22 years ago I started an after school program with a singular vision of creating an environment to prepare today’s children to become better global citizens of tomorrow – an environment that sought to foster peer learning, celebrate diversity, and a joy for learning. Stemming from Howard Gardner’s concepts of multiple intelligences, we realized early on, that our teaching practices had to suit different minds. Children think spatially or logically and some are hands on and want to touch, feel and try things out. The Kids Central way was born out of not just recognizing this need, but celebrating this diversity and creating a curriculum that fed into these multiple intelligences. The result was joyful discovery, practical learning, and a better appreciation by our kids for the world we live in.
Today, our motto “Care, Collaborate, Catalyse, Create” exists not just on paper but manifests itself in our classrooms, our community, and most importantly, our student-led initiatives, projects, and community activities through the year. From hosting the Namma Chennai carnival, partnering with students from other neighbourhood schools, cleaning up our beaches, undertaking their own research for their first Art project, and putting together their first theater production, our children are driven as much by their moral and social consciousness in their own neighbourhood, as they are by an international curriculum that provides enough rigour, yet flexibility to encourage depth and breadth of knowledge. Affiliation with the Cambridge International Examinations has provided us with a strong framework for curriculum design white retaining a unique flavor that piques the interests of our kids. We offer the competitive IBDP programme for Grades 11 and 12.
With the impending move to our very own campus, KC High makes yet another transition in its constant on-going journey of exploring vistas of excellence. Change is constant and I believe we have a team that constantly challenges the status quo. Over the last four years, we have made significant strides in our teacher training and development programs. Our faculty is the strongest link between our grand vision for this school and the actual delivery system that will get us there. Over the next 15-18 months, we believe that our new campus in Navalur will be second to none in terms of quality space for education. From learning laboratories, open classrooms, and quiet corners, to the cafeteria and our sports facilities, much thought has gone into the design.
Over the years, we have taken quiet steps from being a small neighborhood school to a world-class institution that offers unparalleled, globally recognized, socially relevant education, without compromising on personalized attention, small teacher-student ratios, and strong ties to our local community. It’s no longer a view to adopting best practices, but really looking ahead to next practices to empower our kids to take those steps to becoming global citizens of tomorrow.
