The Papagoya Micro-School

Papagoya operates as a full-time alternative learning community. We are not affiliated with or recognized by any appropriate government authority or educational board in India, nor do we seek such recognition/accreditation, as this allows us to maintain our unique educational approach.

While we are not associated with any particular school board we are of the strong belief that the Cambridge IGCSE is a progressive and child centered curriculum. We broadly map our curriculum, learning and expected outcomes for children on the Cambridge IGCSE.

At Papagoya we are strong proponents of “each child in their own time”. We believe children are all born to learn and will learn at their own pace. We are guides and mentors in a child’s learning journey and work with them to achieve goals. We want children to find joy in learning and to be independent learners with a strong mindset of inquiry - directing their own learning. Hence curriculum for us is an important guide but flexibility within the frameworks is critical to the way we choose to teach.

As a space we are very aware that understanding and evaluating where are child is in their learning journeys is critical, we do this through a combination of formative assessments throughout the year which are shared during the half-yearly evaluations and parent meetings. By mapping to the IGCSE goals we are able to understand where a child is in their learning journey. However our approach is to ensure we never put any pressure on the child. For the child this would be a very normal part of their day and not packaged as “tests or exams”. As a child gets older we work towards preparing them for more timed assessments. Assessments are only for us to know where a child is and not to put more pressure on the child to live up to an expected level. We believe each child will get there on their own time but assessments and markers provide us, the adults, understanding on where and how to support the child.

Papagoya is a learning space that has thrived and grown because we keep the child at the center of all we do by ensuring that we have open and honest communication between us and parents. This is possible because we view all adults as contributing members of the community and know that everyone is doing their best for the children. We are a non-judgmental space and openness is never met with scrutiny. We work together in finding solutions through communication. Trust plays a very critical role at Papagoya and allows us to all be confident in performing our roles of Educator, Parent and Organization. We enjoy parent participation either through smaller workshops, working groups like a gardening committee, or giving children life experiences through parents jobs, and bringing together interesting people who can contribute and make our community richer in experiences and worldly understanding.

We are very understanding of the fact that most parents are working and have full time jobs. We don’t have demands that take you away from it, but request for participation in activities like field trips, workshops, explorations, bringing in your expertise if it matches a topic we are learning at school, or introducing us to resources and people that would aid our learning journeys at Papagoya. We encourage communication with our educators during the regular running of the school year and participating in various parent events through the year.