Tag: Vishnu Karthik

Education, News

Heritage Xperiential’s Grade 4 students go on an expedition, publish digital book “Trees of Gurugram”

Apr 7, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #co-Founder, #Director, #Manit Jain, #The Heritage Schools, #The Heritage Xperiential Learning School, #Vishnu Karthik

New Delhi : The Heritage Xperiential Learning School’s Grade 4 students recently went on an expedition “Nature our Teacher” and have published their digital book on Trees of Gurugram. The purpose of this expedition was to understand the species of trees that flourish in the city of Gurugram and the impact they have on the environment and the other organisms around. The students conducted a survey on the trees and birds of their society while the digital book captures data from this survey conducted in Gurugram, along with its visual representation and a brief analysis.

The booklet called ‘Tree Book’ that was created as an end product of this research showcases the unique features and uses of some of the commonly found trees in Gurgaon. It enables readers to recognize that each tree is exceptional not only its physical features and appearance but also in terms of the wealth of benefits it offers other living beings.

The results evident to the students was that every organism is dependent on biodiversity for its survival. There are resources that humans need on a daily basis that can only be provided by nature.

The students observed that the greatest threats to biodiversity were deforestation, over-exploitation, pollution, habitat loss due to construction and development.

“Like all Heritage Xperiential trips, this expedition too had a real audience and an authentic purpose which was to make residents of Gurgaon aware and mindful about the variety of trees that exist in their surroundings and the criticality of supporting this biodiversity. I am proud of our Grade 4 students who actively participated and produced the insightful digital book. Their growing confidence motivates us to hold more such events that enable them to learn so much more than textbooks and course books,” said Manit Jain, Co-Founder, The Heritage Schools.

Like other expeditions this expedition too integrated and applied knowledge from other subject areas like math, literacy and visual arts even though it was centered around science. Math was applied in the form of data collection and analysis and taking measurements. Literacy practices were applied in the form of comprehending, extracting and compiling key facts about the trees under study from various sources. Visual arts were integrated through still life sketching of the trees as a whole and also the various parts of the trees by zooming in on them while making their observation.

On the development, Vishnu Karthik, Director, The Heritage Group of Schools added, “In science, students learnt concepts of biodiversity, ecosystems, adaptation and interdependence which were central to this expedition by observing nature closely and experiencing these big ideas first hand. There is no greater happiness for us at Heritage Schools than knowing that our children are growing and learning well from practical life experiences. We shall continue to encourage such trips that are exciting, fun and great for mental stimulation.”

The biodiversity survey was carried out across all localities where Grade 4 students of the Heritage Xperiential School reside. The students conducted a survey on trees and birds in 3 separate transects including parks, streets and parking areas.

Business World

Renowned educator, parenting expert and author Kim John Payne to address parents for the first time in India

Feb 4, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #“Mindful Parenting for Troubled Times”, #American parenting expert and author, #Co-Founder – The Heritage Group of Schools as panellists, #Director – The Heritage Group of Schools and Manit Jain, #Kim Payne, #Vishnu Karthik

New Delhi: The Heritage Group of Schools, in partnership with noted American parenting expert and author of the best-selling book Simplicity Parenting, Kim John Payne, is going to host a session for Indian parents on the topic “Mindful Parenting for Troubled Times” on February 12th, 2021. A celebrated psychologist, a consultant and trainer to over 200 North American independent and public schools and a private family counsellor for twenty-seven years, Kim Payne will also be part of the launch of a new parenting forum called “Centre for Conscious Parenting” intended to enable parents to be more conscious, secure, inclusive, and aware of the educational and developmental needs of their children. The webinar will begin at 6 pm and will comprise of a session led by Kim Payne followed by a panel discussion with Kim Payne, Vishnu Karthik, Director – The Heritage Group of Schools and Manit Jain, Co-Founder – The Heritage Group of Schools as panellists.

“Our vision to help children achieve their highest potential cannot be accomplished in the absence of parents who want to raise themselves to a higher level of consciousness and awareness. We wish to create a community of parents who are able to support children emotionally and intellectually in every phase of their life and also ask pertinent questions and take necessary action to create a more purposeful and forward-looking educational ecosystem. We feel that there is a need for a platform for parents that provides latest, credible research-based inputs on educational and developmental needs of school going children and also creates a space for interaction with International and Indian experts on various facets of parenting. We hope to empower parents to make better decisions for their children as much as we hope to empower students to make better choices,” said Manit Jain, Co-Founder, The Heritage Group of Schools.

