– Anjum Babukhan, Director, Glendale Group of Schools
At Glendale, we provide nurturing learning spaces where students cherish their childhood experience. Glendale is nestled in a green ten-acre campus which provides a serene environment in the backdrop of nature. Here, we strongly believe that “nature nurtures” as we sensitise our student to be mindful of environment sustainability from a very early age. Glendale was the first school in India to incorporate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in its curriculum and our students have taken up many initiatives under its umbrella including lake cleaning, e-waste drive, reducing food wastage in the cafeteria, handling compost pit with school kitchen waste, and ‘save the soil’ initiative, to name a few. Glendale has received innumerable awards and recognitions for our contribution to education, thought leadership, co-curricular activities and pedagogy including being ranked #1 Co-Ed Day School in Hyderabad and Telangana and among the Top 10 countrywide for the third consecutive year.
Glendale Academy International celebrated its Vicennial Year since we opened our portals. This year’s apt theme of the metaphor of the Tree of Life showcased Glendale’s 20 year journey from ‘Good to Great’ . The roots that grounded our institution was our late founder-chairman, Mr. Bashiruddin Babukhan’s philanthropic desire to “empower and enrich lives through the powerful medium of education.” As the Director-Education, I nourished this vision with the twin focus of cultivating character and competence while being aligned to universal values.
The ground or the educational arena was always conscientious of leading with global pedagogies yet grounded with Indian sensibilities. Our trunk has stood strong and upright upon its ground and sprouted its upward spiral of growth with our core pedagogical tools such as the fantastic application of methodology based the theory Multiple Intelligences, 21st Century Skills, Brain Compatible Learning for competence building. For character building, we have utililised Leader in Me and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Multiple Intelligences was very aligned to our core belief in the Universal Design for Learning with “the more ways we teach the more children we reach” optimizing the spectrum of human potential. Our teaching practices are backed by our brain compatible learning principles with research of developmental and cognitive psychology and neuroscience so our teachers ‘teach with the brain in mind.’
Character is very important at Glendale. As the first school in India to integrate UNSDGs into the curriculum, we have seamlessly interwoven how to be more sustainable and humane as we teach children about the world. Glendale has always been an eco-friendly school with tons of greenery and nature initiatives including a butterfly garden, vermi-compost pit and petting zoo. In addition, character education is strengthened with a whole school program called, Leader in Me (Lim) which is inspired by the principles of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People giving our students ample opportunities to express their leadership skills.
Our branches offer a variety of co-curricular activities in sports, visual and performing arts, cultural and literary activities which go a long way in developing our students. The leaves that sprout from these branches are the various hopes and aspirations of our students that are fulfilled by the wonderful higher studies platforms and career preparation opportunities. Last but not the least, Glendale’s fruits who are our students and alumni that we aspire and have empowered to fulfill Glendale’s vision by becoming empowered global citizens of the 21st century. The holistic development and illumination of the full spectrum of human potential as students gear up to face the unprecedented challenges. This is what the fruition of our vision is – a world that is made a better place with education!
Glendale is certified as a ‘Great Place to Work’ by the Great Place to Work Institute, India in 2022. No school is better than its teachers and it is imperative for institutions to have a dedicated professional development programme. Teacher Training Toolbox has empowered our faculty from orientation to weekly PD hours built within the schedule. With a strong belief in leadership density, a team of instructional leaders called Strategy in Action spearhead all our initiatives. Glendale also offers its teachers a Power to Empower psycho-educational program.
With state-of-the-art sports infrastructure and a record of winning over 500 medals in different events in a year, Glendale’s sports activities span a wide range from football, tennis, badminton, cricket, chess, karate, skating, swimming, and basketball to name a few. Recently, we conducted our Open Challenge Athletic Meet which witnessed participation of over 1000 students from over 30 renowned schools in Hyderabad. Our cultural programmes are a treat for the senses as well as our annual drama theatre production.
Our sound classroom practices and co-curricular activities are all designed to develop the 21st century skills of students and enable their transformation into global citizens. Glendale prides itself in providing “grooming not just schooling” and it’s our aspiration to create lifelong learners and to “live, love, learn and leave a legacy.”
Also read: 25 Leaders reinventing K-12 education – Anjum Babukhan
