, Subject Enrichment, School Clubs and Community Outreach Programs. Exclusive Saturdays to empower students, sub-committees, teachers and parents are also planned.

Balsam has subscribed to XSeed curriculum for grades 1 to 8 to provide hands-on and integrated learning. Children shall experience blended learning and develop 21st century skills. The jobs in the future do not even exist today. It becomes imperative to prepare our children to the new jobs that are getting created as we read this letter. Skills to be inculcated in children are:

• Strong foundational literacy and numeracy
• Collaboration, Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking, and Communication
• Flexibility and Adaptability; Leadership and Responsibility; Initiative and Self Direction; Social and Cross-Cultural Interaction
• Entrepreneurship and vocational activities

We look forward to a very productive, practical, and fun-filled year. We certainly cannot do it as a standalone learning organization. We require support from parents and community, at large. We urge you to partner with us to build a beautiful future for our children and to nurture local citizens with global outlook.

As Rudolf Steiner

"Our highest endeavour must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of responsibility-these three forces are the very nerve of education."

Thank you.
Team Balsam