Parent Role in Education

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Objective:

Fountainhead School desires 100% attendance of students of all age groups studying in the school. Nevertheless, as a rule:

• Every primary & middle year student must have 93% attendance to be eligible for promotion to the next grade.
• Every early year student must have 85% attendance to be eligible for promotion to the next grade.

Applicable to:

This policy applies to all students.

Value (s) guiding policy:

1. Value Term: Excellence
2. Why: Always implement practices that continue to produce valued outcomes.

Rationale:

• For children to be involved completely in the learning process, it is important they are present in school. The teaching learning methodology is such that a gap of even one day may make the child lag behind. Prolonged absenteeism severely sets back the child’s understanding of a particular topic. Also, specialist subjects (Hindi, Visual Arts, Music, Physical Education – Sports, Drama, and Dance) have only 1-2 periods per week and missing these classes also hinder the child’s overall development.
• There’s a limitation to what can be covered up academically and otherwise for children who are absent. While we can give a few worksheets and give a summary of what’s happened, but to really cover up the concepts in detail like it was done in class is not possible.
• Sufficient vacations have been given to children including a number of long weekends for parents to plan short and long trips. Moreover, the school’s calendar for the year has been given well in advance to all of you, therefore enabling you to plan your major events and vacations so as to minimize the holidays for your child.
• The school has approximately 200 working days for children, and 7% leaves amount to 20 days (almost a month of working days) and 15% leaves amount to 40 days (close to two months of working days). Since sufficient leeway has already been given for some natural circumstances under which leave needs to be taken, the policy as stated above will be implemented strictly this year.

Parents must ensure the following:

1. Parents are expected to ensure that the child is able to attend the maximum number of days barring unavoidable circumstances such as illness of the child.
2. Parents must write down planned leaves without fail in the child’s communication diary so that the class teacher is informed of the same. In case of sick or emergency leaves, you may communicate the same once the child comes back to school.
3. For any sick leave beyond 3 days at a stretch, parents must send a medical certificate from a medical practitioner stating clearly the medical reasons justifying the leaves.

• Parents are expected to give children proper care, nourishment and sleep so as to ensure that children are fit and healthy and are also mentally active when they are in school.
• HRT has to inform parents in each PTC (3 in EY/PY and 2 in MY/DP) if the attendance percentage is low than the criteria mentioned above.
  • Exam Barring – information for students – Parents (IGCSE/DP) should also be informed that the school reserves the right (case to case basis) to withdraw students from examinations if they have failed to meet the minimum requirement for attendance.
• At the end of the academic year, students having more than 98% attendance in EY and more than 99% in PY, MY & DP will awarded the “Attendance Certificate”.
• Students can also take leave for personal development if they wish to appear for any exam/event/training camp other than school. (Please refer to the policy mentioned in detail)
• Students are allowed to take 3 credits in an academic year. 1 credit is equal to 1.30 hour. they can use these credits for late arrival/early leaving as per the guidelines given below:

Late arrival

Early leaving

Students are allowed to come late / go early from school by 1 hour 20 minutes but not more than 3 times in a year e.g. Primary Years (Gr 1-6) & Nursery students can come late by the 8.50 a.m. bus route. Middle Years & Senior Years students can come late by the 10.10 a.m. bus route. Early Years (Jr. K.G. & Sr. K.G.) students can come late at 11.30 a.m. (own transport). The same will be applicable for leaving early as well e.g. Primary Years (Gr. 1-6) & Nursery students can go early at 12.30 pm (own transport). Middle Years (Gr 7-10) & Senior Years (Gr. 11) students can go early by 3.30 p.m. bus route. Early Years (Jr. K.G. & Sr. K.G.) students can go early by 2.00 p.m. bus route.

Student if they wish to, can also take 2 credits in a day and 1 more credit later. Guidelines for taking 2 credits in a day are given below: Primary Years (Gr 1-6) & Nursery students can come late by the 10.10 a.m. bus route. Middle Years & Senior Years students can come late by the 11.50 a.m. (own transport). Early Years (Jr. K.G. & Sr. K.G.) students can come late at 1.10 a.m. (own transport). The same will be applicable for leaving early as well e.g. Primary Years (Gr. 1-6) & Nursery students can go early at 12.00 pm (own transport). Middle Years (Gr 7-10) & Senior Years (Gr. 11) students can go early by 2.00 p.m. bus route. Early Years (Jr. K.G. & Sr. K.G.) students can go early by 12.30 p.m. (own transport). This will considered as a credit and anything more than this or if it is a repeated issue, then the student can attend school but that will be marked absent.

• In case the student is in sick bay for:
  • <50 minutes due to some illness; it will counted as one credit and will be deducted from their` credit account.
  • 50> minutes due to some illness; it will be marked absent.
• If credits are exhausted –
  • Student uses sickbay even for more than 10 minutes then also they will be marked as absent.
  • If any student leave school due to illness, family function or any other reason; before 2.00 pm with their parents, at 2.00 pm or 3.30 pm in bus; s/he will be marked absent.

