“We want to give back to the community that has given us so much, through a school where the student is at the centre of a world-class experience, where collaborative and experiential learning make kids excited to come to school,” said Shashwat and Shivika Goenka, the founders of the RP Goenka International School (RPGIS) on Diamond Harbour Road in Alipore, which opens its doors for students on July 17. An initiative of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RPSG) Group, the RPGIS is the first and only school in east India to be affiliated to the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) and offers state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities across a sprawling campus.
RP Goenka International School in Alipore has been founded by Shashwat and Shivika Goenka and is an initiative of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group
For the rest of 2023, the RPGIS will provide pre-primary education as well as primary education between classes 1 and 5, before expanding till class 8 in 2024. By early 2025, the Goenkas hope to be able to accommodate students between classes 9 and 12, too. Every class will have two sections, with a maximum of 20 students in each section. This will allow for a healthy teacher to student ratio of 1:5, with two teachers as well as attendants present in each section. Classes will commence at 8.15am and go on till 3pm for primary students, while the timings for pre-primary ones will be between 8.30am and 12.30pm.
‘Cultivating new-age skills, encouraging interactive and personalised learning’
Each classroom at the RPGIS will have a maximum of 20 students
“Every classroom is built in the form of a fluid space with flexible furniture that can be arranged in a variety of ways to facilitate different kinds of learning,” explained Shivika. “We also have a number of break-out areas across the school, including everything from play areas to dance and drama rooms to laboratories for creative and scientific pursuits. The idea is that learning shouldn’t be restricted to the traditional classroom format,” added Shashwat.
Break-out spaces are located at different parts of the campus to help students learn outside the classroom
Marx Fox, originally from the UK, will operate as Head of School, with Hema Chennupaty, former Principal of Oakridge International School, Hyderabad, taking the reins as Principal. A total of 48 teachers, all of whom have prior experience of teaching in IB schools, have been brought in, with many of them having a direct Kolkata connection. “The teachers will focus on cultivating new-age skills, encouraging interactive and personalised learning and instilling local cultural values among the students at the same time as broadening their academic outlook,” described Shashwat. Academic progress will be monitored not just through tests and exams but also through more engaging forms of assessment such as tasks, projects, conversations and observations. All classes will be conducted in English, with Hindi and Bengali available as secondary languages alongside the options of foreign languages like French and Spanish.
From football to swimming, from yoga to kitchen garden
The football pitch and swimming pool on the rooftop
In terms of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, students at the RPGIS will be spoilt for choice. A range of sports, from cricket, football and volleyball, can be played on the rooftop, with dedicated surfaces and courts for each. A temperature-controlled swimming pool, half the length of those used in the Olympic Games, allows more opportunity for athletics, with outdoor classrooms, yoga, music and martial arts rooms, and a kitchen garden (where students can grow their own plants and vegetables) also present as avenues for recreation and relaxation.
A modern cafeteria will serve students breakfast and lunch on every school day, with the vegetarian meal plans by a senior nutritionist ensuring that each child consumes a healthy, balanced diet. The RPGIS has also tied up with Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital, which will equip the school with a comprehensive infirmary, a medical team and trained nurses on campus.
‘Championing the love for life-long learning’
The Goenkas reveal the features of the music room
Firm believers in the concept of learning taking place at both school and home, the Goenkas highlighted how the RPGIS’s parent partnership programme will keep parents abreast of their children’s development in school, with special attention paid to students who will be joining from other boards. The RPGIS also has dedicated special education needs (SEN) spaces to support students with diverse learning requirements, meaning no child will be left behind.
“We don’t remember too much of what we learnt in school, but we want to change that for students at the RPGIS, by championing the love for life-long learning,” said the Goenkas, who touched upon how the school has been constructed over two and a half years to incorporate the latest technology in everything from Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to design and robotics. The fully air-conditioned school building contains a mini-amphitheatre, an auditorium and separate libraries for primary, secondary and senior students that will evolve into spaces promoting the values of “open-mindedness, compassion, honesty, self-discipline, perseverance, teamwork, respect and diversity”.
Active and enquiry-based learning will play a vital role at the RPGIS
Speaking about the vision and mission of the RPGIS, Sanjiv Goenka, chairperson of the RPSG group, said: “It’s a privilege for us to have the opportunity to establish a new international school in Kolkata. The RPGIS will be the latest addition to our growing family of educational institutions, which share a common ethos of student-centred learning and commitment to academic excellence. In the past few years, we have witnessed a quiet revolution in Indian schools. Fresh research-based methodologies that focus on active and enquiry-based learning are rapidly replacing the old instructional top-down teaching models. I’ll be happy to watch the RPGIS become a beacon of excellence and innovation. In this task, we look forward to your kind support.”