A Letter From The Head

What we do at PVS is different from other schools. Every day, we live and breathe our mission – Opening doors to success in a constantly changing world. As a modern school focused on developing global citizens in a diverse environment, we recognize that we are preparing our students for the unknown; they must be equipped with the drive, capacity, and skills to positively impact the world.

The PVS is an extension of your family. We understand that our students must be known first in order to be inspired and challenged. Our world is forever changing, and serving the needs of the students in our care is at the heart of everything we do. The school’s program combines nurture of the individual with engaging learning experiences in a supportive and involved community The Pleasant Valley School, Popularly known as Highland, School synchronizes itself with the pristine purity of the Himalayas – showering its blessings on this quaint hill station Ranikhet – situated 6132 feet above sea level and within sight of the western peaks of the Himalayas. Our large tree-clad campus with its green playing fields nestling in the picturesque foothills of the mighty Himalayas is an ideal place for nurturing young minds in the lap of nature. The fresh, fragrant and pollution-free air, the whistling pines, pristine dew and the panoramic view of snow-capped Himalayan ranges – Trishul, Nanda Ghunti, Mrigthuni, Maiktoli, Nanda Devi East, Nandaghat, Chhanguch, Nandakut and Dangthal – leave a magic upon the spirit. We are now 15 years old, even though it felt like only yesterday when we opened our doors for the first time. Since that time, we have grown, expanded and are continuing to grow.

I am delighted to be here at The Pleasant Valley School. My initial days here have been full of learning, conversation and a developing sense of the history and trajectory of this fine school and the Foundation which runs it. I have had a long path in education and social work that has brought me here. Many more people are joining us and it makes us a better school in every way, and it connects us to a tremendous network of students, educators and volunteers around the world. By and large, change is good and change is inevitable. Importantly, we are not alone in this project but now part of a robust and collaborative network of excellent educators.

As Director of the School, my aim is to make this school the best and the most successful school in this region. Unlike the large schools of cities and towns, The Pleasant Valley School will be an intentionally small school, with small class sizes, dedicated to delivering an exceptional learning experience for children, in a pleasant, supportive, yet disciplined environment that is focused on making each child’s time at the school a happy one. A very important aspect of our school is that of motivating children to succeed; we constantly encourage them to strive for targets and goals that they may have once thought were beyond them, and in doing so, we will enable pupils to develop to the peak of their own true potential. Our choice of a school name is no accident; the name ‘PLEASANT’ represents our approach to teaching and the support and encouragement we will provide to pupils in a pleasant, happy and positive manner, making education and learning a pleasant and enjoyable experience for pupils. Time spent at school should be a positive and pleasant time for children.

Our aim as educators is to make our pupils feel happy at school: we are convinced that a favourable environment is key to ensuring that they achieve the knowledge and skills that will enable them to be creative and enterprising and to integrate into society in the best possible conditions. For this reason, the school invests year after year in being able to improve not only the facilities, but also all those resources which can guarantee excellent pedagogical innovation which offers effective methodologies adapted to pupils' needs. We prepare our students for an international future without limits or barriers. The natural environment surrounding our school is ideal for the practice of sporting activities, which help students to develop and promote values such as perseverance, self-improvement, teamwork and cooperation, as well as strengthening their social skills. For pupils at The Pleasant Valley School, sport forms an essential part of the curriculum: we try to encourage a passion for active and healthy habits, establishing patterns of behaviour that will help our students to grow into physically and emotionally balanced adults. Sport, music education and art are fundamental areas in our global vision of education. They all help to establish guidelines for social behaviour and academic performance: respect, tolerance, effort, responsibility and social commitment.

At The Pleasant Valley School, we are committed on a daily basis to ensuring a well-rounded education for our pupils, giving importance to the transmission of values and work habits which are fundamental to their personal development. We want them to be provided with all the necessary tools and skills during their time at our school so that they can live successfully in a globalised world. Our educational project has a clear international vision. At all stages of education we aim to broaden students' educational experience and encourage them to put their knowledge and understanding into practice, working on processes and not just content. Our aim is to ensure that our students are committed to making the world a better place for everyone to live in, preparing them to embrace the great challenges of our time, and equipping them with a range of skills and competences that go beyond academic success. By encouraging a modern and international approach, our students become more aware of the world around them and learn to appreciate other cultures and points of view. Our mission is to educate young people who are committed, empathetic, respectful and responsible, and who are well prepared to build a better world based upon mutual understanding and intercultural respect.

We want our students to be citizens of the world open to change and therefore we encourage their active participation in various international programmes in order to maximise their mobility abroad and cooperative work with students from other countries. At a linguistic level, there are many students who successfully pass the external exams in the different foreign languages at the school each year.

The extraordinary team which makes up The Pleasant Valley School guarantees the success of our educational model. Our mission is to prepare our children for jobs that have not yet been created, for technologies that have not yet been invented, and to teach them how to solve problems that have not yet been anticipated. We must encourage our young people to embrace and shape their own futures and to understand that they form part of a global community and are capable of shaping the world. My aim is to make this school the best and the most successful school in this region. It will be an intentionally small school, with small class sizes, dedicated to delivering an exceptional learning experience for children, in a pleasant, supportive, yet disciplined environment that is focused on making each child’s time at the school a happy one. Although a happy school life is one aspect of motivating children to succeed, we will also encourage them to strive for targets and goals that they may have once thought were beyond them, and in doing so, we will enable pupils to develop to the peak of their own true potential. You can count on me to give my all to the integration, and to a key transition year, as the school takes steps towards its future as a Boarding School while at the same time holding on to its special past and identity as PVS. I look forward to meeting you in the coming days and I look forward to our work ahead.