I grew up next door to a KFI school and would often hear school songs wafting over our shared wall. I first visited the campus as a high school student, and was greeted by untamed natural spaces, low slung and earthy buildings, students wearing grass and mud-stained kurtas, fondly calling their teachers Akka and Anna. I was smitten, and hoped that one day I would be lucky enough to have some association with the KFI schools.
I married into a family with long and deep connections to the Valley school, and with them, I’d visited the campus a few times for various events, like the School Birthday and the Mela. When it was time to send our kids to school, there was little doubt where they’d go. As a parent, there are three things that I love most about the school.
I often joke that I have no idea what my kids learn at school, and that I think of the school fees as an annual admission fee to a green space—to the wooded paths, the lush farm, the peaceful water bodies, the close contact with insects and birds (and if one is lucky, some animals as well). While I complain endlessly about how often the parents are expected to visit the campus, I have little reason to—every visit is a retreat, a chance to breathe deeply and to allow the silence and birdsong to seep into my bones.
Over the last few years, I’ve been fortunate to attend events by some of India’s greatest artists at Valley. It is truly magical watching a dance performance under the Banyan tree, or listening to music under the stars or in the meditative study centre. This art seeps into daily school life—strolling past the Art Village and the lovely murals that adorn its walls, it is truly joyous to see children practicing the tabla, doing plein air painting, or using their bodies in a theatre class, knowing that creativity will always be a part of their life.
My favourite part of The Valley are the relationships between students, parents, and teachers. At my first Sports Day, I found myself competing with and against other parents, running with teachers on the cross-Valley race, and best of all, watching senior school students cheering on 6- and 7-year-olds. The sense of camaraderie was incredible. I love that a 2nd grader can look at an 11th grader and proudly call them a friend, or that a middle schooler can pull a teacher’s leg.
In this past year, the teachers have made admirable efforts to recreate some of these natural, artistic, and relational experiences for the children, but the best parts of the school have been, unfortunately, the hardest to replace. I await the day the kids can return to campus, so that, selfishly, I may too.
Valley’s staff and faculty have made me, a mere parent, feel a strong sense of belonging to the school. Whether eating a meal at the dining hall, singing songs with Naad Ninad in hand, or walking along now-familiar paths, the Valley campus feels like home. More than 25 years after my first contact with the KFI schools, I am still smitten.
Abha Rao