We Nurture Wonderful Human Beings

The children of Sadhguru School went on a flight of fancy that led to a week of whole school cross-curricular learning about aeroplanes and transport. 

Whenever we hear the hum of an engine in the sky above the school, our younger children often run outside to look at the light aeroplanes and helicopters that fly over us, taking tourists to neighboring Ndali Lodge and the nearby tourist attractions. Drawing upon the expertise of our international students, we decided to build a model Boeing 747, and set up Ndali Airport under the 'Magic Tree'. 

Our international children explained and demonstrated the process of booking a flight to a destination, checking in, and going through passport control and security at an airport, as well as the experience of being on board an aircraft.

Children made passports, researched and planned holidays to destinations all over the world. They made lists and packed suitcases according to climate, weather and possible holiday activities. Children learned about the different systems and respective roles of the ground staff at check-in and security, the pilot and crew, and what it would be like to have a birds-eye view of the earth below. Their play led them to investigate flight and air; to follow instructions to make model aeroplanes from junk materials; create a fair test to find the best paper aeroplane; make parachutes from different materials and draw maps and routes for destinations all over the world.

It was a joy to see how children from the local rural villages of Uganda joined their widely travelled classmates in playful learning, to share experiences, broaden their vocabulary, horizons and imaginations.

In other news, as part of our cross curricular topic on animals, we took Class 3 to Queen Elizabeth National Park to see the wild animals. Although it is just 2 hours drive away, only one child and none of the teachers had visited the park before. In their excitement, all 17 children in the class spent the first hour singing songs of jubilation.

Soon they were at the Equator, which they had studied as part of the geography-focused elements in their topic.Then on to the Queen’s Pavilion for lunch, and a quick history lesson as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip had also stood on the same spot in 1954. Here they were lucky enough to see elephants, which they had studied previously in class, as well as Uganda kob and warthogs.

Many of the children enjoyed travelling on top of the cars, taking in the lovely views, spotting animals and feeling the wind in their hair.They learnt how to focus the binoculars that had been donated to the school and were thrilled to see many more large herds of elephants in the craters on their evening game drive and picnic. The cars had also been kindly lent free of charge by the parents of Lola and the Headteacher, Jane O’Leary.

Despite their over-excitement about sleeping in the park’s hostel for the night, the children were up ready at the crack of dawn for their morning game drive where they spotted a lioness resting regally in a tree.

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