If only the education of all young children could be this rich and varied! At least Bharti Chandiramani (aka “Ms. Bharti”), the Principal and Head Teacher of Yokohama Sai International School, is striving to make it available to more children in the city. She has exciting plans for her affordable preschool (and afterschool program) and a really good track record of success so far.
Ms. Bharti came to Yokohama 14 years ago with her husband who was previously a Saint Maur student and who later returned here for work. Eager to do something, she discovered there were opportunities in teaching. After taking pedagogical courses, she helped set up a preschool with another organization, but had to quit to care for her own child.
“I couldn’t work long hours,” Ms. Bharti recounts, “because I didn’t have extended family here for support. But then parents of a student at the school I was working at brought their child to study with me in my home because she had special needs and the school couldn’t accommodate her.”
Before long, friends of that student wanted to study with Ms. Bharti as well. Good reputations spread even among kids!
“Eventually, there were so many kids in my house that I had to find a place to start this commercially,” laughs Ms. Bharti. “I didn’t intend to start a preschool business; I just wanted to do some work and I love teaching.”
Her school (henceforth, “Sai”) is now officially registered with the Naka Ward office and has official International Primary Curriculum (IPC) accreditation, which is recognized worldwide and is an inquiry-based method. At the time of this interview, there were just under ten students in the preschool (ages 2 to 6), but about 30 students in total when including afterschool programs (up to grade 5). Enrollees in the latter include students from Yokohama International School, Saint Maur, Horizon, as well as public elementary schools. There are multiple teachers, too, to teach the various subjects and activities.
At preschool, days begin with free play time (and handwashing), but then kids are treated to a rich variety of activities depending on the day of the week. Over the course of a given month, even the weeks are different from one another. Interestingly, morning free time is often followed by yoga and meditation, which seems like a great activity for kids before a day of enrichment. We can’t possibly list all the activities here, but they range from classics like math, English, and library time to music, art, crafts, games, and outdoor time. IPC units are in the afternoon. Afterschool programs (including Saturdays) offer skill-building classes like coding.
As it’s an international school, Sai embraces all cultures. They celebrated Diwali and Christmas last year and will celebrate Chinese New Year soon. The aim is to expose children to all kinds of culture. Sai is about much more than academics.
One unique aspect of Sai, which is faithful to its origins, is that it always has at least one child with some sort of disability, such as autism. Ms. Bharti sought further education to accommodate a neurodiverse classroom, and she trains her staff on how to better accommodate such children.
Ms. Bharti says, “I’m looking for a bigger place so that we can provide more options for kids. I also want to have a full preschool to elementary school program. Hopefully a daycare center, too. There are not enough schools in Yokohama that are reasonably priced and inclusive. This is my vision for the future.”
And a worthy vision it is! Good luck, Ms. Bharti.