July 2018 Newsletter
Dear All,
I am pleased to welcome you to the month’s edition of our Newsletter.
With our 72nd Independence Day around the corner I would like to share my thoughts with you on ‘independence’ in the lives of our students.
At Swabodhini, we believe in providing choices, providing challenges, setting goals and collaborating with therapists, teachers and parents to create an environment which fosters independence and confidence in the minds of our students.
The various club activities at the school allow the students to be independent in their own space – be it at expressing their creativity through art or focusing their energies at dance, gardening and the outdoor activities.
All this is in line with our mission statement which states “Swabodhini provides high-quality education, structured training and therapy services. In partnership with parents and society, we empower individuals to reach their potential for all-round development, and transition them to sheltered- or open-employment, thus, enabling them to lead an independent life with dignity in mainstream society.”
Through our internship/placement focused vocational training, we aim to empower our students to lead a life in which they can be financially and socially independent and self-reliant.
Help us achieve this purpose by generously contributing for the cause of autism and special education in our LetzChange page.
I would like to wish you all a Happy Independence day!
Academic Updates:
Vocational Update:
Our first batch of TNSDC (Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation) students have already begun their course on DTP and Print Publishing .We wish them all the best! There was also an inspection conducted by officials from TNSDC.
We are proud to say that Swabodhini is the first special school to be certified by TNSDC to provide a certificate course to students with Autism and related challenges.
Clubbing Together!
With the recent introduction of 6 clubs across all student groups viz. Art and craft, Theatre, Dance, Indoor sports, Outdoor sports and Gardening, the students have come to enjoy their afternoon sessions at the school.
It is heartening to come across students at times who come to school with the sole objective of attending a club activity. Such is the popularity of these sessions.
The students love being close to nature and the Gardening session is proving to be more than fun for the students. We thank Ms Malavika Harish for organizing a fun session for the students.
The Bag making session was a hit with the boys who with their nimble fingers effortlessly turned sheets of colorful design paper into bags of varying sizes. These bags now find pride of space on our product shelf.
At the Culinary class for the ladies they were taught to set the table and pick leaves. While this skill would not only stand them in good stead in the kitchen, most importantly it helps to sharpen their hand eye co-ordination.
Our dance master Mr. Azhar seems to be teaching the students the right moves to set the floor on fire. We’ve had many a student waiting for his classes. We also had positive feedback from our lad Vijay Krishna who said that the class was ‘awesome.’
Exposure to nature improves general health, and play is critical for child development. Our students have fun at the park as part of the outdoor club activity.
Special CSR Event:
Swabodhini was invited to the 50 years CSR celebration by Grundfos pumps.
Grundfos was the corporate that first placed our students and gave us the confidence to mentor our students as well as approach other corporates for internship and placement opportunities.
It was a proud moment for us to meet our students Mr Balaji and Mr Yuvaraj who have been employed with Grundfos since 2010 and 2016 respectively as well as hear positive feedback about their achievements.
We are thankful for the support that we have been receiving for many years now.
New Flooring For School Terrace:
The Perambur Sports Meet was a day of competitiveness, grit and determination in the outdoors for our students. The excitement was palpable in the air as they got ready to leave.
On the field too they showed great determination and we are proud of all our participants and medal winners. All our students participated in the 50 meters running competition in their respective age category & the winners were
Sunisha placed first
Jabez, Praveen, Aliasgar placed second
Haresh, Mahati, Gurudas & Amruth placed third.
Events:-
We too have fun!
Shining Star’s is a Cognizant Outreach cultural program held year on year for students of special schools and orphanages in Chennai. This year we too had a strong contingent of 13 students accompanied by 4 teachers and 3 support staff who participated in this event on 15 July 2018. The students enrolled themselves for the dance, skit and fancy dress events conducted and gave their best.
Aditya , Sairam, Venkatesh, Hemanth, Nikhil, Aswin, Kannan, Jabez and Sarvesh participated in the dance.
Kannan, Aditya , Aswin, Ali Asgar, Arun Mozhi, Adithi, Nikhil participated in the skit and Tharani in the Fancy dress event.
The school was awarded a trophy as a token of participation and all the students received a participation certificate, medal and a kit bag with goodies. The organiser’s also conducted fun spot games for the students. It was a Sunday well spent.
Programs At School:-
Story Telling Session:
The Pre-primary and primary students attended a story telling session on “Safety in the kitchen and bathroom” by Ms Malavika Harish. It was a welcome break for the students to learn familiar concepts in a fun way.
Parent Teacher Meeting (PTM):
This month’s meeting was held on 14 July 2018.
Our therapists were also present at the PTM so that parents could interact with them to check individual student progress.
Celebrations:
As part of the “Every month Friday celebration”, we joined with Tharini, Haresh, Vignesh, Danish and Ram in celebrating their birthdays.
Surprise visitor Ms Ramya Ramesh who is a professional ghatam player was the guest for the event.
A short skit based on a Japanese Zen Buddhist story was followed by a dance. This was followed by another short skit on ‘work as meditation’ and then the cake cutting.
Haresh’s mom was overwhelmed that his birthday was celebrated at the school and sent us her appreciation . We thank her for her kind acknowledgement.
Fund Raising For The School:
Infrastructure:
We are thankful to Air Commodore Jayaraman and Ms Meenakshi Perikaruppan for their generous contributions to the school to help us re-furbish the gate at the entrance to the school as well as the kitchen sink. The students now receive a colorful entry into the school each day.
Overseas Visits:
Our Founder and Managing Trustee Ms Radha Ganesan during her personal visit to the United States of America took time out to visit Ms Ellen Graham of “ Every1 can work” Foundation and Cameroon’s Coffee and Chocolates. The foundation, is a non-profit dedicated to providing permanent employment opportunities to young adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
She also met with Ms Sangeeta Prasad who is a Board certified Art Therapist at her Circle Art Studio. Ms Prasad is an art therapist, artist, and author who enjoys inspiring people to use art as a tool to express their thoughts and feelings.