• These guidelines will not be applicable:
  • If the student has visited sickbay only for taking some medicine.
  • Any injury happened to the student in the school and student has been handed over to the parents. S/he will be marked present on Day-1. Further, if the doctor has advised him/her rest then s/he will be marked absent for the no. of days s/he is absent.
• The above mentioned guidelines are also applicable for coming late due to illness, family function or any other reason.
• This is applicable with immediate effect.

Rationale: Attendance is marked when the student comes to school and attend classes. If s/he is ill and come to school but does not attend classes or fall sick in school and remain in sickbay then the system of marking them present is not logical.

Guidelines for Exam Attendance:

• During the school exams for G9 and 10; students will not come to school when an examination of a subject is scheduled that they have not chosen. Even then they will be marked present on that day.
  • For eg. on 14th Oct, there is an ICT exam. Student X has not taken ICT so he does not come to school on that day. But he will be marked present, because ICT is an optional subject.
• This is applicable for school exams only and not for IGCSE examinations.

Guidelines for Event Attendance:

Student & Parent contact day’s (events) has been divided into two categories as per the attendance criteria given below.

Student & Parent contact days (events) has been divided into two categories as per the attendance criteria given below.

Student Contact Days:

Category	It Includes	Attendance criteria will be followed as
Regular Student Working Days	Sports day, last day party (before two major vacations i.e. Summer and Diwali)	Attendance criteria will be followed as – The attendance will be recorded as regular working day and will be counted in cumulative percentage of attendance.
Necessary Student Event Days	Night Outs, Nature Camps, Creative Mela	Attendance criteria will be followed as – The attendance will be recorded but only WORKING DAYS will be counted under event category which will be added in cumulative percentage of attendance; for e.g. If nature camps are falling on Friday or Saturday then attendance will be recorded for both days but only Friday will counted in the cumulative percentage of attendance.
Voluntary Student Event Days	Bal Mela, FSMUN and other competitions on holidays	Attendance criteria will be followed as – The attendance can be recorded in Nucleus under Student events section and not in regular attendance section. If students are going for competitions / workshops during regular working days, then attendance will be counted as School-given leave or Professional Development Leave (PDL) e.g. Frisbee: team event (if approved other marked as absent), District / State level competitions, MUN, any Workshops (if the school has approved then it will be considered as PDL otherwise it will be marked as absent). or Absent incase the leave is not approved by the school.

Parent Contact Days:

Category	It Includes	Attendance criteria will be followed as
Parent – Event (Recommended by School)	PTC, PTM, PYP Exhibition	Attendance will be recorded for reference.
Parent – Event (Voluntary to attend)	Any other event, exhibition etc.	Attendance will be recorded as per the requirement of the event.

Exception:

The exceptional circumstances under which students may exceed the limit given include major illnesses which require significant time for treatment and recovery. There may be other critical reasons for extended leaves all of which need to approved by the Head of the School.

Personal Development Leave:

Objective:

The objective of this policy is to have clear guidelines for leaves taken by a student for personal development.

Rationale:

As mentioned in attendance policy, Fountainhead School expects the students to maintain regular attendance in school except school holidays i.e. summer breaks, diwali break & other holidays. However, it is sometimes necessary or desirable for a student to take a leave for 1-2 days or for a specific period of time or take want to come late for few hours to take part in extracurricular/academic activities.

Personal Development Leave-

These leaves / credits can be defined as a personal development leaves / credits, when a student request to take a break from school for a temporary period to pursue his/her interest other than school academic program. For example

• Academic/Extra Curricular Opportunities
  • Appearing for any course/camp outside school
  • Appearing for any exam outside school
  • Participating in any event outside school

Guidelines:

• A student taking voluntary leave / credit (especially for reason 1, 2, 3) student should consult his or her HRT and submit the application to the front desk.
• Front desk’s PRO will send information through email to the HRT with cc to PYP Principal / Senior School Principal / HOS / PE team / AGM-Admin.
• HRT have to inform parent and student that this will lead to a loss in his/her academics which s/he will have to work harder to recover. Further the school will strive to support her to the best extent possible.
• The PYP Principal / Senior School Principal / HOS will approve the same through email.
• Front desk will send a confirmatory email to the parents.
• HRT will mark the student who is on leave or taken credit as “On personal development leave” but not absent.

Promotion Policy:

Promotion will be granted to every student who has met the minimum grade level academic requirements and attendance percentage as defined for each grade.

Conditional Promotion:

The following policy clarifies the conditions under which a student is required to be Conditionally Promoted. It may be granted to the student in following situations:

Low Attendance:

• Student can be promoted for the 1st year, whose attendance percentage is less but academic performance is fine. Parents will be called and will be asked to write an explanation for low attendance and assurance that it will be taken care in the future.
• Student should have required attendance percentage according to their grade level in next year otherwise parents will be called and discussed/counseled about why the attendance is important and what their child is going to miss out if s/he is regularly absent.
• Based on their explanation/discussion and if the academic performance is also poor they will be advised to retain the child in the same grade next year.

