Date: August 07, 2008
:: The School::
We believe in building a positive environment which cultivates critically thinking individuals who want to learn and grow into co-operative, loving, confident, concerned global citizens.Rato Bangala is a co-educational day school and teacher training institute. It strives to replicate its innovative teaching methods and quality instruction in schools across Nepal.
Rato Bangala opened in Lalitpur, Nepal, in 1992 with a commitment to groom Nepali students to be analytical and independent thinkers aware of both the country's present situation and its potential. To make learning meaningful and relevant, the school works closely with parents and the wider community. It emphasises cooperative action, social service and critical thinking.
By recognising individual aptitudes and strengths, Rato Bangala motivates students to be lifelong learners. The school believes that academic excellence should go hand in hand with social and emotional growth. With its rigorous and stimulating curriculum, the school helps develop confident and articulate individuals who are committed to justice and development.
Curriculum
The curriculum at Rato Bangala nurtures the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of every student. It has adapted the development interaction approach pioneered by Bank Street School for Children in New York to suit the Nepali context.Classroom lessons and field trips are carefully planned in order to optimise learning in all areas and to ensure that students acquire the skills of inquiry, observation and experimentation. Teachers balance individual and group activities. Teaching at Rato Bangala is integrated: skills learned in one subject area are reinforced through application in other areas. Classes take advantage of the school's own rich environment as well as of the historic heritage of Patan and the cultural resources of Kathmandu Valley.
The school's library exposes students to the best of Nepali and English literature. Homework reinforces concepts and techniques taught in class and fosters independent study habits and time management skills. Projects are flexible and cater to a wide range of learning styles and abilities.
Rato Bangala's curriculum gives priority to character education. Students get opportunities to discuss real-life ethical and social dilemmas. In classroom discussions they learn to negotiate solutions and make choices that are fair to all and then they exercise these decisions.
The progress reports prepared at the end of each trimester of Rato Bangala's calendar reflect the school's emphasis on the social, emotional and academic growth of students. Each student's development is carefully monitored and evaluated.
External Exams
As per the Government of Nepal's prescriptions, all Rato Bangala students take the SLC examination. Two years later, they take the Cambridge Advanced Level (A Level) examinations. The school has been registered as an independent UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) centre since 1997. Rato Bangala's independent CEEB code facilitates communication with educational testing centres and colleges in the United States. Rato Bangala's excellent academic results in the past testify to the effectiveness of the school's child-centred curriculum.Faculty
Rato Bangala's faculty is highly trained and extremely motivated. The school regularly organises in-service training sessions for teachers so that they can keep abreast of the latest innovations in education. Several senior faculty members took Master's level courses in education at the Bank Street College of Education in New York and observed teaching Bank Street School classrooms. They have applied the knowledge and skills they learned in their own classrooms and shared this information with other teachers, particularly through the teacher training courses offered here.Parental Engagement
Rato Bangala tries to build a close relationship between the students' home and the school. Teachers regularly meet parents-at the school's annual Curriculum Night, formal Parent-Teacher Conferences, class assemblies, sports days, and math and science fairs. The Home-School Link Book, which each student uses to record daily assignments, is an important means of communication between the home and the classroom. Two parent representatives are elected from each class every year to liaise between the school and the parent body, assist in times of need and facilitate fund-raising ventures. These parents, together with an elected group of six extra PTA representatives, represent the entire parent body and work closely with the school to create a supportive network and a nurturing environment.Class Size
Classes are small enough that Rato Bangala teachers can give personal attention to each student. By monitoring each child's growth, teachers can provide extra scaffolding or encourage special talents, and to work on areas of need.Facilities
The school is located at Patan Dhoka in metropolitan Kathmandu Valley. In this built-up environment, Rato Bangala's verdant campus is refreshing and tranquil. Classrooms are bright and airy; furniture, functional and comfortable. Seating within classrooms is flexible: the day's arrangement reflects the study or activity planned. Some classes are conducted outdoors in the terrace or in the school garden.Children regularly participate in Rato Bangala's workshops for woodwork, ceramics, painting, dance and music. Middle-school children participate in a wide variety of after-school activities of their choice.
