Dear Readers

Welcome to the June 2008 issue of the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values UK email newsletter.

This month:

Sathya Sai School, Leicester - Service Project
Latest from Leicester...
Date for your Diary - National SSEHV Day
BISSE – Changes to Management Structure
Can you help?
SSEHV Holiday School in North West London
Training Update
Story

If you have any feedback, or would like to share your experiences of SSEHV, please write to us.

Kind Regards,
The Editor

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Sathya Sai School, Leicester - Service Project

This summer a massive project is taking place to help The Sathya Sai School, Leicester, by providing it and the children of the school with some much needed renovation and building work.

As you can imagine, this will require a lot of resources in terms of people, support and materials. The work will include building, adding new classroom space for the new academic year, building an outdoor play area, decorating and much much more.

This will all take place over 16 consecutive days during the summer from July 12th to 27th 2008.

Volunteers are needed to help with all aspects of this project, if you are interested in participating or would like more information please email

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Latest from Leicester...

The new Mayor of Leicester, Manjula Sood, is the UK’s first Asian Lady Mayor. The SSEHV Good Values Club of Abbey Primary Community School was represented at her inauguration on Thursday 15th May 2008. When she announced her chosen charity Special Olympics the following day, the Abbey Primary School and its Good Values Club participated in the entertainment, showing support for the Charity.

The children of the Good Values Club Northfield House Leicester celebrated the end of year with a special Good values assembly. Nearly 75 children took part.

The assembly consisted of the five human values. Each value namely Truth, Love, Peace, Right Conduct and Non Violence had a small skit / drama, a rap and a dance. Dipak Kumar, affectionately known as Mr Smiley, was the chief guest and the head thanked the children for the assembly.

The Good Values club at Abbey Primary Community School took part in a public event called Love Parks Week at the Abbey Park. Nearly 300 children attended with families. The activities included the making of Father’s day cards and a short programme of cultural dancing.

Open Day / Fete!!! - All are invited to attend the Open day / Fete at Sathya Sai School of Leicester. To be held on Sunday, June 29th 2008 from 11am – 4pm. There will be music, face painting, arts and crafts, games, karate and so much more.

Interested? Contact Sathya Sai Schools

 

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Date for your Diary - National SSEHV Day

"Living the Values"- The National SSEHV Day will be held on Saturday, October 4th 2008 at Abbey Primary Community School in Leicester, a partnership school, having a “whole school approach” with SSEHV. In the morning there will be a meeting for all BISSE members and friends. In the afternoon all are welcome to hear the key note speaker, Mr Tim Foster, Head teacher, talking about how Abbey became a partnership school. This will be followed with entertainment by children from the school who have benefited from SSEHV.

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BISSE – Changes to Management Structure

The significant and continuing growth of SSEHV in the UK now calls for a move away from Carole Alderman as the sole point for all decision–making towards more collective responsibilities.

A management consultancy called iChange Associates carried out a survey of BISSE members and friends on a pro bono basis to obtain everyone's views on how they wanted BISSE to move forward. They submitted some recommendations. Volunteers were then sought to help validate and implement the recommendations.

Sixteen Members and Friends came forward and have been meeting regularly as a 'Core Group' since November 2007 to determine how best to re-shape BISSE. In light of their deliberations we have now created six distinct Teams within BISSE, each of which is headed by a Member who will facilitate and co-ordinate its activities.

They are:
Head of Communication – Subita Mahtani
Head of Research – Prof. K. Niranjan
Head of Training & Assessment – Jiten Patel
Head of Teaching Resources – Carole Alderman
Head of Information Systems – Ganesh Yoganathan
Head of Secretariat – Bob Alderman

These Teams will be coordinated by monthly meetings of a Management Group.

If you have any questions about the change in structure, please contact Carole Alderman

 

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Can You Help?

As BISSE grows there are new and continuing projects happening all the time. Volunteers are needed to keep these going and help the teams to continuing developing. There are currently some great and exciting opportunities to enhance and develop new skills while playing a significant part in bringing human values education to the children of the UK and beyond. Whether you have a few hours a week or just an hour a month to spare, we are keen to hear from you!

We are currently looking for the following:

a) “E – newsletter Volunteer” - Volunteers would be responsible for tasks such as gathering articles, piecing the e-newsletter together as well as perfecting the layout and formatting. Knowledge of ‘Dreamweaver’ and ‘HTML’ coding would be an advantage but is not essential as training will be given as required. Interested? Contact Subita Mahtani.

b) “Film Volunteer” – We are looking for someone to help with the making of a new SSEHV film to reach new audiences and tell them about SSEHV and the benefits it brings. Any experience would be much appreciated, but not a pre requisite. Interested? Contact Subita Mahtani

It is preferable that volunteers are available on all five days, however if this is not possible, please indicate the days when you will definitely be available on the volunteer application form.

It is a legal requirement that all volunteers at the school have a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check certificate. If you are applying for one, please be aware that it takes approximately eight weeks to process. All volunteers must be over the age of 17.

Should volunteers wish to bring along their own children, this should be indicated on the volunteer form and an additional application form will be sent to you. NB no children under six years can take part in the Holiday School.