Performance not up to the Grade level:

Student can be promoted for the 1st year, whose academic performance is not up to the grade level or the student has demonstrated academic difficulty throughout a school year/not cleared the grade level assessments/exam (not applicable fully till grade 6 unless we consider CAPS) with a condition that student has to perform well in next academic year.

If the student has not shown any improvement in academics then parents will be called for their child’s review and to discuss about the child retention in the same grade for the next year.

Note: For such cases school strongly advises that the student should be retained in the same grade as it is in child’s best interest but the final decision will be taken with parental consent.

Conditional Promotion Chart

The school will not promote students who do not promote students who do not meet the above set criteria (see Conditional Promotion mentioned above).

Back

GUIDELINES FOR PCM / PTC

What are parent-teacher conferences (PTC)?

Parent-teacher conferences are short (20 Minutes) one to one session between parent and teacher that are formally arranged by the school thrice in a year after school hours usually on Saturday.

The PTCs are a valuable tool to help a parent and child’s teacher(s) work together for child’s success. This is a great opportunity for parents to ask questions and gather information that will help them to encourage their children to achieve success.

Common agenda points to discuss in PTCs will include going through the important achievements, goals set, issues with academics or behavior etc.

How parent-teacher conferences are conducted?

Parents are informed at the starting of the session through a circular about the frequency of the PTCs during the year. Typically 2-3 PTCs are held after every 3 months or so. In case there is a Student Led Conference (SLC) then the PTC is not held.

The PTCs are generally conducted in the classroom. Different time slots have been allotted to the parents according to their request (Request Form – Appendix-1), set time limit and number of students in the class.

Why the PTCs are important?

It is very important to have good relationships between parents and teacher because the goals for the child are indeed shared goals; both teacher and parent want what is best for the child/student. By conducting these sessions with parents Teacher gets opportunity to discuss the child’s learning progress and by attending, parents can show that theyare interested and prepared to participate in and support their child’s learning.

The PTC will give you feedback on your child’s performance and progress.Also it is chance for parents to find out how their child is getting along in school and what is going on inside the classroom.You can also meet the specialist (single subject- Arts, PE, Music, Dance) teachers if you wish to.

Since the parents are considered as primary educator, they can contribute a lot to the discussions and decisions of their child’s progress.

Dos and Don’ts for Parents for PTCs

DOs:

1. Do attend the PTCs in the slots been given to you unless there is an emergency. (Please refer the note on Postponing PTC Slot mentioned below)
2. Both the parents will have to be present for the PTC.
3. Reach at school 30 minutes in advance so that you can get enough time for entry, parking, reaching in the class etc.
4. You are requested to first go to your child’s classroom
5. Please be present 10 minutes before time outside the class for the meeting i.e. if your meeting time is 8.00 am than you need to be present outside the class at 7.50 am.
6. In case you are late, you will not be able to get the allotted 20 minutes with the teacher.
7. Please respect the privacy of the meeting.If a meeting is in progress or the teacher is busy, do not walk into the class. The teacher will call you in when she is ready to meet you.
8. If you wish to meet the specialist teachers, please submit your request circular(Appendix-1)and visit them in their allotted classrooms as per circular sent to you (Appendix-2).
9. Please bring the list of goals per subject and other documents as per the list sent to you.
10. Be prepared with questions that you want to ask at the conference to save time i.e. if you want specific feedback on maths or you wanted to discuss your child’s social skills etc.
11. Share information which you think is important for a teacher to know.
12. Be open to suggestions from the teacher.
13. You can also take notes on the discussion you had with teacher during the meeting and discuss the same with your child later on.
14. If you wish to leave any comments/ give any feedback for the meeting, please fill in the Parents Feedback Form(Appendix-3) after PTC is over.

Don’ts

1. Please switch off your mobile phones before you enter in the classroom for the meeting.
2. Do not interrupt the teacher in between the meeting.
3. Do not exceed your allocated time limit.
4. Do not defend your child if teacher has mentioned any specific issue.
5. Do not lose control over emotions.Try to stay calm and focused on what will help the child the most.
6. Do not stray from the topic.
7. Do not discuss about the other child or the other teacher.

Postponement of PTC Slot:

Rationale : At times there are requests from parents to change the slot because of:

• Engaged in some other work which is unavoidable.

• Out of town for some work etc.

The motto of the school is to address genuine requests made by parents for the change in PTC slots other than slots fixed from school side.

Guidelines for Postponement of PTC Slot:

• If there is any genuine case or emergency then only a parent can ask for a change in PTC slot.

• For any change in date (not in time slot), parent need to send the request by email or through letter, addressed to the HOS at least 7 days in advance, unless it’s an emergency.

• The reasons for the postponement must be mentioned in the notification to check whether the reason is genuine or not.

