Every year at BSS, we carry out what we call the "Rose Ceremony" to welcome the Grade 1 children to school.
It is a special ceremony which marks the start of the children’s journey of the grade school years. They once again cross the Rainbow bridge, this time from the kindergarten to Grade 1. It is indeed a simple but solemn occasion, as the young ones are made welcome by the whole school.
The Grade 1 children started this Monday - 10th June and we held the Rose Ceremony for them.
We started early in the morning at 8:30 AM and the Grade 1 children came to school along with their parents.
They were taken to our grounds where a big circle was made with everyone in school: all the students, the teachers and other staff members. Under the blue sky with streaks of white clouds and the warm earth beneath, the whole school sang ‘Morning has broken’ accompanied by some of our students on their recorders.
After that, each Grade 1 child was called and a “God Parent” was assigned to them from the current Grade 4 students. As part of this pairing, the Grade 4 student tied a hand knitted friendship band to the wrist of the Grade 1 child and gave him or her a handmade card. This ritual, carried out every year gives the young ones the comfort that someone is looking out for them in school, and the Grade 4 students, they do indeed look after them in a special way and learn to take responsibility for another person.
After this ceremony, all the students and teachers / staff of the school gathered around the Grade 1 classroom, while an Arch, leading to the entrance, was made by the Grade 4 children. At the entrance, a rainbow-coloured cloth was held overhead. It was time for the Grade 1 parents to send their children, one by one through the arch. As the children walked through this arch to the grade 1 classroom, the whole school sang of a new life which had just begun.
At the end of the arch, the kindergarten teachers handed over each child to their grade 1 Class Teacher who welcomed them with a warm embrace and a rose.
The children were then directed by their newly acquainted Class Teacher to their pre-designated spot in the classroom. This bond between the children and their Class Teacher will remain throughout their 8 years of grade school, till they transit to high school in Grade 9.
At the end of the ceremony, the parents went back home with fulfilled hearts and the Grade 1 children began what is indeed a special journey.
Some moment below....
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