Community Guidelines and Traditions

Dropping time in the morning

• If your child is not using the school transport, please ensure he/she is dropped by 7:50 am at school. We would like all the children to join the morning group circle on time and start their day with ease. 
• In case of travel to Freedom Land using school bus, please keep up with the time given by the school and be there at least 5 mins before the time mentioned for the respective drop off location

Pick up time in the evening 

• If your child is not using the school transport, please ensure you are available 5 mins prior to the end of the school. In case you are getting delayed to pick your child up, please inform the Front Office of the same. 
• In case of travel from Freedom Land using school bus, please keep up with the time given by the school and be there at least 5 mins before the time mentioned for the respective pick up location

Leave/absence policy

• Leave information needs to be communicated through email and written in the agenda book. With the exception of sick leave, please inform the class teachers of all absences at least 2 days in advance; this helps all of us be in sync and plan accordingly for your child. 

Food and Nutrition

• For NB campus: Breakfast, mid day snack (seasonal fruits / soup based on weather conditions) and lunch are served at school.
• For FL campus: Kashaya, fruit smoothie, breakfast, mid day snack  (seasonal fruits / soup based on weather conditions), lunch, evening snack and dinner are served. 
• We encourage children to eat as a community. Please be assured that children’s nutritional needs are taken care of. Please do not send any food items from home. 
• Any specific dietary requirements can be mailed to the class group so the team can work out the best solution.

Sleep hygiene/Carrying food to school

• Please help your child have a good healthy sleep cycle as much as possible. If their sleep cycles affect their learning and being at school, we are happy to discuss ways to help at home.
• Unless your child has specific dietary needs or has an extra-long bus ride to school, please do not send snacks to be eaten at school. Children come from diverse backgrounds and have different food habits. We honor the diversity at our homes, and respectfully eat the food served at school. If the bus ride is especially long and there is a genuine need, we recommend the child eats his/her snack at school in case of early arrival or we will make time for a short snack break right after the morning meditation.

Dress code

• All clothing must cover the shoulders and reach the knees (even when sitting). Students can wear regular cut knee-length shorts. Skirts or dresses can be worn with knee-length leggings or bicycle shorts. Leggings require long tops that reach mid-thigh.
• Spaghetti strap dresses/tops/crop tops/ripped jeans or sportswear with low-cut arm holes are not allowed. 
• Clothing displaying profanity, suggestive lettering or images, any illegal item images, weaponry, or hate speech, are not allowed.
• On days of celebrations or festivals, we do request the children to come in traditional attire as this brings an air of festivity in the community. The above dress code guidelines still must be adhered to. 
• On days when there are specific sports activities, including  yoga, dance, movement children must come with appropriate sports clothing, sports shoes and socks; and carry their own water bottles.
• Hair must be groomed and maintained neatly. Avoid coloring of the hair as the chemicals used for this process are often harmful to the scalp and hair. 
• Tattoos are not allowed. 

Mobile phone/Gadget usage

• We do not recommend sending smartphones to school.
• Children below 14 years of age do not need to carry phones, unless it is a genuine and pre-approved requirement.
• If your child must carry a mobile phone on her/him, please inform us. The phones need to be deposited with the Front Desk / Class Pillars at the start of the day and can be collected at home time. It must be switched off while in school and switched on only after school hours. If the child carries a phone, they cannot use them in the vans/buses for any purpose other than emergency calls, which also needs the consent of the accompanying teacher in the bus. 
• Children are not allowed to carry iPads, tablets, iPods, mp3 players, cameras, PSPs, or any other media equipment. If they are required for class, a specific project/study purpose, please have the consent of the class pillars in advance. 

Stuffed toys

• Younger children are encouraged to carry their stuffed toys or dolls with them. If your child would like to bring one to school, please do inform the respective class pillars on the class email IDs.

Sleepover plans

• In case of pre-planned or in-situ planned sleepovers, the parents of the children must call/email/SMS the front office administrator (78999 17211) and the transport route with the service provider ahead of time so that the concerned vehicles are not waiting for the child to board the bus. This is to help us be clear on travel arrangements. Parents will need to plan for the transport as the school is not responsible for these additional transport needs/plans.

Textbooks/library book/id-card loss

• Any textbooks, library books, or id-cards that are lost will have to be replaced at cost. Damaged library or reference books will also incur a replacement charge.

