A Day At The Rupy's Preschool "Rupy's Children Castle"

I’m working for a digital marketing agency which is “Mero Network” and recently I got the opportunity to visit one of the reputed school of the nation Rupys International School. We were developing a preschool website for them and we were there to visit the school founder Rupy Singh for a small meeting for the same. Rather than the business talks I really enjoyed my visit to this awesome preschool in Kathmandu. So, here I've conveyed some of my thoughts regarding my visit to Rupy's Preschool.

It was noon when our team left for Bafal from our office at Lazimpat. The weather was hot since it was the mid July and the traffic jam on the dusty ringroad was just killing me infact it was killing everybody I guess lol.

We reached Rupy’s school perimeter after nearly an hour of drive, parked our car and headed towards the main gate. For someone who was borned and raised in Kathmandu like me I found the environment around the school perimeter very peaceful. No any irritating sounds of the vehicles, no dusty roads just clean and serene atmosphere. The school guard inquired about us and let us in through the main gate.

Just upon entering through the gate we saw Rupy ma'am very carefully monitoring a painting work which was being done by a painter (I thought the one she hired). I was curious so I gave a quick look there was like a dozen of rectangle shaped metal boards all with inspiring English quotes painted on them. The painter was painting some of them and more than half of them were already done and were left on the sun  to dry.

But unfortunately when we reached over there rain was sprinkling lightly so, Rupy ma'am quickly told her staffs to place all those boards to a safe location and to let them dry away from the drizzling rain. Upon noticing us she greeted us and then we just went inside her office which was just to the left of the main entrance and had some cup of tea and discussed some of the matters related to Rupy’s preschool website thingy. She briefly told us about the history of the Rupys school which was very fascinating to listen.

Actually I was quite surprised to find that this school was established in the year 1982 (that makes this school older than me… lol). It was Rupy ma’am who told us about it. She told us that her school was the first international standard school of Nepal which was established in 1982 with the name “The Children’s Castle”. Later the name of the school was changed to Rupys International School in 1996. And the same year the school moved to the present location Bafal, Kathmandu and started to accept students for the primary level.

Since, it was the summer break all the preschool kids were on summer holiday so the preschool section was quite empty. But there were some few staffs who were very busy working around and the school office was running. Rupy ma’am offered us to have a quick look at the school perimeters. Since, we were designing the Rupy’s preschool website. We accepted her offer as we thought it would be a good reference material for the website. And designing a website for a preschool in Kathmandu with so much of the history and legacy we thought its gonna be much more awesome than we’ve expected.

The school founder Rupy ma’am herself escorted us and showed us many different things which were inside the preschool section. At first she took us to the classrooms. Classroom for the preschool kids was divided according to their age group and was given very cute little names like the

• ·         teddies room (for 2 years old kids),
• ·         caterpillars room (for 2 to 3 years old kids),
• ·         ladybirds room (for 3 to 4 years old kids) and
• ·         butterflies room (for 4 to 5 years old kids)

All of these classrooms were spacious and fully decorated to match the interests of the kids. Along the walls of these classrooms were some of the cute little drawings and artworks performed by the children themselves. I just couldn’t stop myself from admiring them. They were all cute and one could’ve easily guessed how much hardwork the kids were doing while making those things since, the output was so amazing.

We found out that just the other weekend there was a special event in the preschool which was the Grand Parents Day where the grandfathers and grandmothers of the children were invited and a program was held. Rupy Ma’am pointed out one of the boards saying that those were the works that were made especially for that event by the preschool children with a smile on her face. She also mentioned that she loves the family ties and relationships and want to strongly put the same feelings to her preschool children since, that is the very moment which shapes their future. Which was the reason she time to time held these kinds of family events in Rupy’s preschool. As she was saying these I was deeply moved and standing there just listening her words.

one of the board containing the work of the children on grand parents day at rupys preschool

As we were walking from one classroom to another we saw many paintings on the walls and the corridor area. Some of those paintings were of Cinderalla and Snow White (And for the other I think I would have to Google about it lol). Rupy ma’am told us that all those paintings were the work of the same painter which we had encountered earlier. Judging all his works I could say he was one hell of a painter. Superb work superb fella.

the shelf rack that we encountered while climbing up the stairs

Moving on we climbed up the staircase and found one shelf rack which was full of toys. Then few moments later we found ourselves in the preschool library. It was packed full of books for preschool children. Most of them were children’s story books. Just around the corner there was the music room. Seeing the drums, guitars and flutes I asked Rupy ma’am that did the preschool children really play these instruments then she replied by saying that those are there for some basic musical lessons.

