Shree Saraswati Vidyalay

You can find our school at 205 Kadam Nagar, which is right off the New Sama Road here in Vadodara. It is a very typical residential neighborhood, so the whole area feels quite safe and familiar to the families who live nearby. The school itself is basically a building that was converted years ago to fit into the residential street. We do not have a massive sports field or anything like that, but the kids always find enough space in the courtyard to run around and play. Most of the families living in the surrounding blocks know our staff members by their first names. We have a small entrance gate where the parents usually gather in the afternoon to pick up their children. Inside the building, almost all the walls are covered with student drawings and paper cutouts. We do not really use a lot of fancy teaching equipment or screens. It is mostly just about the books, the pencils, and a lot of talking between the teachers and students. Sometimes a few stray dogs from the neighborhood wander near the gate, and the younger kids always get a kick out of watching them. We keep all our school records in a few old grey filing cabinets tucked away in the corner of the main office. The principal's desk is usually piled quite high with various forms and notebooks. It’s a bit cluttered, but we know where everything is, and it feels like a real community place.