Sports
Sports are an integral part of Rato Bangala's health and fitness programme. Facilities include venues for playing football, basketball, badminton, track and field, and table tennis. The school has a safe and well-equipped playground especially designed for primary grades.Labs
Rato Bangala uses its internet and media lab to promote the teaching of various academic subjects as well as to improve students' research skills. Two well-equipped IT centres serve students through Grade X; for A Level students, there are computers in Rato Bangala's library. The school has four well-equipped science labs to serve all grades as well as two art rooms, a music room, a gym room and a math room dedicated to the primary grades. Rato Bangala's auditorium, which seats four hundred and fifty, encourages students to excel in the performing arts.Library
The library is the nerve centre of the school. Collections include classics in English and Nepali as well as contemporary children's literature. Works written and published by Rato Bangala faculty and students as part of classroom activities are also featured. The library has a well-stocked reference section, an audio-visual department and a separate collection of resources for teachers.Rato Bangala students and teachers run a community library located outside its gate. Pingal Bal Pustakalaya is well-stocked and is popular with the children of the neighbourhood.
Outreach Activities
RBPOP
From 2003, Rato Bangala Partnership in Outreach Programme (RBPOP) has helped bring quality education to Nepali children living in rural areas of Dailekh, Dhading, Lalitpur, Makwanpur and Myagdi districts. A portion of student fees is set aside to fund teacher training, scholarships and improving facilities in schools in these areas. The programme also offers full scholarships to underprivileged children of minority castes to study at Rato Bangala itself. This five-year project was undertaken with cooperation from the Department of Education and works closely with local District Education Offices. RBPOP focuses largely on the government sector but there is a provision for exceptions.Community Service
Rato Bangala has an extensive community service programme whose focus and responsibilities evolve as students mature. Students up to Grade V perform activities like folding napkins, wiping cutlery and sweeping the school compound, while Grades VI and VII work with Grade I and II students and Grade VIII students teach primary students at local government schools once a week.In Grade IX, RBS students work with students at Bright Horizon's Children's Home at Mata Tirtha. A Level students serve the community in a variety of ways, like working in local hospitals, children's homes and old-age institutions. One especially popular activity is coaching pre- and post-SLC students from neighbourhood government schools.
Teachers are also involved in community service: both in the field and on Rato Bangala premises, they conduct workshops for teachers from all over Nepal. Rato Bangala was also closely involved in the setting up of Bright Horizon Children's School.
We believe that interacting constructively with the people in the community in order to identify and solve problems together provides us with the opportunity to enlighten and empower others as well as ourselves and ultimately to help make this world a better place.
Rato Bangala Kitab
The school's publishing wing, Rato Bangala Kitab (RBK), regularly brings out new titles suitable for young readers. Since it was set up ten years ago, it has published 42 books, including the popular Mangalay ko Changa, Ek Saya Ek Kabita (and an accompanying audio cassette), Kaag Kaag Kauwa, Sanbabu ko Charaharu and Other Stories and Sukali Bhukali ko Pustakalaya. Two books it published, Adventures of a Nepali Frog and The Leech and I were awarded the best Nepali children's books of the year by Nepal Bal Sahitya Samaj. Adventures of a Nepali Frog has been translated into many languages and boasts a worldwide readership.Rato Bangala Kitab has also translated several classics by Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar Wilde. In 2004 Rato Bangala published 18 books translated from the best of international children's literature for use in civics education in the primary grades. Rato Bangala Kitab is now focusing on a series of biographies. Books about Helen Keller, Louis Braille, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. have been published.
Teacher Training
Rato Bangala Foundation (RBF), a not-for-profit organisation established in 2002, collaborates with Bank Street College of Education in New York and Kathmandu University to run a one-year Primary Teacher Training Programme (PTTP). Since 2002, it has graduated five batches of teachers. Rato Bangala Foundation conducts practical teacher-training workshops for teachers from all over Nepal, emphasising Rato Bangala's pioneering culture-specific, child-centred methodology. The school's Child-centred Learning Level One course is now in its tenth year. It also offers a two-and-a-half-month Skills-Based Training for Teachers course for teachers in the primary grades of government schools. This training is now in its third year.College Placements
Rato Bangala students pursue opportunities for higher education in colleges and universities that are among the best in the world. In various A Level subjects, some students have secured the highest marks in Nepal--and even in the world--and have been awarded by the University of Cambridge.Admissions
Students are admitted to Grade I and to A Levels every year and to other grades if there is a vacancy. Students graduate with an SLC degree and, if they meet all academic and social requirements, go on to prepare for the A Level programme conducted by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). Students of Grade X, who expect to continue to A Levels also take the CIE's IGCSE exams in English, Science and Mathematics in preparation for the rigours of the A level program. Rato Bangala seeks eager learners. The admission panel strives to ensure gender as well as ethnic diversity in its student body.School Hours for Students
8:15 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. (Monday to Friday)8:15 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (on after-school activity days)
Sunday classes for Grades IX and X as needed
Working Hours for Faculty
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 pm (Monday to Friday)Selected Sundays for special workshops and programmes
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