As the president of the school, I have the greatest of honour and privilege to introduce to you all, dear parents, the miracle kids. It has been now, over 24 years that I have been witnessing these children performing every year, especially the students of PYP V, doing their presentation of an annual exhibition. And till date, nothing else, other than, getting absolutely amazed and spellbound, every time, has been my experience. This has remained so so ~ from the beginning, till the end ~ have been my knowledge.

I have tears in my eyes every time, whenever I behold these champion children performing, without the slightest of inhibition. We all see the ‘human excellence’ in fruition.

I feel rather jealous, and wish, that we all, you as parents and we as teachers and school management, had their education. We would stand today proud and certainly would have become ‘world toppers’, in whichever field we had chosen our lives to live and be!

I am equally proud of you mothers, who have given birth to these wonderful kids, future giants, to grow in their field of choice and supported by fathers as the rock-solid backbones.

Our PYP 5 students are presenting this year’s exhibition, which is a unique and significant opportunity for them to demonstrate what the IB coupled with Vedanta pedagogy~ is all about? Our conquerors have done an impressive display of strength.

In the past year leading up to the exhibition, they proved repeatedly that the lack of physical schooling cannot stop their learning journey. These victorious kids, by the Divine power bestowed upon them, are immune to the effects of the pandemic, and there has been no fear or panic in their heart. With ‘Shraddha’ in their heart for their own self, and in their teachers, parents, they stand out.

Strengthened further by the IB pedagogy coupled with the wisdom of Vedanta, our champions are on the verge of displaying another metamorphosis in real life display~ a caterpillar becoming a beautiful butterfly.

With a unique approach to learning and problem solving, equipped with their individuality, creativity, and distinctive talents, they are one step ahead of the rest and are set to demonstrate the characteristics of the IB learner profile.

This exhibition would offer a wonderful platform for the PYP V students to celebrate the transition to the next step of their education ~ PYP to MYP.

Let us all, switch off our mobiles, focus and pay attention to what they have to speak. Let us acknowledge their hard work and commitment.

I would like to send you all warm greetings and prayers from Victorious Kidss Educares, hope you and your family are taking utmost precautions during this unprecedented and global predicament today.

We believe that this is the time to not just deal with a current emergency, but also build foundations of resilience to face such difficult events in future. The COVID -19 Pandemic should not lock down the aspiration of our young generation but consider this challenge as an opportunity, and one such example is given by our PYP 5 students through the PYP Annual Exhibition.

The Covid-19 pandemic might have robbed students of the opportunity to physically showcase their work to the people who matter. But one thing we are certain is that it has not taken away their imagination, creativity and enthusiasm to adapt, learn and celebrate differently.

This year our students completed the most important aspect of their primary year journey with an online PYP Exhibition, by choosing a topic of their personal interest based on “ How we express ourselves”, students inquired and applied essential elements of PYP Transdisciplinary skills into their project.

This is an enquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings nature, values and beliefs. Students are divided into various groups with a dedicated teacher mentor who guides them throughout the process. Each and every piece of work is a reflection of the amount of planning, research, thought process and execution that the students and teachers have put into, by making the impossible possible.

It’s a set back that the schools are closed to physically experience the PYP Exhibition journey like every year, but we hope and know that the virtual experience will build that gap with the dedication of our students and teachers from physical to virtual experience.

Lastly, I would like to congratulate all the PYP 5 students for their accomplishment to show the dedication, determination to take this up during such a difficult time. And, would like to thank all the teachers, mentors, and parents to give their invaluable support, guidance and experience to make this happen.

Once again, the PYP 5 Exhibition continues to show our students strengths, their sophistication of thinking and expression. It represents us as a learning community that values collaboration and inquiry.

The PYP Exhibition at VKE is approximately a 13-week process (although the students are oriented at the beginning of the academic year) in which students apply their skills and knowledge from previous years within the Primary Years Programme, and this year, it was successfully carried out entirely online. Students were involved in a self-initiated inquiry under the theme of ‘How We Express Ourselves’. In small groups, they researched and decided on an action to take. There are 10 diverse groups with research topics such as Culinary Arts and Astronomy. For the virtual exhibition, each group created their own process journal, a common group video and of course their personal portfolio.

This year’s Exhibition will be remembered because it was conducted completely online. Watching this website come together as a result of students, teacher mentors and parents collaboration has been an extraordinary experience. As you browse through the website you will notice that each student was involved in a self-initiated inquiry of his/her interest, and in small groups, researched and decided on an action to take and a product to create.

The IBO Research Summary 2017 (The impact of the PYP exhibition on the development of international-mindedness, critical thinking and attributes of the IB learner profile)

Goes on to say:

“While the Exhibition is the ultimate PYP summative assessment it is also a connecting bridge to MYP. The role of MYP is to maintain and extend the gains students have made throughout the PYP years. The Exhibition sets the baseline for MYP teachers to build on. This base consists of teamwork, critical thinking and inquiry, problem-solving and risk- taking, entrepreneurship and innovation. The Exhibition is a tangible example of Global Leadership.”

My sincere thanks go out to our PYP 5 facilitators for the significant and relentless work they did to stay connected to the children in this time of virtual learning, to mentors for personally guiding each student throughout the journey, ICT team for your unwavering support and helping students build this website, and parents for being the second teacher mentor at home, helping your child reach the set goals.