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SSEHV Holiday School in North West London

60 children attended a five-day holiday school during the May half term break at a primary school in North West London. The head teacher was very enthusiastic about SSEHV, having experienced a similar SSEHV event at the school four years ago, and encouraged parents to send their children to the event. The volunteer organisers were pleased that the school premises and its facilities were provided free of charge.

The activities included silent sitting, values-based board games, stories, sports, singing, a martial art called choi kwang do, drama, arts and crafts and yoga. For the volunteers, each day started and ended with yoga and meditation. The whole event was received very well by parents and children and a request was made for ongoing classes and further holiday schools.

On the last day a special assembly was organised for parents and children with The Worshipful Mayor of Brent, Councillor Ralph Fox, The ex-Mayor of Brent, Mr Harshad Patel, and The Director of the British Institute of Sathya Sai Education, Mrs Carole Alderman, who were joined by a reporter from The Wembley Observer newspaper. The Mayor stayed longer than expected, enjoying quizzing the children about values. He also asked them if they would come again. In unison all hands went up with a very loud ‘YES’. The Mayor was pleased with the enthusiasm shown by the children and parents.

One parent said: "Firstly, I am thankful to all teachers for running such a good holiday school. I appreciate your hard work and good organisation. My son enjoyed the activities. He already started talking about values, though he has participated first time. I wish you run the programme more often and on a wider scale as understanding the values, especially non-violence, is important."

One Child Said: 'I felt happy and had fun. I liked it when we went to play board games and activities with Mr Smiley (Dipak Fakey), and we have been learning about the five values that are in your heart. And I really enjoyed it. I especially liked the drama that we learned. It was great and interesting these classes. I want to go again.'

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Training Update

All SSEHV courses are free to attend, although a refundable deposit of £10 may be required at registration (this is to cover photocopying costs of the extensive handouts provided at the course for you to keep). Details of all our training courses, together with contact information and dates can be found on our website at www.ssehv.org.uk, in the Training section.

Quote from a recent Foundation Course participant:

"I found the six days very transformational. All the five values - love, peace, non-violence, truth, peace and right conduct, were beautifully and skilfully brought to our awareness...The course provides much needed healing, much needed enlightenment, much needed relaxation and much needed inspiration for the soul."

The next SSEHV courses are:

Location	Date	Module	Contact
Pinner, NWLondon or Broadstairs, Kent - Foundation Course	3rd Aug 08	1	Carole Alderman
	4th	2
	5th	3
	6th	4
	7th	5
	8th	6

If there is no course scheduled in your area but you would like there to be one, this can be organised, as long as there are a minimum of ten people who would like to attend. Please contact the editor for more information.

 

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Story

The Surprise
By Ann McMail

Age Group: 6 – 7 Year
Value: Non-violence
Related Values: Responsibility
Objective: To recognise how their behaviour affects other people

Geraint was a good-hearted boy who helped everybody and was very kind to his friends. His sister, Amy, was very different. She was often naughty and sometimes unkind, even to her pet rabbit, which was called ‘Pretty’. She sometimes pulled his ears and handled him roughly.

Soon it would be her eighth birthday. She had made a long, long list of presents that she wanted.

Her brother loved to work in the garden shed and make things out of wood. He had made a beautiful birdhouse with help from his dad. This was being used by two little blue-tits that had made their nest in it. They now had five chicks to care for. He was so proud that they liked it.

One day when Geraint was working in the shed he had an idea. He thought it was the most brilliant idea ever, so he went to find his dad to ask for his help. Geraint’s dad liked his idea as well, so they both set to work in the shed sawing, sanding, hammering and sticking.

Amy felt jealous seeing her dad and brother having fun together and angry at being left out. She wanted to see what was going on. She was determined to find out what they were doing, so later on she sneaked into the shed when no one was about. When she saw a wooden frame that they had made, she wondered what it was and suddenly felt furious at being left out. She threw it on to the floor breaking it into pieces. Then she crept back to her room.

The next day was Amy’s birthday and when Geraint came into her room first thing in the morning he looked very sad. He gave her a birthday card and then said, “I’m sorry but I haven’t got you a present Amy.” She felt very disappointed but then Geraint continued, “I was making you a dolls’ house and somehow it got broken.”

Amy realised what she had done and felt very sad. She began to feel sick and her heart beat very fast. When Amy looked deep inside herself, she shut her eyes and thought about how much she had hurt her kind brother, the people who loved her and even the animals that she played with. Then she thought about the pieces of wood covering the shed floor. Her present was gone! “I’m so sorry” she said, then she began to cry because she realised how selfish she had been. Then Amy surprised herself and told how it was she who had broken the present, and the bad feeling inside her began to feel better. She was still upset but now she felt very different deep, deep inside herself.

Her brother was sorry to see his little sister upset and forgave her. Amy has learnt to stop and think before she loses her temper because being nasty and unkind is not the right way to be. It means that you hurt people. She tries very hard to be kinder and more considerate by helping people whenever she can. Everyone has noticed the difference. Amy has found that by being kind and thoughtful she has good friends and a warm feeling inside.

Questions:

1. How did you feel when you heard the story?
2. Did this story remind you of anything that happened in your life?
3. What good values did Geraint show?
4. Why do you think Amy was so naughty?
5. What would you call the story?

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