• If the reason is found genuine, HoS will approve the same and send it to the teacher for further processing.

• The teacher then will find a mutually convenient slot before or after the regular PTC date and will inform the parent about the confirmed date and time for the meeting through diary note.

Back

NO TUITION

Objective:

The objective of this policy is:

1. To share our understanding about our beliefs about tuitions to parents, including the disadvantages of tuitions and coaching classes for students as well as the school.

2. To inform parents about the steps that we intend to take to ensure that our students don’t go for tuitions unless it is by permission from the school, and the consequences in case this still happens.

Policy on Video

• Short video (2 min) which gives a glimpse of the message: http://youtu.be/Xk_eX1CpYuY
• Detailed video (12 min) covering policy details in the format of a panel discussion: http://youtu.be/nzkmKBpjPB4

What is Tuition defined as under this policy?

Tuition is defined as any curricular support that’s taken on a regular basis in lieu of any form of payment to that individual.

We understand that parents, family members or neighbours / friends may help out an individual student or a group of students with their studies. This is fine especially if it’s not on a regular basis. If this too is on a regular basis then it will become unpaid-tuitions with detrimental effects that are the same as paid-tuitions, even though consequences as listed later in this policy won’t apply in those cases.

Why don’t we want Fountainhead Students to go for tuitions?

The most important reason

The single most important reason is that students need to learn to take responsibility of their own learning and become independent in learning over a period of time. Tuitions serve only as a crutch for students. Students who go for tuitions often think that homework and study are the responsibility of their tuition teacher. Tuitions do not develop independent learning and self study skills. This becomes a major issue with students as they grow up when they need to learn independently.

Why are independent learning and good self-study skills so important?

It is important for parents and students to appreciate the philosophy difference of the educational methods that Fountainhead follows from what we are otherwise aware of:

It is clear that the kind of academic demands that courses in the IGCSE and the DP make can’t be fulfilled if the student isn’t independent. Therefore, Fountainhead students must become independent in their learning habits. Only if children start taking their responsibility from a very young age, they will become independent in learning when they are older. The school takes responsibility of ensuring that every child attains basic minimum standards in math & language sooner or later (unless the child has learning disabilities), assuming that the parents provide the support that the school expects from them (details of what Fountainhead expects from parents is given in another policy document, titled “Parental Role in Education”.) Once students develop these basic literacy skills in the age-range of 8-10 years, students must become fully independent in their study habits so that they are well-prepared for the academic demands of the future.

There may be cases in the younger age group and in some cases after the primary years, that students still need external support. The school policy allows for that and is mentioned later in this policy. However, it is important to note that this percentage of students is between 5-20% of the student population. On the other hand, there are many academically competent students who today go for tuitions which have no justification.

Other important ways in which tuitions impacts students negatively

Fountainhead School follows a progressive and sophisticated methodology of teaching and the way of teaching cannot be adequately taught by the tuition teachers. This leads to the following issues:

• In case of tuitions, there tends to be rote-learning which isn’t very useful as we need students to understand and apply. Their concepts are often not clear as they haven’t learnt it using the methods that we use in school (which keep changing as we learn and innovate).

• Students get used to one on one teaching, makes them dependent, unable to work individually/in groups or follow whole class instruction.

• Conflicts between the curriculum (terminologies and strategies) taught in school and at tuitions may confuse a student.

• Students who go for tuitions often lose interest in studies in school as they are doing it in tuitions. Some begin to focus more on their tuitions and may even give importance to the tuition HW than the school HW.

• Students who have done the course material beforehand in the tuitions don’t find learning the topic exciting or interesting, as they are already familiar with it. The joy of learning is at the core of the school philosophy which is then at risk.

• They have packed schedules after the school which does not allow any breathing space. They have a lot of self study and course work to do especially in MY, IGCSE & DP and even in the later stages of the PYP. We have found that some students are unable to do their work either due to lack of time due to the extra-classes or else because they lack the skills. Some children are literally crying due to this stress of overwork and over-scheduling. In some cases, we have noticed that such children are unable to sleep well at night and end up coming late to school on quite a few occasions.

• Parents don’t get quality time with their children due to the packed schedule of the children in addition to that of the parents themselves.

• Students are required to do their own research work and experimental work in the MY, IGCSE & DP. Academic honesty can get compromised if students start relying on tuition teacher for coursework and assignments regularly. Academic dishonesty is severely punished by the IB and therefore by the school as well.

• Research has proven that children need some unstructured time to allow for creativity and critical thinking. This is especially true in the younger ages where children need to have free play (alone or with friends) to develop a range of skills including social skills, inquiry, emotional intelligence etc.

How does it impact the school?

The fact that many students go for tuitions has also started impacting the school in direct ways apart from the ones mentioned above:

• Students going for tuitions are more likely to be disruptive in class and pay less attention. This leads to issues like significant behavioral issues taking away a lot of time and creating a poor learning environment for the students.

