Summer Camp - 2008

Total Students Attended = 45

Subjects of Camp:Craft work, Dance classes, Story telling sessions, General Knowledge classes, Drawing, Indoor & Outdoor Games


Craft work taught


Craft work deing practised


Completed works


Completed


Craft and Drawing by the girls

Due Credit

As another academic year comes to the end, it would be apt to take stock of the school and its performance. For any unit to perform well, the players have to be commendable. The teachers are one of the main players in a school. They are the multi-faceted facilitators. They don many roles on any given day. The roles are varied as teachers, mothers, friends, guides, motivators to name a few. Even as they take up these roles, they are constantly on a learning curve. They try out all means to bring to the child a wholesome understanding. I appreciate the spirit with which the teachers in HOPE foundation school work. They give to the students, unconditionally. They are the cornerstones of the education we impart within this campus. This note is to give them due credit.

Salma - Teacher with Class

Pallavi - with her class

Usha Bindhu - with her class

Sridevi - with her class

Evaluation Time

The month of April at school is a month most of the children look forward too. That is not because of the final examination, but rather because of the summer vacation that follows the examination! I went back to my report of April 2007 before I prepared this year’s April report. I found that not much has changed with regard to the attitude of the children. Their approach to exams, especially here, is not with fear or apprehension. That does not mean that they look forward eagerly to the examination too. But it rather seems to me that the students have learnt to take one day at a time and do what it requires to complete that day. Come exam or holiday or a new lesson. Since they have done what they had to do through the year, exams are not that hard to face.

Final Exam

Final Exam

Final Exam

Colour Splash - II

The Drawing competition held on 26th Jan’08 as part of Indian Republic day celebrations brought the very best of talent in many students who took part in it.
In order to encourage all students to take those talents higher and others to take up new hobbies, we decide to organize an exhibition of the drawings.One fine day in we did it and the children were treated to a variety of expressions, which had come from them.

The Exhibits

Students viewing.

Students viewing

Soheb Ghafar

Soheb’s education is a beacon of hope for the family for whom tragedy is not alien. His family has had more than its share of sorrow.
On 26th January 2001, as the earthquake shook the land of Bhuj, his family were among those whoes life has been shaken upside down.
Soheb (left) with classmate Fhehzan His 2 elder sisters lost their lives during the earthquake. Due to the situation at home and with added pressure Soheb lost his father due to a heart attack.
His mother took over the reins of leading the family and started feeding the family by selling dry fish. Presently his 2 other elder sisters work as maid servants and 2 sisters study in a Gujarati medium school and a toddler sister hangs out with mother.
Among all things that appear bleak at times for their family, we would like to make Soheb’s education a reason for their happiness. Soheb is in Senior Kindergarten and will be moving on to Grade 1 class from June’08.

Soheb(Left) with friend Fhezhan

At School with friends

Inspiring Change

Prizes from Principal

Team of the week with their Rewards

A big part of changing lives requires understanding the need and addressing it. When we see children in our school, we see potential for growth. Good and Bad. We want to encourage good growth. Some of the values we thought they would require for the future are: Leadership skills, Team spirit, Creativity. In order to encourage these, we have formed teams within the Primary School and have encouraged them to use their lunch period to perform team activities which would fetch the best team rewards on a weekly basis.
It was inspiring see a wide range of activities taking place. Some of them include, team games, campus cleaning, revision of the day’s lessons, etc. On every Friday, at the end of the week, a team is selected based on their performance chart and every member of the team is rewarded. Some teams that need change are addressed on a personal basis.
We really hope this will bring about changes which will inspire growth in the children.

Visit of friends

James Shoemark & Caroline Maclellan from Edinburgh, Scotland, visited the school this Feb. Their visit was to get acquainted with the school and the wonderful students. To see how since the earthquake in 2001, lives have been changed. Their desire is to be part of such change. We deeply appreciate them for taking the time and coming here and encouraging us.


James & Caroline with the 3rd & 4th Graders


Shopping in Bhuj


Getting a feel of the campus

Colour Splash on Republic Day

On the 26th of January, '08 We celebrated India's Republic Day at school by holding a Painting competetion for the students.

