Tehzeeb - Holding Space, Holding Love
Tehzeeb - everything we stand for - is the social-emotional development program at Ivy. Our counsellors work with families to facilitate workshops, empower students to lead change, provide safe spaces in all classrooms and build on the Ivy Habits of Character which are respect, perseverance, empathy, citizenship, and service. From the day they enter school, students are exposed to a rich social-emotional support system that is grounded in community values. Be it the Ambassador Program that allows students to act as change agents for Friendship, Mental Health, Diversity or Tehzeeb, or be it the Peer Counselling and Mentorship provided to every student in the school, our Tehzeeb Program is a meld of individual and whole school social-emotional facilitation at all levels.
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Launch of the Tehzeeb Program
October, 26, 2021
With each passing day, we at Ivy have felt that our Tehzeeb, the very foothold of our values and culture, is ebbing away. Even as we teach our children values through gratitude jars and kindness catchers, we feel the need to soul search and dig deeper to ask where these values really come from. The smallest act of adab and adaab in society, the respect for elders, the love for those younger, the way we greet people, how we uphold their honour, how we offer hospitality to our guests, how we treat our domestic help, all is something that comes from our own culture and values.
All this thinking sparked some rich discussions at Ivy and this week we launched the Tehzeeb program at our school. Tehzeeb days at our school have our students come in national dress, speak in Urdu the whole day, and engage in activities that build on basic etiquette. We feel this gives them a taste of their own culture and values and instils in them a sense of community.
This Tehzeeb Tuesday, we hold our heads a little higher and carry fuller hearts as we pass on the values that were passed on to us by our parents and our parent’s parents.
Dasterkhwan!
November 28, 2021
When you’re part of a community of people who don’t just believe in adopting international best practices but also aligning them within a local context, you know you’re at Ivy! Our Early Childhood setting is inspired by The Curiosity Approach - and we are proud to say we are the first school in South Asia adopting this philosophy.
We recently hosted a dasterkhwan for our preschoolers. All our littles sat down to daal chawal and roti at the beautiful dasterkhwan set up by our creative preschool team. The feeling of belongingness, culture and community at Ivy begins at preschool and students are grounded well into primary through our Tehzeeb Program. We strongly believe we can succeed best when we hold on to our roots and strengthen our relationship with our own culture and community.
Also, the daal chawal was yummy!
Equality and Diversity Ambassadors
September 7, 2022
This week our Equality and Diversity Ambassadors spread the message of diversity in the school. They are working on vision boards for individual students to help them develop a sense of purpose. Good work Ambassadors! We're proud of you!
Cultural Playdate with Preschool
February 5, 2022
Play is at the heart of all we do at The Ivy Preschool. Playdates@Ivy provide children with opportunities to practice important social and emotional skills. Our saplings learn to share, take turns and cooperate as they interact with each other. Play dates are also a great way for children to practice manners and learn how to communicate with one another. And what happens when you add a sprinkle of love and a smattering of culture to a playdate?
In line with our Tehzeeb program, a special playdate was held last week at Ivy, where our saplings dressed up in cultural clothes and brought with them their funds of knowledge passed down through generations. From Pakistani cultural music to tonga rides and ajraks, from kulfi corners and tandoors to chaiwalas and baithaks, a great deal of giggles were heard and a lot of hugs were had!
Urdu Literacy Week
April 7, 2022
Urdu Literacy Week just went by and we had a wonderful experience! Mushairas, Bait Baazi, Urdu Skits, and lots of activities were held over the week to familiarise students with our national language. Surprise guest speaker sessions with Amra Alam and Khaled Anam were well-attended by parents and students alike. We also snuck in a quick impromptu Dil Dil Pakistan singing session as our Ivy saplings sang along to Khaled’s guitar.
Gudda aur Gurya Ki Shaadi
March 30, 2022
In 1938 Johan Huizinga a Dutch cultural theorist and major historian of play contended that play in itself is necessary to the generation of culture. That it parallels the social and cultural forms of society.
Among Ivy’s many firsts, we are also a pioneer in bringing back cultural play that goes beyond the playground. We aim to create a play community that explores the multi-layered, spontaneous nature of play while analysing the intersection of play, culture and community. The Gudda and Gurya ki Shaadi at Ivy was a manifestation of this very statement.
This traditional event is more than a century old, and is in essence an elaborate pretend play that includes real-life rituals like the ‘mehendi rasm’ and the ‘moun mitha’ as well as the traditional ‘entry of the bride’ and the much loved ‘dholki.’
We saw students, parents, teachers and grandparents all involved in this rich cultural immersion as we celebrated the legacy of play.
