READING HARRY POTTER IN CLASS
VAEL'S BILLABONG
HIGH, CHENNAI
Annual fee: Rs 40-60,000

Jaya Menon
They read J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda during the English hour. They are asked to create their own world and banking system, just like Gringotts Vault in Rowling’s wizard world. That’s Vael’s Billabong High in Chennai.
Built close to the Neelankarai beach on the outskirts of Chennai, its colourful boards pointing to the swimming pool and administration block, you could be forgiven for mistaking this school for a resort. But step inside and it’s a child’s world. This is a place where they teach children to be ‘‘thinkers, innovators and problem-solvers’’.
It is perhaps the only school in south India to follow the Australian pattern of education, sticking to a syllabus set by the Mumbai-based Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd founded by an Australian, Lina Ashar, in 1993.
‘‘All the play tools and worksheets come from Australia. We have an integrated curriculum that’s child- friendly and is as much fun as relevant,’’ says Arthi K. Ganesh, a management trustee of the school.
Set up four years ago, the school is up to class VI but will extend to class XII next year and will follow both the ICSE Board and the International Baccalaureate system.
The classrooms are colourful, their walls decorated with paintings done by students. ‘‘The objective is to create fun and rewarding learning experiences that would last the children the rest of their learning lives,’’ points out Vael Principal R. Meenakshi. The classrooms do not have more than 20 students each and the stress is more on practical stuff, less on theory. So, the children learn what a cold sensation is in a rather pleasurable way: by visiting an ice cream parlour. A lesson in personal hygiene is given in a beauty parlour and another on fitness in a gym. There are special days like the ‘creepy crawly day’, when children learn about insects and a ‘noodle doodle day’ when they help teachers to make noodles and colour them. Guest lecturers include dentists who talk about dental hygiene, pilots who narrate scary incidents of aircrafts getting caught in air pockets and carpenters to teach them how to make furniture.
‘‘When I returned to India from Bangkok, I didn’t know where to put my child. She was going through a tough transition period,’’ says Anita Shanmuganathan, a classical dancer. Shreddar,9, is now in class IV at Vael’s Billabong High and according to her mother ‘‘quite happy’’.
Parents are equally happy. Viji Chandrasekhar, a television artiste, was stumped when her daughter studying in one of the city schools, insisted she wanted to learn yoga, swimming and play the keyboard. ‘‘It is difficult for mothers to take children around the city for different activities,’’ she points out. Her search ended at Billabong High. Her daughter Lovelyn now combines studies with yoga, swimming and playing the keyboard.

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