Author: Philip Cornwell

  • Interested in joining our team?

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    If you are a qualified and experienced teacher with an intimate knowledge of the Indian education system, and are interested in applying your skills in Ladakh, please take a look at the job descriptions in the Help/Job Opportunities section of this website. 

    Druk Padma Karpo School is seeking the following professional staff:

    Leadership Team

    • Academic Coordinator

    Senior Teachers

    • English
    • Maths
    • Science

    Teachers

    • Art
    • Montessori

    Student Welfare

    • Pastoral Care

    Please go to HELP/Job Opportunities for detailed Job Descriptions and additional information on how to apply.

  • Working with nature

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    Mudslide specialist Richard Hughes visited Shey in September 2010 to investigate the characteristics of the August mudslide, and started to prepare design concepts for protective measures, working with nature. 
     
    The school sits on the edge of an ‘outwash fan’ that has evolved over thousands of years and it is likely that water, rock and mud flows will happen again at some time in the future.  The Arup Design Team has worked on the design of protective measures that will be implemented in 2011.  Funding has been secured for these works.
     

     

  • All classes fully operational again – Latest News 25th October 2010

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    All classes are functioning again even though some classrooms are still being repaired. Following the loss of furniture and educational resources, there is much ‘making do’ until funding becomes available to complete the re-equipping.
     
    Against this background, it was nice for students and staff to be able to celebrate Founders Day on 24th September, marking the 9th anniversary of the opening of the school.  The event was celebrated in a quiet way out of respect for those who lost homes and loved ones.  The children sang, danced, performed plays, enjoyed samosas, and took part in competitions.  Each class prepared a display on a given topic – such as nomadic life, or the costumes or food of Ladakh.  The nomads won!
     
    Everybody was so enthusiastic and involved that sports day and prize-giving had to be postponed until the next day.  All this was a great way for the school community to come together in celebration after the traumatic events of early August.

  • Structural assessment – Latest News 22nd October 2010

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    Structural engineer Nicola Perandin from the London-based Arup Design Team visited the campus for a week in September 2010 and examined each and every building and piece of infrastructure.  Although the mudslide caused considerable internal damage and destroyed a lot of equipment, the only structural damage he found was an end wall of the Junior South Block that is 3cm out of vertical at the top.
     

     

  • Books, books and more books – Latest News 5th October 2010

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    Books, books and more books

    Most of the books on the campus were destroyed in the August mudslide.  Members of the Arup Design Team visited Shey in September 2010 and brought 80kg of reading books collected by Darrick Wood School, London, and Pilgrim School in Bedfordshire, UK.  The Druk Padma Karpo children were very excited to see so many books and were soon engrossed.

  • Ladakhi Pavilion goes to London – Latest News 4th October 2010

    Ladakhi Pavilion goes to London – Latest News 4th October 2010

    During the summer of 2010, a volunteer group of US architectural students from BaSiC Initiative came to the school. One of their projects was to design, fabricate and erect a large canvas tent structure from recycled parachutes. The structure was then taken to London and re-erected in the garden of Marlborough House as the Commonwealth Pavilion during The Earth Awards and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’ START garden party in September 2010.
     
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    The Pavilion will return to Ladakh and take its place on the Shey campus once again in 2011.

  • Illuminated Model School – Latest News 1st October 2010

    Illuminated Model School – Latest News 1st October 2010

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    Illuminated Model School

     
    During September 2010 the Royal Academy of Engineering hosted an exhibition about Druk Padma Karpo School as part of the London Design Festival. Arup Associates prepared a stunning display of school images before and after the mudslide damage, and built an illuminated model of the Master Plan showing how the campus will be when complete. The exhibition was open to the public.
     

     

  • School’s founder honoured by United Nations

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    School’s founder honoured by the United Nations in New York

    On 19th September 2010, His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, founder of Druk White Lotus School, received the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Award in recognition of His humanitarian activities.
     

     

  • New branch school in Khachey

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    Druk White Lotus School, Khachey, opened its doors on 10th April 2010 with Nursery, Lower Kindergarten and Upper Kindergarten classes.  The school is located in the Kargil District of Ladakh, about 7 hours’ drive from the mother school in Shey.

    The school has around twenty students, two teachers (Ms Tsewang Dolkar and Ms Tsering Chozom) and a support staff member. One teacher is a graduate with a strong background in English language and sports, and the other is an undergraduate with a strong Bothi language background.  One reason for starting the Khachey School was to provide education in English and Bothi languages in an area that predominately focuses on Urdu.  Staff underwent training at the mother school in Shey before the school opening.  The school was initiated by and is owned by the local community. 

    The inauguration ceremony was well attended by villagers and the school has their wholehearted support.  They are paying for one teacher and need your support to pay for the other @ Rs12,000 / US$260 / €215 / £180 per month. Villagers are paying half the cost of the Montessori equipment and need your help to pay the other half: Rs42,225 / US$900 / €750 / £620.

    Thank you for joining our community.

  • Charity Screenings of Bollywood success ‘3 Idiots’

    3-Idiots-film-London-Charity-Screening2 screenings of the ‘3 Idiots’ box-office hit are arranged in aid of our school, which was used in the filming.
    The secret story by the smash hit film is that Druk White Lotus School is trying to be just the kind of school that promotes creativity, enthusiasm and intelligence that the film promotes.

    Do join us at either screening:

    London: Saturday 6th March 1.00pm at Cineworld Haymarket,
    63-65 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4RL.
    Tickets on the door, £10, cash payment only.

    Letchworth: Wednesday 3rd March 6.00pm at Broadway Cinema,
    Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, SG6 3DG.
    Tickets £8 from Reception at St Christopher School, Letchworth, SG6 3JZ  and from ‘David’s Bookshop’, Letchworth.

    Filming of the ‘3 Idiots’ at Druk White Lotus School was very exciting for the students and staff – read more

    With grateful thanks to Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions, Reliance BIG Pictures, Cineworld and Aamir Khan,