HERITAGE REGISTRATION FORM

What do you mean by an experiential learning school?

The main aspect of experiential learning is that the Heritage experiential curriculum is designed in a way that enables students to learn by analyzing their experiences through hands-on work, observations and field work to conceptualize ideas and build skills. This helps students to learn "how to learn". This makes it more relevant to students as they are able to relate it to real life rather than just studying for a text and answering questions.

What sets Heritage Xperiential Learning School (HXLS) apart from others?

There are certain aspects of the school that makes Heritage Xperiential group of schools one of the most successful group of schools in Delhi NCR, be it for academic results or our college placements. Year on year, our Gurgaon school has got CBSE averages of 88% and above and Noida follows the same methodology and practices.
The aspects are:

Which board is the school affiliated to and how is the curriculum framed?

HXLS is affiliated with the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) up to the senior secondary level (Grade 10). Our curriculum is based on the recommended curriculum set by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and it takes into account the recommendations made by the NCERT in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF 2005). It is designed by our own teachers with the guidance of experts from all around the world. You can visit the NCERT website at www.ncert.nic.in to familiarise yourself with their recommendations.

How are assessments done at HXLS?

As with any other component of learning, assessments should be authentic and meaningful for students and, most importantly, the assessment process itself should be a learning experience for every student. The purpose of assessment is not to merely measure, but to improve learning. We believe that assessment should be ongoing and lead to improvements in student learning, by providing necessary inputs to make informed decisions at class curriculum levels.

Assessments therefore must be developmentally appropriate and designed to allow students to succeed by showing what they have learned—never designed to force them into “proving” that they have failed to learn. The process of consistent feedback helps in making assessments a more continuous and enriching process. Several tools—which include rubrics, teacher/parent observations, and self and peer evaluations—are used to assess learning. The focus is on assessment for learning rather than on learning for assessment.

What is the school’s approach towards competitions?

In essence, the school likes to draw a clear distinction between building competence, excellence, and competition itself. At HXLS, we focus on building abilities and capabilities and categorically resist the “winner takes it all” mindset. The students learn from each other, learn together, and explore the immense possibilities that open up on the heels of a so-called ‘failure’.
More specifically, for the Junior Programme students, we do not advocate competition or comparison of any sort. For the Middle School, we introduce platforms for group and individual events, which are principally geared towards participation and not towards one-upmanship. In the Senior School, the focus is on specialisation and achieving excellence for which we again create opportunities for children to push themselves towards the realisation of their highest potential.

What is the approach to annual days, functions, and celebrations?

We have a strong culture of celebration of events that provide platforms for different forms of student expression. While we do work hard to bring standards of excellence into anything we do, we also recognise that there is a fine line between performance and exhibitionism. Therefore, we do not endorse large performances to showcase individuals or glorify the achievements of a minor group, nor is it valid to make children miss learning time for months of practice to stage a massive show where they have minor walk-on parts. We invest the students’ time wisely in organising non-competitive festivals, which are driven purely by the motive of student learning. The events and presentations are opportunities for children to share things they do and learn as part of their daily curricular programme. One such example is our yearly art festival which is a celebration of our students’ work done during the year.

Does the school use prescribed textbooks?

We sincerely believe that the entire world should be a textbook for children. Hence, the Junior School children are taught through thoughtfully designed learning units, as well as carefully chosen workbooks and supplementary materials, that reinforce skills and concepts. These are supported by material from class libraries, teacher-created resources, and a graded reading programme that includes age-appropriate literature.
In the Middle and Senior Schools, textbooks are introduced as reference books alongside primary source documents, supplementary reading materials, research projects, and real-life examples.

What is the role of outdoor learning expeditions at HXLS?

Various outdoor experiences or expeditions are designed for students regularly within the projects and themes they work on and are directly linked to the grade-level learning goals. In contrast to ‘school trips’, these expeditions provide real hands-on opportunities to learn about people, places, and cultures, see how things work, and develop a systemic understanding of different habitats and systems.
These learning opportunities begin in the Junior Programme and continue through to Grade 12 and may also include experts who conduct seminars and workshops as well as trips off campus for service projects and other community-based activities, including wilderness excursions that bring students in contact with the natural world as well as diverse communities.

What does inclusion mean at HXLS?

HXLS believes that, as a learning community, it is our responsibility to support each of our students in reaching their own goals at their own pace and according to their own highest purpose for which their unique talents and abilities best equip them. At the same time, we expect students to respect and appreciate what is unique in each of their classmates, learning to work collaboratively to ensure that each student is allowed and expected to contribute positively to the community. Inclusion does not mean that we treat all children the same; on the contrary, supporting each child means that while we treat all children equally, we also recognise that neither do children develop at the same rate nor do they achieve success according to one standardised definition. We work from the fundamental belief that children reach understanding or mastery of the same concept or skill at different rates and that this is not only normal but also desirable.

What is expected from parents to build an understanding of the Heritage approach and how do they support their children at home?

Parents are critically important, and their support will make all the difference. At its most fundamental level, the parent-school relationship has to be based on trust. Hence, it is imperative for parents to understand the school’s philosophy and teaching methodology.

We recognise that most adults have gone through the conventional system of education and that our approach challenges many of their mental models about education. We try to redesign the mental models and align them more with our worldview by organising interaction sessions and workshops for parents. We hold around three to four workshops plus four to five individual and group interactions per year. Parent participation in such workshops and interactive sessions is mandatory.

Parents are also invited to contribute by volunteering for different events in school such as outbound trips, story week, classroom support, co-curricular activities, and more.

FAQs