• Children going for tuitions know things beforehand because of tuitions or they get their doubts solved by their tuition teachers. Then they might tease other students for being slow or not smart and this leads to a bullying environment.

• As more and more students start going for tuitions, teachers will find it less appealing and satisfying to teach disinterested students in school. They will become less accountable for the learning of the students and this will lead to an overall deterioration of quality at Fountainhead School.

• Students tend to go for tuitions for subjects such as Maths & Sciences more often and this can create a bias towards these subjects whereby they may neglect other subjects in school. This goes against the philosophy of the school whereby a variety of subjects need to be given equal importance.

• In some cases, through the students, tuition teachers are questioning the methods of the teacher in school due to which the students are unwilling to learn the way the school wants to teach.

• Some parents have also requested teachers not to take assessments in school on certain days as students have their extra-curricular class assessments to take in that period.

What are the reasons for which parents send their children to tuitions

Policy Statement:

Fountainhead School advises parents not to send their children (of all age groups) to attend private tuitions / coaching classes for academic subjects.

Inclusions in the policy

Please note that all of the following are included in this list:

• All regular tuitions for any or all subjects

• Most English enrichment classes which in most cases are really just tuition classes for English; please note that if such classes are true English enrichment classes such as Speech and Drama or a reading club, then we are fine with it.

• All Olympiad classes: as mentioned earlier, Olympiads are meant for high academic achievers. Unfortunately, most parents want their children to compete in it and for that purpose they are sending them for special Olympiad tuitions. In addition, students who do well in the Olympiads tend to bully other students. The school has therefore decided that it will not register students till Grade 7 for Olympiads. Based on the academic performance till Grade 7, the school will itself register a selected set of students from Grade 8 and onwards for the Olympiads.

• Extensive coaching for intensely competitive examinations which require 3-4 hours of daily coaching as well as another 3-4 hours of self-study for the competitive exams. Doing this intense coaching with the workload for the DP will just not work. Very few will be able to manage both these workloads together.

Exclusions of the policy

However if there is no conflict (that is the above conditions is satisfied) then the following are acceptable:

• Students attending classes for music, art, dance or sport activity

• Students attending real language enrichment classes such as reading or debating or drama clubs or math’s enrichment programs such as mental math’s programs, or any such co-curricular or extracurricular activities.

• Students with clearly identified special needs who wish to work on particular areas or on overall academics (in which case written permission from the school must be obtained)

• Students may even be given permission to attend subject-specific tuitions when specifically recommended by the class or subject teacher. For e.g. a student coming from a Gujarati medium with very limited exposure to the English language may be recommended to take up study of the English language so as to reach the level of the rest of the students as soon as possible. The same case may apply to someone who hasn’t learnt Hindi before joining Fountainhead School.

• Students in Grade 11-12 may go for coaching for SAT, TOEFL and other such examinations which are a prerequisite to the entrance to some colleges. It is important that these coaching aren’t intense and are around 2-3 hours a week. Anything more than that will make it difficult for students to focus on their DP assignments and self-study.

Other recommendations

• We recommend that you be careful when choosing extracurricular activities that are directly in conflict with what’s being taught at school such as:

  • If students are learning to play the guitar or Gandharva music in school, then you can not take up guitar or Gandharva music classes without prior consent from the school.

  • Similarly if the children are learning math in a particular way at school, then any math-enrichment program conflicting with it must also not be taken without prior consent.

  • In art & craft, unless the teacher is doing really creative work with the children, it is better not to take up art & craft classes.

• More importantly, instead of trying make your kid a superkid by making them attend a large number of classes, let them have some free time and space on a daily basis so that they can play at home or in the neighbourhood, and also have time to read for leisure, do their self-study, and spend time with family.

School provided extra support

The school recognizes the fact that children are at different academic levels at different ages and their progress rate can vary significantly from child to child. Therefore the school identifies children who are significantly behind in academic areas at a particular age, especially in language and math, and plans an in-school remedial program for such kids.

If at some point parent feel that the child is academically weak or not working to her potential, can get in touch with the class teacher for an appointment to discuss the same. In these additional support classes, the child works with a teacher in a small groups and gets his concepts clarified. These sessions may be during school hours or before and after school hours. Once a child is in the remedial education program, she and the parents are expected to take it seriously, attend her remedial sessions and do the assigned homework. It is important to note that here we are not referring to children with special needs or learning disabilities, whether identified or not, which are covered in detail in the Special Education Needs policy.

The school has run a reasonably successful Additional English Language Support (AELS) program in the academic year 2013-14 and has been able to ensure that almost 50% of the students who joined the program have reached grade-level English language competence. Most of the remaining students who continue with the program will reach their grade-level competence after 1-2 terms more of support as well.

Our general observation is that students who are struggling with understand English are the ones who struggle in the other subjects as their reading and comprehension skills are lacking. Therefore if the student can work on his/her English language skills, then in most cases, they will also improve on the other subjects, assuming that they have sufficient and the right support at home as well.

