In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Children dream of the world as their stage and parents eye every opportunity to ensure they realise those dreams! In 2013, Lodha World School, in Palava’s Casa Bella Gold neighbourhood endeavoured to realise these dreams, towards nurturing and empowering our youth to become the leaders of tomorrow and instilling in them the values of giving back to the society. And as it celebrates a decade this year, it’s founder Principal, Aditi Banerjee, the teaching staff and its first alumni batch beam in pride! A school that began with a humble 100 students in its first year in 2013, today has almost 2500 students in its 10th year!
We went down the memory lane with the school principal, Aditi Banerjee and Anushree Gandhi, AVP Education Strategy of the Lodha Group to understand how this institution was envisioned and the little happenings behind-the-scene that led to its success.
How and when did you first envision the premise of Lodha World Schools?
Anushree Gandhi: Lodha World School was born with a pure intention of building a better and a sustainable life for the families of Palava and our other developments. Access to quality education for their children was a primary need for our young consumers moving into our integrated developments. This is when our first Lodha World School was established at Thane in 2008 followed with our second in 2013 at Palava. Lodha chose to venture into the space of education to fulfil and drive our Managing Director’s vision of being able to contribute to grooming the future of the nation!
What are your fondest memories while conceptualizing and bringing the vision to realization?
Anushree Gandhi: Be it working on the first design layout of the school or recruiting the first teacher in the school, the memories are abundant and priceless! The fondest are the ones of our very first student enrollments, where parents kept their belief in a new school and trusted our vision and intentions to build one of the greatest schools to be.
As the school’s Founder Principal, how would you describe this 10 year journey?
Aditi Banerjee: Oh ten years; it still feels like yesterday when we welcomed our first batch! It has been a transformative educational journey, nurturing students to acquire knowledge, skills and shine. I am immensely thankful to the teaching staff, housekeeping staff, the management and my dear parents who stood shoulder to shoulder across the highs and lows of this journey. This journey was made possible because of the faith each one had in Lodha World School, Palava!
This was the first school in Palava, a growing city. What was your biggest challenge in realizing this dream?
Anushree Gandhi: Every journey has its ups and downs. Setting up a school with the vision of delivering academic excellence and nurturing our learners was no easy feat. The biggest challenge was setting quality benchmarks and standards in terms of the curriculum as we always aspire to deliver beyond the designated board curriculums. Through extensive rounds of research and reiterations over a period of time we now have a customized curriculum which builds resilience and rigour in our learners allowing them to maximize their individual potentials.
What are your most memorable achievements as the school leader?
Aditi Banerjee: There are plenty and each one is special though if I absolutely have to choose three then first and foremost it would be celebrating our first batch of ISC students! They appeared for their exams in the peak of the pandemic in 2020 and not only did they make the school proud with their stellar performance, at the board exams, but also qualified into universities in USA, Canada, Russia! We also secured the AIl India Rank of 2nd and 3rd at the ICSE examination of 2022-2023, and our children qualified and represented Maharashtra at the AISM National Games in the Girls Football, Swimming and Yoga events earlier this year!
Having been established with some of the best practices from around the globe and being led by a strong team of accomplished academicians, Lodha World School, Palava is all set on becoming the best school not just in Mumbai but across India. And as the Palava community continues to grow, the school will play a pivotal role in transforming the learners to becoming leaders of tomorrow and in the process contributing towards building a stronger nation.
Cheers to many more decades of success and celebration, Lodha World School, Palava!
At Palava, education is placed at the core of its mission and every endeavor has been to nurture the young minds with world-class education empowering them to grow into their best selves.