Foreword

A refurbished / renovated campus at Thiruvanmiyur warmly welcomed the students after the summer recess. We’ve also done a clear demarcation between the two centres at Thiruvanmiyur and Guru Nanak School with Vocational Skilling and Training completely shifting to Guru Nanak School. The Thiruvanmiyur Centre shall take care of Pre-Primary, Primary and Pre-Vocational.

The demarcation and delineation of domains between the two centres has been done with a view to give increased focus and impetus to industry ready skilling. Where the students are not industry ready scalable, we are looking at entrepreneurial skills such as Chocolate making, Biscuit making, weaving etc.

Students of the same age group co habiting a space tend to relate with each other better therefore the learning outcomes are better too.  We’ve interacted with few NIOS(National Institute of Open School) Centre and providing a platform for our students to give NIOS qualification a serious try. The curriculum design and delivery are being suitably reworked to accommodate the same and our trainers being prepared accordingly

Regards,
Ms. Hemamala Balasubramanian,
Director
SWABODHINI  School& Vocational Centre for Special Children
Thiruvanmiyur

Our day begins with a student assembly at 9.30am. Given below are some snippets from the Morning Assembly at both the centers.

Ms. Apoorva from Grundfos Pumps India Pvt. Ltd. visited the Thiruvanmiyur Center on 22^nd Jun 2022 and interacted with our students. She assisted them in making lemon juice, finger painting and making a frog!! Given below are some photos from the visit.

On the 21^stof June 2022, Ms. Krithika and Mr. Ganesan from Grundfos Pumps India Pvt. Ltd. visited our Guru Nanak School center. After interviewing a few students, they chose Mr. Hari Kumaresh, Ms. Kavyaand Mr. Shrinathto be a part of the Grundfos Assisted Employment Initiative. The students have startedreporting for work in the Grundfos Office from 4^th Jul 2022 and they will be paid a monthly stipend during the training period. Join us in wishing them all the best for a great future!!

Already 5 of our students were being trained under the initiative of which 2 have been given added responsibilities based on their capabilities and performance. We are truly grateful to Grundfos Pumps India Pvt. Ltd. for showing continued commitment towards the cause and for walking the talk when it comes to Special Needs Inclusion!!

Our students love open spaces and we take fitness seriously!! Here is a snapshot of our fitness instructor Mr. Anandan keeping them busy with some fun activities.

Have a look at the amazing Marble paintings done by our students under the guidance of Mr. Anandan who also doubles up as our fitness instructor!!

Our vocational students were taught to make chocolates and biscuits. Just look at how mouth-watering the results are!! Our Deputy Centre Head (GNS centre) – Ms. Anita took the students along and distributed the chocolates and biscuits to the school EO and VP, College Advisor, VPII and few Professors who were there. They were really impressed and expressed interest to buy it.

The classes are on in full-swing and with all the students having settled into the routine, we started taking them for vegetable shopping as a part of their Life Skills Development and Culinary training. Given below are some snapshots from the same.

Starting June 2022, we added weaving as one of the skills that the Vocational Students are taught in our Skill Unit. We have started out with stoles and hope to include more products to the repertoire soon.

In addition to Special Education, we also provide therapy services to the students that require the same. Have a look at some Occupational Therapy methods (bedsheet wrapping, peg board activity etc;)being administered by our in-house Occupational Therapist Ms. Priyanandini.

On 21^st Jun 2022, we celebrated International Yoga Day in our Guru Nanak School Center with a session of yoga. Following thats, our Yoga Instructor Mr. Jagadeesan delivered an address on Yoga and its benefits to the staff and students.

Speech Therapist–Mrs. R. Sowmiya

Mrs. Sowmiya has over 9 years of experience as a Speech Language Pathologist in Hospitals, Clinics and Schools for Special Children. She has rich experience in assessing, diagnosing, preparing IEP and addressing the challenges faced by children with special needs. She also has experience in providing Pediatric rehabilitation services and counselling parents. She was earlier working with Swabodhini between 2016-2018 as the overall co-ordinator for Speech Therapy Services. We welcome her back into the Swabodhini family and wish her all the best for the new innings!!

Fitness Therapist–Mr. K. Anandan

Mr. Anandanhas completed his Bachelors in Physical Education and has over 4 years of experience as a fitness instructor with leading special schools in Chennai. He is also experienced in training special needs adults in vocational skills and art and craft activities. He is passionate about football and loves to train children in the sport. He also acts as a refree in football matches conducted in various schools in Chennai. We welcome the multi-talented Anandan into the Swabodhini family!!

Dance Therapist–Mr. Karthik

Karthik has over 10 years of experience as a choreographer and professional dancer. He also has over 4 years of experience as an Assistant Choreographer in the Cine industry. He is trained in various classical and contemporary dance styles. Having taught dance in over 18 schools and colleges and in a few dance academies he brings on board a rich know how of working with children and adults alike. We welcome him to join our team at Swabodhini and hope he can make the students dance to his tunes!!

On the 25^th Jun 2022, our Director Ms. Hemamala Balasubramanian conducted a workshop on self-realization for all our staff. It was very well-received and the staff really enjoyed the workshop as can be seen in the pictures below!!

As usual we celebrated the monthly birthdays of staff and students for the month of June in both our centre.