Lotus Valley International School, Noida

Since it admitted its first batch of 73 students in 2004, this CBSE affiliated day boarding school, distinguished by its superb infrastructure, has attracted 1,550 students of ten nationalities

May 29, the day the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) — the largest pan-India secondary school examinations board — announced the results of its school leaving (class X) exam, was a historic day for the Noida- based Lotus Valley International School (LVIS). Its entire first batch of 22 students who wrote the class X CBSE exam passed with flying colours in first division.

Promoted in 2004 on a 12 acre campus in the bustling Delhi suburb of Noida, LVIS admitted its first batch of 73 students from nursery to class VII in the same year. Since then this co-ed K-XII day-boarding school, distinguished by its superb infrastructure, has caught the attention of parents from over ten nationalities with its muster roll comprising 1,550 students supported by an 80-strong faculty.

The brainchild of property developer and philanthropist Nirmal Singh, who is also chairman of the school’s board of directors, LVIS’ core philosophy is to teach “every student as an individual with distinctive learning, inclination and unique ability”. “The lotus underlines the school’s central philosophy of drawing the best from each student so that all can rise above the quagmire of modern day negativity and pessimism, just as the lotus thrusts itself upwards from the mire in an act of beautiful transcendence. Our key objective is global exposure but with Indian value systems,” explains S.C. Arora, vice-chairman, chief executive and de facto principal of LVIS. In a distinguished career in Indian education spanning 45 years, Arora has served as principal of the India School in Kabul (Afghanistan), as founder-principal of the Apeejay School, Noida and as chairman of the influential National Progressive Schools Conference, Delhi.

Under Arora’s proactive leadership and guidance, within less than a quinquennium Lotus Valley has expanded its enrollment to 1,550 students and has acquired the reputation of a front-rank institution among the new genre of capital-intensive international schools which have mushroomed in and around the national capital region. On the academic side, in addition to its CBSE curriculum LVIS also offers students the option to follow the IGCSE and ‘A’ level suites of the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) board or the IB programme of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) Geneva at the Plus Two level.

Commencement of studies for the Cambridge Information Technology awards starts at age seven, as does language learning and mastery of written and spoken English. Checkpoint tests in English, maths and science in class VIII are conducted to ensure that students are well prepared for the curriculum choices that lie ahead.

With smart board technology integrated in all classrooms from class II onwards, the Lotus Valley management is fully committed to utilising contemporary technologies to supplement and support the classroom experience of students and encourage activity-based learning. “We have attracted excellent faculty by guarant-eeing highly rewarding professional working environments and continuous learning opportunities, including distance learning programmes, for our teachers. And the fact that every student in our first batch which recently wrote the CBSE class X boards secured a first division is testimony to the quality of education being dispensed by our IT-savvy faculty,” says Arora.

High quality, technology-intensive classroom education is supplemented by extensive facilities which encourage self-learning. Thus LVIS boasts an impressive library of 10,000 volumes and over two dozen journal subscriptions. Moreover it offers a comprehensive range of CD-Roms, videos and online learning material apart from designated areas for individual, small-group tuition and conference facilities. Similarly the school boasts six science labs (for junior and senior schools) bristling with modern equipment to encourage learning by doing and computer and maths labs to make learning enjoyable and fun.

Yet curricular facilities and activities apart, the distinguishing characteristic of India’s traditional public (i.e private, exclusive) schools as well as new genre international schools, is the attention they lavish on co-curricular and sports education in particular. And LVIS is no exception to this tradition. With its swimming pool having become fully operational recently, the school offers a whole range of indoor and outdoor sports facilities including athletics, horse riding, golf, football, lawn tennis, cricket and hockey. The school also boasts a gymnasium with facilities for table tennis, exercise machines, rhythmic and general gymnastics under controlled supervision.

Co-curricular activities include theatre, dramatics, music (western and oriental), sculpture, art, creative writing and public speaking classes alongside yoga instruction and nature field trips. Art, craft and music classrooms at LVIS are specialised studios so that students are at their creative best and can produce their own professional work.

Although LVIS has all the markings and characteristics of internationally benchmarked world schools, its management prides itself for dispensing holistic education firmly rooted in Indian culture and family values. “Lotus Valley International School is wholly committed to excellence, be it in academics, sports, ethics or aesthetics. Our curriculum is devised to encompass all that is good in oriental and occidental traditions and cultures. Every student today is potentially tomorrow’s leader, and bearing that in mind, we invest in the moral, spiritual and ethical development of all our communities on campus. LVIS is a relatively new school, so we can’t cite case histories of successful students. But I have no doubt that we will contribute a large number of leaders in all walks in the decades to come,” says Arora.

Autar Nehru (Delhi)