Dr Alpa S Kotadia

From Director Principal's Desk

"We are here for a reason. I believe some reason is to throw little torches out to people through the dark."

In my effort to discover myself, I found my calling is to bring changes in the education field and decided to establish the school of my dreams. A school, where children come with a smile, carry lightness and brightness in their hearts and become torch-bearers when they graduate from the school. Now, as I sit on this Director Principal's chair to reminisce the path I had trodden to reach this position, so many memories flashed through my mind. Some of them gave me the courage to forge ahead; others gave me the wisdom to meet the challenges. Whenever I was in doubt, my father's words "Alpa, you can do it" resonated in my mind and I never wavered from my decision.

From Pre-Primary to Upper Primary and Secondary to Senior Secondary, Vapi Public School grew to amazing heights within a short period. It is the first CISCE affiliated School in Vapi as well as the first NABET-accredited school in this area. Besides having a vibrant ambiance and radiant infrastructure, it has also won the Best Safe School Award.

The school follows a holistic curriculum stipulated by the Statutory and Regulatory bodies. It has a well-designed Year Plan that enhances the Intellectual, Physical, Social, Emotional and Spiritual Development of students. While we contribute to our students' academic enhancement through innovative and interesting pedagogies and activities, we equally work to improve their bodily and mental well being too. We make sure that all three domains of learning (Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor) get equal importance in our curriculum.

We have many resources that help students with hands-on learning. Our astronomy lab, Nakshatra's programs include star gazing sessions for students and scheduled workshops to train students in making Can Satellites and Robots that facilitate them to create interest in Space Education. Our Rifle Shooting Range, Lakshya has already produced State Champions. Vapi Public School is a vision oriented and system-driven institution with its mission to make its students Global Citizens and Future Leaders of One World Family.

Students play an active role in school as they spend a significant part of their lives here. Each day is designed to make it profitable for students enrolled here. We instill in our students the value of Hard Work, Self-Discipline, Punctuality, Teamwork and Unity to prepare them for future challenges. I urge my students through workshops, group and individual interaction to be active participants in all the programs intended to develop their Physical, Academic, Emotional and Moral Strength.

Age-appropriate Sexual Health and Wellbeing workshops are conducted to create awareness among students. Buddy Learning, Mentor Teachers, Circle-Time and Counselling are provided to nurture in students, Leadership Qualities and Problem-Solving Abilities. Due to this conductive learning environment, our students are Empathetic, Respectful, Polite and Helpful to the needy. I congratulate my students for greeting everyone with a smile on their faces and complying with the school culture.

Continuous Professional Training helps the teaching faculty to be abreast with the latest Teaching Strategies and Pedagogies. This has helped our educators to become competent facilitators.

It is also vital that the Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual health of an educator is also maintained.

Parents being important stakeholders in education, several Orientation Programmes, Workshops and Individual Consultations are regularly conducted to keep the parents well-versed in the activities of the school and the performance of the students. Good parenting techniques are equally important to avoid being Helicopter Parents, indirectly creating unwanted pressure on young children.

Various Parents Partnership Programmes like 'Samyukta' are conducted, in which parents share with our students the culture and traditions of different states of India.

The success of a great school is the Equal Ownership and Shared Responsibilities of Management, Staff, Students and Parents.

The sudden attack of the pandemic COVID-19 brought a standstill to all school activities and immediately led us to start with online teaching. Many workshops were conducted to gain knowledge of different platforms, strategies and the technological expertise needed for it. I really appreciate the collaboration and dedication of the educators, staff, students and parents for making it a smooth changeover. Vapi Public School is the first school in this area to successfully begin online classes and we continue with innovations to make the teaching-learning process easy and interesting.

My message to all parents and educators is, "Every child is a rare, unique and original Master Piece. Master's Piece, Don't mold him / her into a Show Piece."