PTA First Annual Meeting

Fr. Crispino D'Souza the Principal welcoming the PTA members

Today the 26th June 2010 the First Annual Meeting of the PTA members of the Primary section met at 09.00 am in the school hall. There were about 600 parents who turned up for the meeting together with the staff. Fr. Crispino D'Souza welcomed the PTA members and asked the Rector, Fr. Godfrey D'Souza to say the opening prayer and then to give his talk.
Fr. Godfrey giving his talk on Parenting by Example

The Secondary section met at 10.30 am and the turn out was bigger than that of the primary. There were about 800 parents of the Secondary that came for the meeting.

Fr. Godfrey welcomed the PTA members for this first meeting and then introduced Fr. Edwin Colaco to the group and informed them that Fr. Edwin was coming to this community with a lot of experience in the field of youth work.
Parents of the Primary Section
Parents & Teachers of the Primary 

To both groups, Fr. Godfrey touched on Parenting by Example, based on the the book by Dr. Phil McGraw 'Family First' and said that the most powerful role model in any child's life is a parent and that modeling is important because it is the primary way that children learn the values they will carry for life.

Fr. Godfrey giving his talk

He continued saying that observing that you live with a passion, gives your child a passion for living.
If you want your child to be neat, with a perfectly tidy room everyday, then you must be neat yourself.
If you want your child to read, then they must see you cracking open and enjoying good books.
If you want your children to learn how to express themselves, then you must engage your family in discussions.
If you want your kids to be healthy and fir, then they must see you eating healthy food.
If you want them to handle anger appropriately, then you can't curse the guy who took your parking place.
If you want your children to be honest, you must exhibit honesty in your everyday life.

You must be the example of what your want to see in your children.
The secret of raising a child of character is being a person of character yourself.

Fr. Godfrey in winding up told the parents to let their lives be a living example of what they want to see in their children, for actions speak louder than words.

He concluded with:

CHILDREN SEE what parents do, CHILDREN DO what parents do !

Fr. Crispino speaking to the parents

After the talk of the Rector, Fr. Crispino spoke to the parents and put before them a couple of points with regard to the Sports activities and the Right To Education and its implications. He asked parents to follow up the studies of their children and if they faced any problems and difficulties with regard to their children they could either approach the Supervisors or the Principal who would sort out the problem.
Parents & Teachers of the Secondary

He thanked the parents for all the support and help given to the school during the last year especially in the programmes and activities that were conducted and assured them that all this was done for the betterment of their children to give them an all round formation.

Fr. Crispino after the Secondary parents meeting met the parents of the IX and X standard students to brief them on some important points concerning their programme for the year and for their studies.
Parents and Teachers of the Secondary
The PTA report of 2009-2010 read out by a representative

Fr. Crispino talking to the parents of the Secondary

The parents then went into their respective classes to elect their representatives for the PTA. The 'A' sections had to elect a Male representative and the 'B' sections had to elect a Female representative.

Don Bosco Schools Meet

Mr. Conrad Saldanha the resource person

On Saturday, 19th June 2010, the secondary staff of four of the Don Bosco Schools of the city met at Don Bosco Matunga for the first time. For an entire year, representatives of the four schools had been meeting to plan and implement the syllabus and how we as a Don Bosco Organization could come together for better planning and programming. The Supervisors and the Faculty Department Heads had been meeting to set the syllabus for the same so that the various unit test could be coordinated and a common paper given to the four schools.
Teacher from the four Don Bosco schools of the city in Mumbai

This morning, Fr. Crispino D'Souza together with Fr. Bosco D'Mello arranged to have Mr. Conrad Saldanha, ex-Vice President of the Times of India to facilitate and conduct a workshop. Fr. Crispino gave the introductions and Mr. Saldanha took the group of about a hundred teachers straight into the workshop with a brief input on three kinds of thinking viz. Magical thinking; Heroic thinking; Resigned thinking and Cynical thinking. The first two kinds of thinking are more on the positive while the last two are more negative.

During one of the workshop sessions

Another group during the workshop discussions

The teachers were indeed very involved in the discussions


After the tea break from 11.20 am Mr. Saldanha took the teachers through another exercise which made them think about their situation as teachers in relationship with their pupils, surroundings and the like. He put before them four questions for this workshop:
1. What are the elements in a Don Bosco school that you would like to promote or enhance?
2. What are the elements in a Don Bosco school that you would like to decrease?
3. What are the elements in a Don Bosco school that you would like to eliminate?
4. What are the elements in a Don Bosco school that you would like new?

The teachers had a lively  discussion in groups and came up with a number of suggestions some which seemed practical and some not practical. The important thing about the discussion was to get all of them geared towards thinking about the elements that were important and that would help benefit the young and the school.

After lunch the teachers went into their various faculties to sit and plan for the future with inputs that were given by various resource persons.

Tea was served at 4.30 pm after which all said their good-byes and departed making a new circle of friends among the teachers of the Don Bosco Schools.