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Shree Bharatiya Mandal – Tameside Indian Association
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- Category: List of Gujarati Schools
Gujarati school
This page is designed to give you some information about SBM Gujarati School. There is more detail in our printed folder which can be obtained from school.
Shree Bharatiya Mandal provides teaching of Gujarati Language. Everyone is welcome. We cater for all ages and abilities. The school is managed by Head Teacher Mrs. Chetana Bhatt- Shah MA Ed JP.
Where is the school?
Gujarati School classes are held at Shree Bharatiya Mandal. The Indian community Centre, 103 union Road. Ashton-under-Lyne, Tameside OL6 8JN.
When do classes take place?
Every Tuesday evening during school term time between 6.25pm to 8.30pm.
Why?
Our aim is to:
- Help maintain and develop the Gujarati language for individuals within the community
- Enable members of the wider society to learn this rich language
- Enable students to gain a GCSE qualification in Gujarati language at ‘O’, ‘AS’ and Advanced level
How does Gujarati learning help?
- Gujarati families can exercise their right to pass on their cultural and linguistic heritage to their children
- Children who are given the opportunity to grow up bilingual have many linguistic advantages e.g. divergent thinking
- Research has shown that learning two or more languages from birth promotes more sophisticated brain development which gives bilingual children cognitive advantages
- If you have access to more than one language you have greater job opportunities
- Knowing Gujarati will help to maintain links with non-English speaking elders of the extended family in Gujarat, India
- If you can learn Gujarati as well as English early in life, it is easy to transfer your language learning skills to French, German, Spanish and so on when you are in secondary school
Who is it for?
Anyone over the age of 8 years can join.
How is Gujarati taught?
Teaching is carried out according to the National Curriculum requirements for Modern foreign Languages. Annual internal examinations for Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing are carried out in the official format each judged according to national criteria.
Students learn Gujarati alphabet and grammar through project work, role play, stories, drama, language games and many other interesting tried and tested classroom activities.
In short, the teaching and learning is enjoyable, meaningful and well recommended.
How is the school structured?
We have four classes starting with Balpothi/ Stage 1, Stage2, Stage 3 and ending with a GCSE class.
There are currently approximately 35 students and 5 teachers. Bhavnaben Mistry, Dhatriben Vyas, Shilaben Ladva, Sudhaben Patel and Hirenbhai Bhavsar.
Chetanaben is the headteacher. Naliniben is the administrator and Examinations Officer. All members of staff are voluntary workers. Sashibhai is our current caretaker.
What are our results like?
The number of entries for GCSE public examinations varies from year to year.
We are fortunate to have gained 100% pass results every single year without exception.
We follow the syllabus and guidelines of Pearson Edexcel examination board and have been an official examination centre for over 35 years.
What else besides Gujarati?
In the past we have successfully run Hinduism classes where students have achieved A*to C grades at GCSE. We have also run basic Sanskrit classes in conjunction with Samskrita Bharati UK. We are keen to provide these classes in future on a ‘supply and demand’ basis. Please let Naliniben know if you are interested.
What Support from the community?
- We enjoy good support and recognition from parents, SBM members and the local authority
- We rely on SBM for maintaining financial support and adequate equipment
- Our volunteer teachers are qualified and experienced members of the local community
- Our annual public examinations and Certificate presentation evenings run smoothly due to support received from Shree Bharatiya Mandal committee members
- School staff support each other in continued professional development training outside school hours. As a result, we are able to maintain a coherent strategy, consistent methods of teaching and effective teaching resources