Correspondence between teachers, children, and parents

• In case of any concerns /requests and communication regarding your child, you are welcome to email the Class email id – classgroupname@thecreativeschool.in 
• Homework is sometimes sent via email correspondence to the student’s school email and as posts/assignments on Google Classrooms. If you would prefer that we copy you on their homework assignments, send us an email – please let us know and we will gladly do so.  Please request your class group for a sign-in to your child’s google classroom (if applicable) as a guardian to get updates on their work automatically.
• Children can email us with questions regarding homework assignments and other needs over email. We will not be able to respond to SMS messages on specific homework questions.  
• During class hours, if you need to urgently reach your respective Class Pillars please do contact Taruna Oza (our front office administrator) at the following phone number +91 7899917211 between 9:00 am to 3:30 pm, as the teachers are in class with children and will not receive calls.

Internet usage

• When we send homework assignments that require the internet, we will definitely send specific sites as reference sites. Free ‘google’ searches are not a recommended way of researching for homework assignments/projects. We have often heard that kids search for images for projects and this process can be quite a confounding time on the web! Please help your child understand internet browsing etiquette, referencing, and navigate wisely.
• Projects requiring students to confer with their classmates are best using phones, video conferencing using Google Meet or Zoom (with adults’ awareness), and using school emails. We do not recommend usage of Discord or other social media for this purpose as that opens doors to communication outside the Creative student community.

Birthday celebrations policy

• For birthday celebrations, you are welcome to send in sweets, fruits, peanut/sesame chikkis, or bite-sized chocolates for your child’s classmates and teachers. Kindly refrain from sending chocolate bars. 
• Alternatively, you can contact the kitchen team to have a sweet dish cooked for your child’s class on a donation basis. Please provide a week’s notice if contacting the kitchen team. The contact person for this is Ms. Kanaka: +91 99595 60910. 

Vehicles/cycles parking 

• Children riding their bicycles or scooters to school must wear helmets and park/lock their vehicles at the cycle stand outside the gate. 
• All parents’ drop/pick vehicles must be parked outside the LG LakeDew gates.
  (Please refer to the document on drop off and pick up routines)

Ammunitions/weapons not allowed

• We strictly prohibit children from bringing any kind of ammunition, including fireworks, or weapons to the school.

Dormitory access during school hours

• Access to the dormitory during day time after 9:00 am until 4:30 pm (when school is in session) is not allowed unless there is an emergency. Prior approval of a senior house parent is required to access the dorms while informing the facilities person of the same.

Substance use by children and school’s disciplinary action

• The school is compassionate when a child is found engaging in inappropriate activities and strives to help the child and their family. However, it is still the school’s discretion to decide if the child needs to take time off from school and reflect on the choices made by them in our space. In such cases, we might recommend parents to come in for counseling as well.
• Our school is a safe and respectful environment for the overall health, Wellbeing and proper integral development of the whole child. As a school, we strictly prohibit substance use of any kind. We have a strict policy of no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes, and no inappropriate/sexually explicit behavior. No sexual activity of any kind is permitted on either school campus. Any of these can be grounds for suspension or expulsion. In the case of any of these behaviors on or off campus, the school will use its discretion for further action.
• Breaking the above requirements will lead to appropriate natural consequences to ensure proper understanding and respect of school guidelines. These guidelines are required for us to together create a safe and respectful community shared space for all children and adults.
• Natural consequences are at the minimum a week of suspension followed by counselling with parents and child. In addition, the child will need to undergo three counselling sessions – once a week over three weeks. At the residential campus, the child will attend school as a day-scholar for the duration of three weeks till all counselling sessions are completed.
• Such cases often reveal emotional problems which need to be addressed with both the child and parents for well-being. Based on the situation, we will require appropriate medical certification and/or counseling or healing sessions before the child is readmitted.
• Parents are required to undergo counseling or recommended therapy as well to ensure parental responsibility.
• The expenses for these sessions will need to be borne by parents as it requires significant time and additional effort for the school.
• The concerned student’s bags will be checked on a regular basis on arrival at school by the school authorities.
• The student will be allowed to use only school devices for accessing digital content for classes and not be allowed to use personal digital devices during the counseling period of three weeks.
• Beyond three warnings, if the behavior persists, the child may be expelled.

Media Policy

• We strongly urge parents to regulate media time and provide alternatives for a better and more holistic development of the child at home. 
• Parents are requested to review the Healthy Digital Citizenship and Social Media letter to read, reflect and understand the School’s Media Policy to get a better insight into the opportunities and risks presented by social media.