Therefore, parents are encouraged to choose this program over conventional tuitions as we are confident of delivering results and in methods that we know are the right ones rather than what tuition teachers might use.

Cases for which Tuitions can be applied for:

While parents should look towards the school first for support, in case the school is unable to provide the support that a particular student needs, we will be happy to discuss with the parents what options they might explore. These are the cases where this might apply:

• In a case where there is recognized weak academic area, and the school support program has not helped till now

• In a case where the student is coming from a background whereby she lacks the skills in 1-2 academic areas in a big way. For e.g. a student from a non-english medium speaking background may need extra support in learning the language. However, the first preference should be to go for the school AELS program and if that isn’t suitable then go for tuitions outside.

• In case where the parents are unable to provide any support at home (in terms of interest and helping out when needed). Please note that parents who are unable to provide support first need to try and make sure that they provide support. Home and parental support is one of the most important factors of student success in school.

• In case the school does not have enough teachers to support the child’s remedial program.

Process for application for Tuitions

Parents must write a note (email or written) to the homeroom teacher regarding this. The homeroom teacher will then get back to you for a discussion and a decision will be made with the knowledge of the academic head(s) of the respective program.

How will we track if students are going for tuitions?

The following things will be done:

• Asking parents formally whether they are sending their child/children to the tuitions. We plan to ask for a term-wise signed declaration at the time of the term-wise individual parent teacher meetings, so that parents can confirm in the presence of the student that they aren’t sending their ward for tuitions.

• Asking students about the same. In most cases, this step will give us the true picture. It’s important to mention at this point that some parents teach their children to lie. We must remind parents that becoming liars is a much bigger issue for the student’s character than any shortcoming in the student’s academics.

• Check if someone other than the parents is trying to get in touch with the teacher to get feedback about the student or get clarifications for the curriculum. Please note that tuition teachers aren’t allowed to come to school unless prior permissions for the tuitions has been taken by the parents. Please note that even in this case, tuitions must be for a predefined limited period of time.

• If the classwork and homework quality seems distinctly different, that might be a sign of tuitions.

• We will do random checking by asking other parents / students about their friends whether attending tuitions or not.

While It may be difficult to be sure in some cases, we believe that we will get a clear picture in most of the cases. Where we have a doubt, the benefit of the doubt will be given to the student.

Logical Consequences that the school will be applied

• HRT to call to confirm if tuitions are suspected; if it’s the case then ask them discontinue the tuitions.

• If it continues then a warning letter will be sent from the Head of School to stop tuition immediately. Parents must confirm in writing to the Head of School within 15 days that tuitions have been discontinued. Otherwise the parent needs to give in writing the reasons for the tuitions and if required, come and explain the same to the Home Room teacher and/or to the Head of School as required.

• A 1:1 meeting of parents & student will be called with the respective teachers, grade coordinators and other academic head(s) as required.

• If tuitions persist, then the student will be asked to leave the classes where s/he is attending tuition (subject specific or general).

• Next step will be to withhold the term / final report card. No assessment / exams / progress feedback will be given from the teachers / school to student / parents. Teachers will not meet such parents.

• In extreme cases, student will be asked to leave the school.

Conclusion

In most cases where students currently go for tuitions, they don’t really need to. We request the parents to understand why we are against tuitions and work together with the school to make the child independent in learning and develop self-study skills, and ensure that the learning environment at Fountainhead School remains exciting and challenging. Remember, parents it is important to teach your children honesty. So please don’t take a shortcut of teaching them to lie. While we wouldn’t like to, but we will implement consequences listed above in case some parents don’t cooperate.

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PARENT UNDERTAKING

Objective:The objective of this policy is to inform parents about the philosophy / terms & conditions of admission/school policies and take acknowledgement from them.

Applicable to:

This policy applies to all parents.

Value (s) guiding policy:

1. Value Term: Excellence, Win Win
2. Why:
   • Be clear and firm about approach and offerings while representing school to any parent.
   • Providing prior information to parents avoid any misunderstanding in future.

Policy Undertaking Guidelines:
General:

• We have read and understood the admission procedure of Fountainhead School, and we agree to follow it.
• We undertake that admission of my child to Fountainhead School is subject to the age of the child as given in the birth certificate being true and accurate. All other information submitted is also true.
• We understand that false representation of facts and/ or canvassing for admission to the school, in any form, monetary or otherwise, will lead to disqualification of this application form for admission now, or any time in the future.
• We undertake to respect the school’s philosophy and what it stands for. We will also abide by the rules of the school, if my child is admitted to the school.
• We agree to my child’s name and/or photograph/video appearing in any of Fountainhead School brochures, publications, media such as internet, TV, newspaper etc. without the need for any prior approval from us.
• We understand that all Policies are subject to change as per the schools requirements.

We undertake to read, understand, clarify and abide to all the policies that are not included in this undertaking.

