I am delighted to be one of the privileged few gathered here today at the Trivandrum International School, on this spacious, purpose-built, state-of-the-art campus on a windswept hillside looking down towards the coastline of Kerala, God's Own Country.

When Mr. Vijaya Raghavan approached me in December of last year to be the Executive Director and the first Head of School, I was overcome with excitement. Here was a man I admired who with his friend Mr. George Thomas was setting up a school in exactly the manner I would have liked to do, had I been able to. The combination of a highly intelligent entrepreneur and an extremely generous benefactor immediately bore fruit in the planning and building stage of the school.

I am indeed highly honoured to have been chosen as the leader of this team. Mr. Richard Hillebrand who will join us shortly as Headmaster is an Oxford graduate whom I brought out to teach in Colombo immediately after he graduated. Though at that time he was in his early twenties, he was an outstanding teacher, one of the most dedicated and effective I have ever employed. I have already introduced you to our brilliant team, our consultants with whom I am in close contact on a regular basis, our coordinators and our teachers and administrative staff. I am thrilled with the calibre of the teachers we have identified for this institution.

Mrs. Mary George lighting the lamp.

11 April 2003: The Trivandrum International School grounds for the first time played host to a gathering of students, parents and teachers. The freshly painted walls of the School's Main Block resounded with the voices of the School's first pupils.

In celebration of the first function of its kind on the School campus,  Mrs. Mary George, wife of Mr. George M. Thomas, President of the School, lighted the Traditional Lamp.

Mrs. Elizabeth Moir, Head of School, addressed the gathering. Her message was one of great promise outlining the vision for the School and the commitment that would make this vision a reality in the coming years.

Mrs. Elizabeth Moir, introduced the members of the Staff to the parents. They were taken on a tour of the School campus and were shown the Junior School Block, the Hostel, the Swimming Pools and the School Play Grounds... all getting ready to receive the first batch of students.

Those who were present on this auspicious day will cherish with pride and joy, their tryst with the destiny of an institution which has set for itself the goal of being one of the finest in this part of the world.

Mrs. Moir speaks at the students, parents and
teachers meet

All of us share the School's vision that we should mould a new generation of leaders by creating self confident, sensitive, responsible and informed individuals with a lifelong passion for learning and caring.

We welcome all of you most warmly. You the first parents, teachers and children are the pioneers and indeed the Founders of this great institution. In years to come you will remember this day and you will tell your grandchildren about how you were the ones who dared to be the first to take this exciting leap into the unknown and that in doing this others dared to follow.

I promise you will be profoundly happy to have done this. I sense that already it is becoming for us all a home away from home, a new family, where we find confidence, self respect, close and lasting friendships and the courage to dare to try new things, to find out what we really enjoy doing and to do it well. To study, to write poetry, to create sculptures, to grow plants, to play cricket, to go on adventure camps, to make music, to dance, to debate, to explore, to research, to find yourself and be yourself so that you can all be part of this new generation of self confident, responsible informed leaders with the passion to learn and to serve.

Students at the meet

Here you will have time to be yourself, to enjoy yourself, to be active when you want to be, to reflect, meditate, read or listen to music when you need time alone. You will be expected to give your best at all times and you will want to do this. You will not have the pressure of private tuition and your parents will know that we will give you a full education. The classes will be small and the children will all have a great deal of personal attention.

How can you succeed?

This school is intent on teaching you values and skills, but we still encourage individuality. To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight. We want to help you become rounded individuals who will be able to harness their strengths and adapt to the dynamic modern world without losing the intrinsic values that are so respected by your family and your culture.

We are here to put you on the right track. But even if you are on the right track you can still get run over if you stay still. We urge you to reach for the stars. Look up. Keep your heads held high. Love yourselves not for who you are but for what you may become. Realise that without passion for what you do, you will be a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint that awaits the shock of the iron before it can give spark.

Parents at the meet

Trivandrum International School will have everything that a school, committing itself to moulding a new generation of leaders, must have:

international curriculum, international faculty, innovative ways of delivering
the curriculum, a full repertoire of extra-curricular activities for the holistic development of each child, physical facilities of unmatched quality and range.

Let our school be a beacon for this lovely State. Let us send out into the world young men and women who will be at home anywhere in the world, who will be loved and who will command respect and will be able to lead their generation across the world towards a brighter future

The School' first team in place

Realising that teachers are the very foundation of a school, the Trivandrum International School has aspired to and succeeded in attracting a fine group of professionals who have been teaching in reputed schools in London, Hong Kong, Amman, Abu Dhabi, Colombo, Montreal, Jakarta, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ooty, Madras, Cochin and Trivandrum. The search is on for more.

The selected teachers have one thing in common: their deep commitment to the School's vision of "creating self - confident, sensitive, responsible and informed individuals with a life long passion for learning and caring."
 

THE School TEAM

Elizabeth Moir, an MA (Hons.) in
Mathematics and PG in Education from
Oxford University, heads the School.