When asked about the session, Kim Payne said “I am so happy to be working with parents in India for the first time and excited about partnering with The Heritage Group of Schools. The ethos of the Group and objectives of the Centre echo our vision and philosophy of Simplicity Parenting and I am very impressed with the work that they are doing.”

The “Centre for Conscious Parenting” will host expert sessions, workshops and panel discussions on a range of relevant topics like the socio-emotional health of children to their physical fitness and nutrition to preparing them for college to name a few. Going forward the platform will also provide an opportunity for parents to hold discussions and express their views through discussion forums and blogs. The platform is committed to providing unbiased, credible content from reliable sources presenting in-depth views from multiple perspectives so that parenting is more about joys and less about regrets.

Education

The Heritage Group of Schools announces campus in Noida

Oct 28, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Heritage Group of Schools, #K-12 schools, #Mr. Manit Jain, #Vishnu Karthik

The Heritage Group of Schools, a leading network of K-12 schools with a presence in Delhi & Gurgaon, has announced the launch of its new campus in Sector 128, Noida. It will be the fourth addition to the three well-established C.B.S.E. schools in Rohini, Vasant Kunj and Gurgaon.

“We are excited to announce the launch of our new campus in Noida as we hope to reach out and touch the lives of many more students and bring to them the joy of learning and the fulfilment that comes with finding one’s true purpose. 20 years ago, we embarked on a journey to make education more relevant and authentic and reviewed the conventions and practices prevalent across the education ecosystem in terms of the value they added. Since then, The Heritage Schools have grown into one of the most admired schools in the country because of the all-encompassing effort that was made to bridge the gap between the inevitable expectations of the future workplace and how we prepare our students in the time that we have with them.

We are at the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution and life is going to transform dramatically in the next two decades. Sadly, the education system is still designed for the first industrial revolution with the consequence that 50% of our workforce lacks basic employability skills. In the foreseeable future, our kids will be competing with machines and what will provide them with the edge will be their social and creative intelligence as these are the skills that are hardest to program.

The curriculum at Heritage has been designed consciously to nurture these aspects, by a core team of experts from around the world, who take the best practices and contextualise them to the Indian environment,” said Mr. Manit Jain, the Co-Founder of the school. He added, “The Heritage School in Noida is going to embody the same vision and philosophy of humanising education and cultivating skills and attitudes that are going to matter the most when our students graduate. We are looking forward to seeing our first intake of students in the new campus in April 2021.”

The spirit of the Heritage school lies in its experiential learning methodology, project-based interdisciplinary curriculum and connection with the larger community that define and direct all the teaching and learning practices in the school. These projects incorporate the experiential learning cycle where the student’s own experiences lead to reflection, dialogues and deeper understanding of concepts.

These projects typically involve solving problems in the local context that children can relate to and through this context, they integrate content from different disciplines like Math, science, social science and languages. The school also has a really strong focus on emergent literacy and as a chain has dedicated international experts guiding them in building a truly world-class literacy program. A STEM curriculum which is hands-on with an emphasis on tinkering and making is another highlight of the school pedagogy.

The social-emotional well-being of its students is a priority and the school pursues it actively to help students to better understand the self and relate to others. Vishnu Karthik, who has his Masters in Mind, Brain and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is on the Heritage School Noida’s board of advisors shared, “If we want our students to live joyful and fulfilling lives, we must prepare them for more than just livelihood skills, we must prepare them for life. They must have the capacity to build enduring and meaningful relationships and to contribute positively to the world they live in. Pure financial success does not buy happiness.”

The Heritage School, Noida is located right along the Noida Expressway, near Jaypee Hospital. The well-equipped campus will consist of indoor & outdoor sports facilities, subject labs, well-designed spaces for performing and visual arts and IT-enabled classrooms to provide a holistic learning experience to students.

It is a fully secure campus with high standards of hygiene along with pollution-controlled classrooms with the treated fresh air system. The campus is temperature-controlled, both cooled and heated and aesthetically laid out with an aim to provide an environment that stimulates and promotes learning. The learning is supported by audio-visual aids and the latest information and communication technologies ensure uninterrupted learning.

The Heritage School, Noida campus will be opening admissions for students from Nursery to Grade 6 for the academic session 2021-2022, on the 1st of November’20.