• Timings & Duration (Refer to Policy)
• Fee Policy (Refer to Policy)
• Transportation Policy (Refer to Policy)
• Food Policy (Refer to Policy)
• Educational Philosophy (Pg. No 78)
• Indemnity (Refer to Policy)

Educational Philosophy

• The school follows an educational philosophy which may evolve from time to time to ensure that the children get the best possible education. Therefore it is important to understand that while the school currently has a planned structure for the boards of education that it will offer (and the curriculum that goes with it); some minor as well as some major changes may take place over the years because of the changing nature of the environment around us. Therefore the programs that we are offering may change as we progress and the curriculum will change along with it.
• The management has the right to retain the work books / activity books / any materials used by the students in class and use the same for promotional purposes.
• The school is the only authority to decide upon and implement the curriculum for every class.
• The school’s educational beliefs and value systems have already been outlined in the brochure and also available on our website www.fountainheadschools.org of which all parents should have a copy of. Parents must understand the same and agree with the same, while also understanding that changes in the same may happen over the year.
• Language is an important component of the education and some common & persistent issues are addressed here:
• English is the medium of instruction. However, usage of Mother Tongue (for those children with mother tongue other than English) in school is also encouraged where the need for expression is more important than the language being used. The school therefore believes in a healthy mix of languages being used inside the classroom by the students and at times also by the teachers, especially in the early formative years where English is a new language for most children.
• The school will also give priority to the steps as listed below as natural language development also happens in the same order (which are simultaneous but cannot be preceded). Therefore you will find a lot of emphasis on first giving the child exposure to the English language (listening & understanding) inside and outside the class and then on speaking & reading and lastly on writing. This is especially true for the younger children whose motor skills are not ready for writing.
  • Listening
  • Understanding / Comprehension
  • Speaking
  • Reading
  • Writing
• The school does not focus on superior hand writing ability. It does focus on neatness and legibility. But given the decreasing importance of manual writing in today’s environment, the school shall only put limited efforts on beautifying the child’s hand writing.

We have understood all the sections and points above and we fully agree to abide by the same:
Name of the child:	Seeking Admission to class:
PLACE:	DATE:
NAME AND SIGNATURE:FATHER’S or GUARDIAN’S	NAME AND SIGNATURE:MOTHER’S or GUARDIAN’S

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TOYS & GADGETS

Objective:

The objective of this policy is to avoid any interruption/distraction caused by toys & gadgets in class or school.

Applicable to:

The policy is applicable to all students.

Value (s) guiding policy:

a) Value Term: Responsibility

b) Why: Take responsible action to make things change for the better for everyone.

Rationale:

In the beginning of the year we allowed various toys in the school. However, what we have noticed that toys and gadgets have become more of a distraction for students than any value that they might have. Many students fidget with toys / cards during classroom periods and there are often unhealthy interactions with their peers over toys / gadgets / cards.

Policy Guidelines:

Students are not allowed to bring any gadgets (PSP’s, Play station, I-pod, I-pad, mobile phones, etc) and toys (cricket attack cards, playing cards, UNO cards, beyblade, cars, dolls, etc) to school.

Consequences:

If any student is found with any of the above items in school or in the bus then it will be confiscated permanently. In case of any costly items, one warning will be given. However beyond that no warnings will be sent.

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UNIFORM POLICY

Objective:

The objective of uniform policy is all the students to be in uniform every single day during the whole academic year.

Applicable to:

The policy applies to school, parents and students.

Value (s) guiding policy:*

a) Value Term: Fairness, Win-Win

b) Why: To find a balance between the necessary uniformity and comfort for the students that suits the various seasons and purposes (sports, PE).

Rationale:

Students are required to wear Fountainhead School prescribed uniform. Wearing a school uniform gives students a sense of belonging towards the school and prevents competition among peers in the matter of dress and therefore reduces costs for parents/guardians. Also school children can be easily identified in uniform.

Policy Guidelines:

UNIFORM DETAILS

All students are expected to be in the right Uniform on all days of the year starting from day one. Uniform includes pants/shorts, well-ironed t-shirt, shoes, and winter jacket / sweatshirt. HRT/ Uniform leader will check that students are wearing complete uniform daily or not. In addition please follow these procedures:

For all students:

• Well ironed uniform.
• Label all belongings (Yarn Paint can be used for shoe labeling)
• Black socks should always be worn with school shoes (HRT’s must check especially when student is wearing short pant). The socks can be of any brand / fabric but they should be black.
• Black shoes should be worn from home every single day, only if they are wet any sport shoes can be worn.
• Nails should be short at all times.
• Uniform wet, not ironed etc. excuses are not acceptable (order and buy another pair).
• School shorts (with the Fountainhead logo) are acceptable as school uniform on a regular basis as per the wish of the student. During field trips students should wear pants unless it has been specified by the teacher that they can wear shorts (for e.g. if they are going for a field trip to the zoo). Even during the PS classes students can wear school shorts with school uniform t-shirt or any other t-shirt appropriate for the sport (but they need to change it after the PS class is over). Students are not allowed to wear school shorts in the science lab.
• During assembly slot, students can be in shorts or full pants.
• Students have to wear full school uniform where they are representing the school (unless it’s a sports event). The only concession can be given in the brand of shoes. They can wear shoes of any brand, provided they are black. This will not be the case if the event demands so – such as MUN etc.
• Floaters/sandals kept in school can be worn by the students in the school premises.
• Wrist watch can be worn from Grade 3 onwards.
• School bag should be as prescribed by school.
• During the winter season, thermals (only black, white and grey colours)can be worn inside the school uniform, irrespective of whether school jacket / school sweatshirt is also used or not. Please note that this means that students can’t wear full t-shirts / sweatshirts of any other colour aren’t allowed.
• If they wish to wear shorts during PE / Sports, student must wear the shorts provided by school.