The other thing that I liked was the rest room. It was designed with three toilet seats so, that children wouldn’t have to wait for their turn to use the rest rooms. Just as we finished looking the class rooms and the surrounding perimeters then we noticed that rain had stopped so we move towards the playground area.

Earlier while entering through the main gate we did had a glimpse of the surrounding area but it was raining so, we didn’t had that much of a look but this time it was different. The rain had stopped the sky was clear and the playground along with the garden and trees all around gave me a feel like I was in a wonderful park somewhere.

The area was huge. We were told the whole school was established in the area of 8 ropanis which was divided for preschool, primary and the A-levels section. The preschool section was huge too. The playground had everything fancy enough to indulge children for fun like swings, see-saw, merry-go-round, a castle, a play house and non-functional but fancy jeep, etc. The environment was clean and green with gardens and flowers.

The thing that grabbed my attention was the zebra crossing pitched road in the middle of the playground (the road was about 5 meters long in length and somewhat like 2 meters wide). Rupy ma’am told us that was just a model of a zebra crossing road which is there to teach the children about the traffic rules. Road accidents are quite frequent in Kathmandu and if we could really teach some of the basic traffic rules to the children then we can minimize some risk she added. This was the thing that impressed me the most.

Just as we finished roaming the preschool playground compound Rupy ma’am offered us to have a quick look at the pottery class. Since, our visit was getting much more interesting than we’ve expected without hesitation we nodded in agreement. The pottery class was in another compound just outside the main gate across the road.

That area was also huge. Some students in their school uniform were chatting in a corner of the area. As soon as they saw Rupy ma’am they all at once greeted her. I thought they must be the students from the primary section. I noticed all of them were chatting with each other in English. Back in my school days, we used to speak in our native language Nepali while communicating with friends. It was not like we didn’t know English we were from a English medium school but we weren’t used to it but that time the way the students from the primary section of Rupy’s school were communicating with each other in English that also impressed me.

In few moments we were at the pottery class. The class had a shelf rack which was filled with the pottery art and craft of the children. They were all arranged according to their little creators grade. Some were exceptionally good. This was the very moment that reminded me of my childhood. I used to build Shiva Lingum by playing with clay mud with friends in the past. Rupy ma’am told us that the clay and the other necessary items required for pottery class were all tested and imported from outside of the Kathmandu city. (She did mention the name of the place but I was quite busy monitoring the creations of the children so I forget it… lol).

Snapshot of the dragon which is senior than me lol

Then just before we were making our leave Rupy ma’am took us to have a look at the historic paper made dragon. The dragon was huge and was placed in the entrance of the building next to the pottery class. She mentioned that the dragon was the creation of foreign parents whose children was in care of Rupys preschool and is somewhat like 30 years old. I thought the school was older than me but to find a paper made dragon older than myself over there I was shocked. I quickly take out my phone camera and took some snaps of the dragon.

Then for a few moments our team had some conversation about the preschool website and then we returned back to our office.

My visit to Rupy’s Preschool was full of surprise and fun. The every corner and the every place Rupy ma’am took us around her school she described us with each and every detail of that particular part. The way she was describing the things, the expression that she was making is still fresh on my mind. We could easily guess how much she loved her school, its students and her profession.

I was very much impressed with Rupy ma’am and her preschool. Infact it has impressed me to this point that If someone asked me for a good preschool for their kids then without hesitation I would recommend Rupys preschool.

Rupys Preschool is definitely one of the best preschool in Kathmandu infact the best preschool in Nepal since it is in the hands of Mrs. Rupy Singh who not only loves her young students and is also determined to give them good learning environment.