Dear Parents,
 
I trust that you are enjoying the last week of your time together before packing your sons up for the term ahead. The end of this summer was a different experience for us as a family, with one son getting ready to go off to university and find his accommodation, one son starting class 11 with its new courses and our daughter impatiently waiting for the boys to come back to Chandbagh!
 
We are putting the finishing touches to the school before their return; the biggest part of that job has been the refurbishment of the top corridor in the main building and the public and office spaces on the ground floor. The Resource Centre now looks and feels like the classrooms, but with air conditioning to balance the heat generated by the computers in there. The offices of the Deputies and one of the Counsellors have also been spruced up with the colour and feel of the classrooms. The corridor itself has been re-floored to match the stone-work downstairs and all of the walls, arches and banisters have been restored to their former glory.
Corridors before renovation.
Corridors after renovation.
The environment in which we live and work shapes our response to it and the world beyond. This exercise isn’t just about making the place look nice; it is about making it look and feel like a place of learning that inspires the boys and the masters to live up to our mission of being exceptional.
The fields getting spruced up for the new term.
Ivy loving the monsoon.

Our boys and masters have been involved in many things over the break from expeditions to summer schools, training camps and exchanges. Some visited other schools, some took part in service projects and others helped to share their passions for making, playing and doing. Many of these things you can see on our Facebook page. Some of these activities were not only carried out by the boys and masters; the DSOBS was active in living up to the Aristocracy of Service that the school and they have been committed to since 1935. As a community, one generation serves as the role model for the next.
 
We will be sharing more of the activities and changes that have taken place over the summer next week. In the meantime I would like to ask for your help in making Sunday a smooth day for arrivals at school. Remember when you are helping your son(s) pack up for school that you do not need to be sending in tuck, phone, money and credit cards with them. All of these things they have access to here in the way that we have made them available, in accordance with our values and the way of working. Choosing to undermine these will show your child that these values are optional and that works against what, I hope, you have chosen this school for; to be just and ethical citizens; train them to be wise and principled leaders; and prepare them to enter one of the strongest fraternities for life.
 
Thank you for your help and we look forward to having the community back together on Sunday evening.
 
Yours,


Matthew Raggett
Headmaster
 
The Doon School
Mall Road
Dehradun-248 001
(Uttarakhand)
India