My first day at my new school..

The Third Culture

Today was my first day at my new school,  As I entered I remembered the parting sentence of my previous school Principal Mr. Dilip Vasu, " Rajashree, every school has a culture of its own...try to adapt that. You will be happy. Think of the bigger picture always..."

Till date with whomever I had discussed about the school , whether it was my fellow IB colleagues in India or those abroad in various parts of the world , the only feedback I had got was that this is going to be the next UWC and that I would get the best learning environment of an IB school.

After  attending  the induction programme for the teachers, today ,I again and again kept feeling the gap between my thoughts and the way to express it. For one reason today only I wished to be an English teacher so that I could play with words to express what I experienced today.  Being a person inclined towards Sciences I am very straight forward and definitely short of words but still would try to express the moments of the day, every bit of which was worth treasuring. It was as if I had been exposed to a treasure box filled with valuables and I had just few hours to take as much as I could and believe me I am not exaggerating a bit. So I tried to take as much as I could from the treasure box.

Having worked in four international schools of which the previous two have been IB schools, I could not help but keep comparing between whatever I was seeing and what I had seen before. Rewinding back to a few years, the first day I was introduced to IB, about two and a half years back, so many questions came to my mind in the next few months of my work.But these questions just kept baffling me without leading to any direction.

 During the day's sessions today what I heard from Mr. Paul Regan (HOS) and Mr. Absolum Museve (Director of studies  and IBC)  resonated with the proposed answers to my baffling questions and made me strongly feel that I have come to work in the best IB school in India and in next few years maybe in the world. When  I had actually been exposed to the learner profile attributes ,in my first IB school and saw the work culture around me , I felt it was so contradicting. I always questioned myself that shouldn’t the teachers themselves be embracing the learner profile attributes before they could inculcate those in the students?Are we caring towards each other?  I always felt that IB was a process. It in itself had a culture of its own. The “IB Culture” which immediately connected teachers and students across the world. But somehow in India, with my own experiences and with the kind of information I have gathered from various sources, IB schools are moulded into a customized format to suit the clientele barring a few.

 Mr. Regan in his opening welcome speech , so very well laid down how the ethos of an IB school especially of Oaktree, that had to be built in the coming years. He was so transparent in his communication starting from the Board of Directors to the achievements and the shortcomings of the last year. He summed up the challenges that the school had to face in the first year of inception and would might have to face in future , but being the founder head of three schools his conversation showed that the school surely was in the right hands.  Surely my belief in my new school being a school of excellence was more strengthened.

 Mr. Museve in his conversation started by saying that teachers are the ones who should try to be examples in using these attributes of learner profiles to our students. He again and again stressed on the fact that we have joined an International School and throwed at us the question, what that meant? Was it that we cater to an International Curriculum, or was it we had International students from all parts of the world or was it that we had teachers from all parts of the world.  His discussion then revolved around that it was the “Third Culture” at Oaktree that made it truly international. It was about understanding the culture of the person in front and then , amalgamating our own culture, to develop this third culture where we both were comfortable. 

The  sessions by Dr. Gardner, the Director of Residence followed by Susan’s (CAS Coordinator and Senior tutor) , Ms. Anjaly's (Director of Admissions ) along with Mr. Peter Jones and Mr. Museve’s, all  so well resonated that the prime concern at OIS is the well being of the learners or the knowers. Whether it is the method  of tutor groups or University Counseling and Guidance, the school has meticulously planned every detail and the student is at the pinnacle of importance.

But this did not mean that the teachers had to compromise for something lesser. The later sessions by the HR ,Priyanka, finance person Mr. Das and the transport person Kuntal ensured that teachers were also taken well care of by the polices of the school, be it leaves or availing financial benefits or a grievance cell.

I am living my dream today and looking forward to a new journey ....and to share my experiences with you all....