This was inspired by the movie Taare Zameen Par. It was wonderful to see all students come prepared to use their skills and paint whats on their mind.

They will be presented with prizes for their efforts in the month of Feb'08.

Enjoy the colour splash on these photos.

The students of 1st Grade


Friends of within 3rd Grade together


More of the 1st Grade


The 4th Graders


Teachers overseeing the competetion


Bringing out their talents


Colourful ideas


Creative colouring - Simi Kakkal - 2nd Grade


Exciting Pattern - Rajwinder Kaur -2nd Grade

New Benches for the school!!!

Finally, the day many students have been waiting for has arrived. 3 class rooms have Desk-cum-benches for the students.

It was an exciting moment for all students, as they were peeping form the windows, waiting to capture a spot for themselves on the new benches. The new look in class is going to be of great help. These benches will go a long way in helping the students improve their handwriting, raise their viewing level parallel to the black board, and also instill a sense of confidence to have their own space in the class. It would also help their uniforms be more tidy. In all sense the new addition to the rooms is a winner.

Now the rest of the students are hoping and waiting that they might also have the privilege of such in the near future.

If any one out there is interested, please contact us, for further details.

Brand new Bench-cum-desk for




Changed ambience



Grateful hearts




Excitement in the air

Open week at school

The school held its Open week during the 3rd week of January'08. The teachers maintain a performance register which has the data per student for each term and helps moniter the progress of the student. On a day during the Open week the parents are requested to collect the report card and go over the performance register along with the teacher and student, in order for them to be aware of their child's status. Below are few photos of parents with the class teacher.

Mrs. Sujata Kulkarni with Parent in Senior KG (A)


Ms. Salma Ismail Lakhani with parent in Junior KG


Mrs. T. Sridevi with parents in Senior KG (B)

Children's Day Celebrations

November 14th was the Children's Day celebrated in India. We at the School had a great time.
The Plan was to have all Teachers spend time with their respective classes and share the yummies that everyone had brought. The teachers too got something special for their class. After all that, everyone came together to watch each other perform. Some sang songs, some recited poems, stories, while osome others danced. It was a wonderful day, specially for the Children.


Teacher with their class


Time with the class


Outdoor for some classes


All teachers ready for the day.

Friends from South

Its been a while since I posted. School's been on a roll, exciting as ever. Some of our friends had dropped in last week for a visit at the Center and everyone had a wonderful time. Some of the pictures durign their trip.

All Students in a Drawing Competetion

Friends helping the students

Sunset at Mandvi Beach

The Latest

Following are few words on recent happenings at the Center of HOPE-Bhuj

Ravi Ruparel is a volunteer from UK. He spent 6 weeks training the local youth in Basics and few techniques of Cricket. The whole idea was to bring together the youth from local community and create a network of volunteers for the CoH's developement initiatives in future. The boys had a great time, as you can see.

Stretching Exercise

Fielding Practise

More Stretching Practise

The 4th Grade children were initiated into the ways of gardening, to enable them to understand biological life better and also to be involved in growth, around themselves. All the students were invloved from the initial stages of cleaning the small patch and ploughing it and sowing the seeds. We shall soon see Lady's finger grow on these plants.

Cleaning the Patch

Hands on job

All involved

Getting to Sow

The teachers have taken a lot of interest in the education of or students, therefore they have started using visual methods a lot more to pass on the lesson. There have been an increase in wall displays at the classrooms, which was something that was decided during the recently concluded Teachers Training Workshop. As you can see I have posted a few for your viewing;

Chart for Colour

Moral Story Chart

Science Chart

Fruits Chart

Moral Story Chart

The Indepence day on August 15th was special as it was the 60th year celebration. The school had a time of the Tiranga (Indian Tricolour Flag) being hoisted and the few children mentioned the importance of the Day in their speech. The students who stood out in the area of Cleanliness, Discipline and Studies recieved prizes for the same from Ravi Ruparel. The last part of the day was a dance routine by the students which was taught by Ravi.

Beginning the Assembly

Flag Hoisting

The Dance Troupe

Prizes distribution