SEPTEMBER 2023
In our third newsletter of the year we are always spoilt for
choice of what to write about. June sees the start of the
new academic year and there is a buzz about the place as
children are kitted out in new uniforms and given new school
bags, stationery and toiletries. Parents meetings are
arranged for both pre-primary and afternoon children,
private tuition classes sorted out where needed and a week
after our tuition classes restarted we welcomed our
pre-primary children back and met with the new admissions to
our school.
As usual, the three months from June to August have kept us
busy with an abundance of festivals and national
celebrations too. Eid Al Adha, Independence Day, Friendship
Day and Rakhi Day all fell in the period. We also had
further cause to celebrate - we have finally received all of
the permissions needed to completely occupy the Mango Tree
House. Bit by bit, more and more activities are taking
place at the new premises and we expect to move completely
in early October after our planned inauguration. It has been
an epic wait and it was a huge relief when the last pieces
of the jigsaw fell into place with the granting of the
necessary education licences. Finally, we are in charge of
our own destiny and that's a hard won but amazing feeling.
OUR EID AL ADHA ACTIVITIES
Otherwise known as the Festival of Sacrifice, the
celebration of Eid-al-Adha commemorates the Prophet
Ibrahim's devotion to the Allah and his readiness to
sacrifice his son, Ismail. At the point of sacrifice, Allah
replaced Ismail with a ram which was to be slaughtered in
place of his son. This command from Allah was a test of
Prophet Ibrahim's willingness and commitment to obey his
Lord's command, without question.
All classes at Mango House took part in special Eid themed
art and craft activities in the run up to the festival. All
featured either sheep or the crescent moon and stars which
are also associated with Eid. Here's just a selection of the
arts and crafts which were produced.
OUR NEW PREPRIMARY UNIFORM
For a while now, we had been
considering modernising our pre-primary uniform and, as we
knew we would be relocating this year, it seemed the ideal
time to make a change. The new uniform is very simple with
shorts and polo shirts for both boys and girls. We
absolutely love the new look, which has gone down well with
everyone, particularly as it provides a bit more modesty for
girls.
CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY
Nine years ago, the UN recognised 21st June as
International Yoga Day. They idea was first promoted by the
Indian PM, Narendra Modi, who sought to promote the many
positive benefits of yoga, not just in terms of exercise,
but a a way to discover the oneness with self, the world and
nature. In India, yoga is often included within the school
curriculum and, in a nod to the day, our pre-primary
children took part in a yoga session in the Mango House
garden.
AFTERNOON TUITION CLASSES RESTART AT CHIMBEL
As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we are delighted to
once again be able to support the project at Chimbel to a
greater extent. In the past we had been able to fully fund a
pre-primary school and afternoon tuition classes but, as we
were unable to continue to do so, very sadly, the afternoon
tuition classes had to stop. You can imagine, therefore, how
pleased we were to see afternoon tuition classes for around
60 children restart. The project has very little in terms of
permanent physical resources but this makes no difference to
the team's determination to succeed and children's joy at
being in class and receiving help with their homework. It's
a real pleasure to have been part of making the much needed
classes possible.
OUR RAKHI DAY CELEBRATIONS
It's fair to say that the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan
is one of favourites. It celebrates the special bond between
brothers and sisters or between someone who is like a
brother or sister. Mango House really goes to town to
celebrate the day and all our "brothers" and "sisters"
honour one another during a very special ceremony. Our
"sisters" used specially prepared thali plates from which
they took kum kum to place a tika on their "brother's"
forehead, used the candle to perform a prayer, fed him a
sweet and then tied the rakhi they had made to his wrist. In
return the "brother" gave his "sister" a card. It was a
beautiful ceremony and it was lovely to see children take it
so seriously.
INCREASE IN CHILDREN
ATTENDING PRIVATE TUITION CLASSES
As the last academic year progressed, we were very much
aware that following the pandemic, and the resulting two
years out of in person schooling, some children were really
struggling at school and that despite our best endeavours,
they haven't been able to catch up so well. Others could do
well but struggle to focus on study or aren't as regular as
they need to be to catch up. Sadly, all of this is the
reality of what being out of school has meant for many
disadvantaged children. Mindful that children only get one
chance at education, we reviewed every case and considered
how best to support them. As a result we decided that all
children in 7th (age 13) and above will go to private
tuition classes - this helps them access better tailored
support for the subjects they find difficult and allows us
to split some of our larger classes in half so that children
will get more support from our teacher. In addition those
children in lower standards who really are finding school
tough are also having private tuition class. It is a very
hard decision to make as we know how much children like to
come to Mango Tree. Fortunately, however, private classes
normally take place later in the day so all children can
still come to Mango Tree for lunch and play time and will
still take part in our celebrations, outings etc.
