1. TRAINING; AN INTEGRAL
COMPONENT OF EFFECTIVE HR
PRACTICES
“Any TRAINING that does not include emotions, mind and body is incomplete;
as knowledge fades without the feelings.”
Baishaki Bapat
Coordinator - Training and Study Visits – National and International
The Orchid School,
Baner, Pune

2. Importance of Training
Every organization has a set of objectives & goals, and they can achieve it
effectively only if its ‘Human Resource’ is trained and channelized in the right
direction, as an organization is as good as it’s people.
Training is an organized activity which is undertaken to transform or upgrade an
individual according to the organization’s functional needs.

3. Outlook towards Training in my organization
My organization, The Orchid School believes that all the teachers are also
learners in a way. Only if a teacher keeps abreast with the latest updates in
his/her field, will he/she be able to impart this knowledge to his/her students.
Hence we periodically arrange for teacher training programs in the school on a
wide variety of topics. We also send them for relevant training programs and
workshops which may be need based.

4. Outlook towards Training in my organization
Every year in the yearly budget planning, a specific amount is allocated for
Training and Workshops. At the beginning of each academic session, we plan a
three week orientation and training program for our teachers and staff on a
wide variety of topics such as:
•Languages
•Mathematics
•Computers and Information Technology
•Special Education
•Quality Circle Time
•Disaster Management
•Sensitization to Sexual Abuse
•Rational Emotive Behavior etc.

5. Staff and Leadership Retreat
The entire Teaching, Administrative and Service Staff of The Orchid School
goes for a compulsory overnight ‘Staff Retreat’ every year.
We also arrange a ‘Leadership Retreat’ once or twice a year for the ‘Role
Holders’ of the School who are in key positions and are responsible for the
smooth functioning of our school and the day to day work.

6. Objectives of the Retreat
1. Connect - Team Bonding - know each other - colleagues from different
departments/domains at a deeper level.
It creates empathy
Smooth functioning to work as a team
Helps to iron out differences
To know strengths and weaknesses which can be further utilized
Ultimately identify oneself as a member of full school rather than small group
2. Reflect - Aligning with institutional goals/vision
Forum for creating, recreating, revisiting “Shared Vision” and how to move
towards it.
Know school ethos/beliefs, know your beliefs, understand whether you are on
the same page, if not what are the gaps, and work towards alignment.
3. Retreat
Out of daily rut/routine
Having fun/coming together
Breaking monotony
Discovering each other’s flavors/ talents

7. Planning for a Successful Retreat:
We take good efforts to make our retreats a good blend of learning and fun
every year and here are some important steps we take to plan and conclude a
successful retreat:
•Identifying a skilled facilitator
•Selecting an appropriate and possibly non-
repetitive venue
•Team formation for interfacing with facilitator and
planning
•Need analysis for the objectives which needs to be
achieved
•Communicating this information to the facilitator for
planning the program
•Planning all the logistics – Transport, Stationary,
•Technical and IT requirements, Food and Stay
arrangements
•Actual implementation of the program

8. Leadership Training

9. Staff Retreat

10. Training for a Purpose:
Teaching and Non- Teaching staff are sent for training and workshops which
are domain specific:
•Refresher courses to utilize educational tools
•Workshop on Learning Difficulties for Counselors
and Special Educators
•Language workshops for Hindi/Marathi Teachers
•Customer Relation and Soft Skills workshops for
Admin Staff.

11. Training for Parents:
The Orchid School believes that the Parents and Teachers need to work as
equal partners for the overall healthy development of a child and hence several
Workshops for Parents are also organized in areas such as:
•Language
•Math
•How to tackle Discipline and Home Work issues?
•Seminars and Panel Discussions to share
parenting concerns

12. Training for Students:
We conduct several workshops for the students on some burning issues,
namely :
•Awareness sessions on substance abuse and
addiction, followed with training in poster making to
campaign against it.
•Sessions on Aids and HIV awareness
•Comprehensive sexuality education
•Mentoring sessions for school council
•Career Fair for tenth graders to enable them to
make the right career choice

13. International co-operation & exchange programs
MOU with Donner , Higher secondary and Secondary School in Sweden
Teacher and Student Exchange between Donner Gymnassiet and TOS
Germany - PASCH, Initiated by Goethe Institute , MMB, India – for
promoting German Language.
Selected students from Std.VII / VIII visited Germany for a study tour

14. Study:
To get a 360 degree perspective of a training program, feedback of the
participants is essential. It is an important tool to evaluate the effectiveness of
the training imparted and helps to plan a better training calendar for the year.
•After every workshop/training, a feedback is taken
from the participant
•It is taken in the form of an interview/evaluation
sheet
•The data base helps to evaluate the training
imparted
•Based on this evaluation, future training programs
are planned.

15. Analysis:
Regular class room observations have helped to gauge the validity of the
training given and significant improvement has been seen in our students’
performance in both scholastic and co scholastic subjects.
A recently conducted customer satisfaction survey showed the following results
related to our training and development program:
•96 % of Teachers agree that The Orchid School does a
good job of giving people different opportunities and
experiences to help them develop as professionals
•45% of Teachers feel that the amount of training that
they receive is just right, 40% of Teachers feel that the
amount of training they receive is more than required
•55% of Teachers often feel that their career goals can
be met at The Orchid School, 42% of Teachers
sometimes feel that their career goals can be met at The
Orchid School
•68% of Teachers feel that they are building skills that will
help them both inside and outside The Orchid School in
their career

16. Analysis:
Some other pointers also indicate that a well trained staff can impact the
teaching learning process positively and contribute towards our students’
achievements in several areas, to name a few:
:
•The international exchange program with Sweden
recently won a prestigious award at the World Education
Summit, 2012.
•The project "SAYING NO TO DRUGS AND ALCOHOL"
has been nominated for Vyasanmukti Sahitya
Sammelan organized by The Maharashtra Government
•One of the Top finalists teams in The inter-school TCS
IT Wiz Quiz
•A Class VIII student was selected to represent the
Cricket Federation of India Team to tour Kuala Lumpur
(Malaysia) from 12.09.2012 to 21.09.2012.

17. The Road Ahead
It is very important to be abreast with the changing needs and technologies in
the education sector because it has a deep impact on the overall development
of the most important of all resources - The HUMAN Resource.
I conclude my sharing of thoughts with a ‘statement’ that our organization
strongly believes in the ‘benefits of training’ and has been using this tool very
effectively over the few years of it journey from its inception, And a ‘confidence’
that we will continue to use it with continous enhancements and inputs of new
knowledge till it is in existence.

18. Thank you!
For more details log on to www.theorchidschool.org
Training and Development and Collaboration