Values
Alive! in Milton Keynes
By
Suresh Nesaratnam
Over
the Bank Holiday weekend of 26th to 28th May, an action-packed
Values Alive Event took place at a primary school in Milton
Keynes. 66 pupils came along each day to experience sessions
in Sathya Sai Education in Human Values, incorporating drama,
interpersonal skills, cookery, sports, and value-based board
games. The school is situated in an area of socio-economic disadvantage
and a high proportion of its pupils are entitled to free school
meals. About a quarter of the pupils have learning difficulties.
This was the third Values Alive Event at the school; previous
ones took place in 2003 and 2005. They have been formally recorded
as part of the Wave Two Provision of the school (extra-curricular
activities open to all children).
The
Event was organised by Nirasha
Ramlugan, a teacher at the school, and run with an enthusiastic
band of volunteers, largely from Milton Keynes but including
the ever-ebullient Mr. Smiley (Deepak Fakey) from Leicester,
and the energetic Chandrika Chauhan, from Luton. There were
seven professional teachers from local schools, plus a teaching
assistant from the school itself who gave up her free time to
attend planning meetings and the three-day Event. Two ex-pupils,
who had attended the previous two Events at the school, including
one with severe learning, emotional, social and behavioural
needs, came back to work as volunteers for all three days.
The
theme of the Event was 'WATCH' - watch your Words, Actions,
Thoughts, Character, and Heart. All the activities at the Event
sought to develop the human values of Truth, Love, Peace, Right
Conduct and Non-Violence, through WATCH.
Each
morning there was a pupil-orientated assembly to start off the
day with a focus. This was followed by an SSEHV session.
Sessions
in drama run by Anita Devi and interpersonal skills-building
conducted by Varsha Mistry and values-based board games, run
by Mr. Smiley with his very own creations, were a great hit.
Mr. Smiley's session included the making of an attractive paper
flower, which the children took home with pride.
Design
and technology was also included. Naveen Maharaj and his merry
band of helpers guided the children in manufacturing plastic
key-fobs embossed with the word 'WATCH'. They also made several
'Ceiling on Desires' money-boxes, so that savings from each
class in the school could be accumulated for donation at the
end of the year to a charity chosen by the school.
Cookery
was surprisingly popular with the boys. With subject-expert
Surekha Govender, the children learned about food hygiene and
balanced diets, and made a cheese tortilla wrap and mixed salad,
to take home. The school subscribes to the Healthy Schools Initiative,
and its guidelines were followed in both the cookery class,
and in the food eaten throughout the Event.
An
interesting rule at lunchtime was that the children were not
allowed to talk for the first five minutes of the meal. This
was so that they could appreciate the goodness of food they
were eating, and also consider how it reached them, involving
the sun, the earth, the farmer, the supermarket and their parents.
Their contemplation must have been serious because once the
five minutes was up the noise level of chatter was remarkably
low!
Talking
of food, all the volunteers at the Event were well looked-after
at mealtimes by Nirvana Maharaj and Aunty Nirmala Pujara, and
their team, who brought delicious hot food from home for everyone
each day.
Whilst
these events were taking place, a volunteer interviewed several
pupils (and later some of the parents who came to the final
assembly) on their feelings about the Event. Comments included:
Hannah,
aged 10, said, "It was enjoyable and fun. We got to
learn about the environment, and how to protect it."
In
response to the question "What did you learn in the past
three days?" Solomon, aged 9, said, "If you work
together, you achieve more. We also learned to respect each
other."
Tejal,
aged 10, said, "It was a really exciting way to learn
new things - more fun than school!"
Comments
from parents were also positive. "River told us each
day what he'd been doing. This is very unusual for him - it
shows that he was interested, and enjoyed what he was doing."
The
parent of a child in her final year at the school said, "She
gave us positive feedback, and wants to be a helper next year."
The
final assembly dramatically demonstrated how neglect of our
environment could lead to the degradation of the quality of
life for all the inhabitants of planet Earth.
The
Event concluded with the presentation of special certificates
to 12 star pupils who had shown excellent human values throughout
the Event. Finally the children were given hand-made 'goody
bags' containing their key-fobs, a certificate, a bookmark,
a pen and some sweets. Many expressed the wish that the event
would be run again next year.
Top