ALL ABOUT NATURE
Each month we have a theme and many of our activities
revolve around the theme, with art and craft work always
being a feature. When children returned to school in June
our theme for the month was Nature and the Environment.
There was an amazing array of art and craft with the
youngest children using leaves to make crowns, butterflies
and trees, and the younger afternoon children making things
like leaf animals and leaf printing and older children
making posters about saving nature, what we receive from
nature, eco friendly plates and taking cuttings to grow in
their home made eco plant pots. It's great to see what
children produce but it's just as nice to see them learning
informally, socialising and working together towards a
common goal.
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ANOTHER WONDERFUL LQV DESIGNS AND
CITTA A MATITA FUNDRAISER
We are very fortunate that our Italian
friend, Lisa once again set about raising funds
through a Fashion Show of Indian produced
dresses. In association with the Citta a Matita
association, Lisa’s LQV Design, organised a
fourth Fashion Show and Dress Sale. The event
took place on a glorious summer’s day in June at
the spectacular Lemon House at the Villa Grabau
near Lucca. The catwalk was alight with models
wearing LQV Design's beautiful and unique Indian
sourced dresses. The funds raised were split
between Mango Tree and a local charity and we
were thrilled to receive the equivalent of
around £2,250. We say a huge thank you to LQV
Designs and Citta a Matita for choosing to
support Mango Tree and their efforts to make the
event such a success, and to all those who
supported their fundraiser in any way.
ALL ABOUT FALOODA
As we don't see the children who go for private tuition
classes often it's extra important to ensure that they are
included in all celebrations and our Social Worker makes a
real effort to put on a special activity for them. When the
children came along for the Eid Al Adha celebrations in June
they were treated to a Falooda. This milk based dessert
originated in Persia and was brought to India by Muslim
traders. Added to the milk base are vermicelli, jelly, rose
syrup and sabia (basil) seeds. As you can see it went down
very well.
OUR THANKS ONCE AGAIN TO STYRRUP HALL GOLF CLUB
We were delighted
that Styrrup Hall Golf Club chose to support
Mango Tree through its annual Fundraising Golf
Day again this July. The event was another great
success, both in the funds that were raised for
both Mango Tree and local charity Firefly but,
just as importantly, for the pleasure it gave to
those taking part. In addition to the golf
competition there was a raffle, fabulous home
made cakes and savouries at the Halfway House
and a Sandwich lunch back in the Club House. The
day raised an incredible £782 for Mango Tree. We
thank Styrrup Hall for hosting the event, all
those who worked hard to make the day such a
success in anyway and all those supported the
event on the day. Last but not least, a special
shout out to the lovely ladies and the gent, who
treated the participants to their fine baking.
GILL AND RICHARD'S SUMMER FETE FUNDRAISER
We were astonished to learn that a further 1,465 Euros had been raised
by our friends Gill and Richard and their
amazingly supportive community in and around
Jouac, France. The funds were mainly raised at
an all day Summer Fete which saw so many treats
including bacon sandwiches, cakes, refreshments
and an evening buffet, a sale of pre-loved
clothes, tombola, stalls and petanque with the
highlight of the show being an hilarious musical
performance by members of the community and a
share of an extremely successful raffle. Events
like this require a huge amount of organisation
and volunteer support and show the very best in
community spirit. We thank absolutely everyone
who helped to make the event such a success and
all those who supported it in any way.
ADDITION OF A NURSERY CLASS
When Mango Tree opened its pre-primary doors
in 2012 we had nursery, lower and upper
kindergarten classes. As parents in the area
gained confidence in us we were inundated with
requests for places which we couldn't meet and
so we decided to drop nursery class in favouring
double numbers in lower and upper kindergarten.
As India moves towards a new national education
system it is clear that there will be a
requirement for nursery class and very luckily
the Mango Tree House gives us the space to do
this. As most of our teachers are trained to
work with older children we have started with a
small nursery class. We look forward to learning
from each other and building up to a bigger
nursery class next year.
SUPPORT FROM LA LIGUE HUMANITAIRE
We were delighted to learn that the French
organisation, La Ligue Humanitarian, had decided
to support Mango Tree following a recent onsite
visit. The organisation supports various local
and international projects and is committed to
the fight against inequality. We thank La Ligue
for choosing to make Mango Tree part of its
extended family.
TEACHING THE TEACHERS
India is currently in the process of
implementing its National Education Policy (NEP)
which aims to revolutionise the current system
of education. One of the things it aims to
achieve is to prioritise understanding over rote
learning and for younger children in particular,
we will see lots more learning through play. The
changes require a new approach for teachers who
were trained within the old system. In
preparation for this, the Local Education
Authority required all teachers at recognised
establishments to attend a week's training at
the State Council of Educational Research and
Training (SCERT) in nearby Povorim. We were
really pleased that our teachers were included
in the training and to also be starting to see a
change away from reliance on the dreaded rote
learning.
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