Rules for accessories & dressing up for everyone:

• All students can keep any length of hair as long as the hair doesn’t fall over their face or forehead. That becomes a practical issue while studying / reading / playing. Students must use black pins or black hair bands only for this purpose.
• If hair is below shoulder length, then to ensure the above it is recommended that the hair be tied in one or two ponytails or in plaits with black rubber bands.
• No coloring of hair or hair extensions
• No nail polish, lipstick, tattoo, hair colour, perfume.
• No jewellery except simple studs for ears/nose. No other body piercing is allowed.
• No tattoos, body sprays (body spray is allowed for grade 5 & above students).
• Kajal and mehndi is allowed.
• If they wish to do so, students are allowed to wear head scarves, turbans, or skull caps as per their beliefs, as long as it does not obscure the school uniform. Anything which obscures the uniform partially or entirely or comes in the way of any academic or non-academic activity is not allowed. These rules will be applicable on the bus as well.
• Students might also wear full sleeves in winter / as required. Only grey/black/white colour inners can be worn inside the school t-shirt.
  

REVISED UNIFORM POLICY: SHOES

The revised uniform policy for shoes states that:

1. Students can wear shoes of any brand, provided they are completely or predominantly black. Velcro shoes are also fine as long as they are predominantly black however for sports purpose, Velcro shoes are not advisable. (Refer Annexure 1 and Annexure 3)
2. Socks should also be completely or predominantly black. (Refer Annexure 2)
3. During wet and rainy days only, students can wear footwear that does not soak. Floaters and Crocs are recommended. Slippers/ chappals are not allowed.
4. If students need to wear cleats for Football or any specialized footwear for other sports, they need to carry it and wear it during PS classes. They should come to school in school shoes and need to change back into their school shoes after the PS class.
5. Students will not be allowed to wear floaters / sandals / slippers in school. They can take their school shoes off in class if they wish to, but they need to wear it before stepping out of the class. (Rationale: in real life too, at the workplace etc., one should always be in appropriate footwear. One may take off their footwear for some time to be comfortable and relaxed (if that’s their preference) but we all wear our footwear before moving about)
6. Students cannot be roaming barefoot or in socks in school. This includes any place outside the classroom including corridors and toilets.

If a student is not following the uniform policy for shoes as outlined above, the school authorities (including transport staff) have the authority to do any of the following:

1. Not allow the student to board the bus.
2. Not permit the student to attend classes.
3. Call the parents and ask them to pick up their child from school.

Important Note: We would like to clarify that shoes are the student’s personal belongings and s/he is supposed to take responsibility for the same. Please label your child’s shoes. Please note that there are few places in the school like X-box, Pulse etc. where students need to take off their shoes. However, the school takes no responsibility for the student losing their shoes from any place in school. Parents are therefore strongly advised to buy school shoes within a reasonable budget as we will not be responsible if the student loses any expensive branded shoes in school.

FAQ’s:

1. Why has the school changed its shoes policy?

We have done this because we had some students complaining that the Adidas shoes recommended by school are bulky. We also had multiple instances of shoes getting mixed up, lost due to students not being able to identify their own pair. In addition, some students were misusing the floaters concession to not wear school shoes at all. We hope these issues will get resolved with the new policy.

1. Can I continue using the Adidas school shoes?

Yes sure! that is absolutely fine.

1. Won’t this policy lead to peer pressure and demand for expensive shoes?

Parents need to understand that they will face a lot of demands from their child for shoes, clothes, devices, bikes etc and be prepared to handle the same.Have a serious conversation with the child on what their demand is, if it is reasonable, is it affordable and whether it is needed at all. Use these moments as learning opportunities to teach your child about self worth and not attaching a lot of importance to material objects.

Annexure 1: Samples of sports shoes that are predominantly black.

Annexure 2: Samples of socks that are predominantly black.

Annexure 3: Samples of what is not predominantly black:

Consequences: *:

The student, if found violating the uniform policy will be given a warning and a note will be sent home in the communication dairy. The second instance the student will be asked to sit in the admin area and the parent(s) will have to come and pick their child up from school, hence missing classes. The same consequence will be applied thereafter for all such violations unless there’s a genuine reason for a limited period of time.

 

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