River House Academy

We are a small community school in Goa, nestled in a beautiful coconut grove, overlooking the river in Canacona, South Goa. Our innovative and dynamic curriculum serves the needs of the local and international community.  At River House Academy we strive to create an educational environment which uses international academic standards to underpin a creative, holistic and active learning experience.

Our vision is to create a learning environment which inspires our children to become confident, passionate and active global citizens.

Our Vision

Our vision is to create a learning environment which inspires our children to become confident, passionate and active global citizens. River House Academy is committed to educating the whole child - intellectually, physically, socially and emotionally. We want our children to grow and learn in an environment which inspires them to succeed. To live in a community which is supportive and nurturing? We encourage our children to question and empower them to believe in themselves and the world around them. We urge them to promote global citizenship and social change.

Mission Statement

In order to meet the academic, cultural and social needs of our international community, River House Academy has created a unique and varied curriculum. Our holistic approach to education provides a learning experience which is academically relevant and challenging, whilst at the same time encouraging creativity and play. We nurture their curiosity and enthusiasm through engaging them in active learning.

Ethos

River House Academy is committed to educating the whole child - intellectually, physically, socially and emotionally. We want our children to grow and learn in an environment which inspires them to succeed, to live in a community which is supportive and nurturing. We encourage our children to question and empower them to believe in themselves and the world around them. We urge them to promote global citizenship and social change.

We develop in our children a sense of responsibility. We are all members of a global community and as our children grow they understand how they can contribute to this community. We give them the tools to make a difference to their own lives and the lives of those around them. Our success in this will develop confident, active global citizens with a sense of tolerance and compassion.

Our Team

Ellie Cottrell is the founder and head teacher of River House Academy

Ellie taught for 11 years in Norwich, England where she worked with students with a wide range of skills and abilities. She enjoyed finding innovative ways of engaging learners so that they reached their full potential, academically, creatively and socially

Having two children of her own, Ellie is clear that a rounded education must offer a balance between academic achievement and creative expression

This balance is the defining strength of River House Academy

Our team at River House Academy is made up of fully qualified teachers from the UK, USA and India. We also have TEFL support teachers and a small team looking after our office and kitchen

Our staff is committed to working within the ethos of River House Academy, to ensure that our children receive the best education possible within a holistic, nurturing environment

Location

River House Academy is located on the Chaudi-Talpona road on the way to Talpona beach. We are just 7 minutes ride away from Patnem. Once you’ve wound your way through the gorgeous quiet village of Ponsulem you will come across our school located at the edge of a river surrounded by our very own coconut plantation and walled garden. We are in a quiet area, have lots of privacy and the luxury of nature, fresh air and a river view of all views! We believe that the environment in which children come to learn is incredibly important. What could be more inspiring and nurturing than being at school and at one with nature?

The main house consists of 4 classroom spaces, a library and a communal hall area. We have a separate building on the grounds for River House Pre-school. We have an outside dining area overlooking the river and several outside classroom spaces. We have plenty of outside space for growing our own garden which of course will be a project for all the children to be involved in

River House Pre-school

4-5 Year Olds

The emphasis is on learning through play. We create secret foundations of learning to prepare them for entry into our primary school in a year’s time. Activities are underpinned by 7 Learning Intentions: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Expressive Arts and Design, Physical Development and Understanding the World. The timetable is based around weekly or monthly themes, for example ‘Holidays’ will include creating beach pictures, sand and water play, beach role-play, beach letter sounds, drawing or writing postcards  and counting shells. We take full advantage of our beautiful gardens and most activities take place outside. The class is in a separate building within our main school grounds and the children join the other classes for lunch.

River House Primary

5-11 Year Olds

River House Primary follows a curriculum which is underpinned by international guidelines. We use the Cambridge International Curriculum for Maths, English and Science. To ensure we are meeting the needs of all our children we use Individual Learning Plans for Maths and English. This way we can set individual targets which take into consideration the different pace and style in which we all learn. Children are generally put into a class according to their age. However Maths and English classes run at the same times throughout the primary timetable to allow fluidity between classes so that children can move up or down according to their needs.

In addition children have classes in Our World, PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), and Hindi, yoga, sport, art and craft, drama, music, dance, cooking and gardening. Our creative, afternoon sessions do not all necessarily run all year; we have specialist teachers who come in and teach 6-12 week modules. In Our World we focus on a different country each month and learn about the history, geography, religion, culture, people and customs of that part of the world.  Our country can also influence what we study in our afternoon creative sessions such as art, craft and music.

Each class has its own teacher and starts every day with them.  Children in classes 2 and 4 will spend most of the week with their class teacher. In Class 6 we begin to introduce specialist teachers for certain lessons such as Maths and English. The school day starts at 9 am and goes through to 3 pm with an hour for lunch. We have academic classes in the morning and then dedicate our afternoons to the creative side of our curriculum. Work is assessed using observation and formative assessment and we are in regular contact with our parents.  As well as two parent’s evenings a year, we give a presentation to the parents on the last Friday of every month to showcase what we have learnt that month. This is an excellent opportunity for parents to chat with each other and with teachers.

We take our position as a community school seriously. We have developed links with a local school for children with disabilities and we have plans to strengthen this partnership in the future. We also aim to benefit the local community by setting up recycling and compost bins. In turn the compost helps us to grow vegetables to provide us with a healthy and nutritious lunch!

River House Secondary

11-14 Year Olds

Following on from River House Primary, our secondary arm continues to provide a dynamic and engaging curriculum but moves things up a level.

Traditionally academic, teacher-led learning in Maths, English and Science (following the Cambridge International Board) as well as Languages, Sport, Creative and Performing Arts, Humanities and Technology are combined with a more student-led experience in our Social Enterprise and Personal Project curriculum. These two modules are designed to provide opportunities for students in the holistic aspects of their learning such as: learning from mistakes; positivity; self-awareness; team-work; research; extended writing; presentation skills; critical thinking and problem solving. In Social Enterprise they will study their rights and responsibilities in the wider world, including the role of money and entrepreneurship in order to then investigate, debate and engage with issues of local importance. The Personal Project will give students the chance to choose an area that they wish to investigate further. They may choose to explore the environment, coding, baking, car manufacturing.  They will be individually mentored throughout the project.

Progress will be tracked and recorded using formative assessment methods. The school day runs from 9 am to 4 pm with 40 minutes for lunch.  Each day will start with a form period with the class teacher followed by six, 50 minute lessons. Work will be differentiated to meet the individual needs of this mixed-age class.

Additional Support

In addition to our fully qualified teachers we also employ support staff who mainly work with our younger learners. Because we have mixed year group classes we are sometimes required to split the class for Maths and English to differentiate the learning. Additional teaching and support staff help us to do this

We also employ TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers to support our learners for whom English is a second language.  These teachers sometimes work within the classroom and at other times will take learners out and give one-to-one or small group classes to improve their spoken English

River House after School Tuition

We run additional tuition classes after school to assist our students with their academic learning.  In particular these classes are useful for students who will return to their own country after their time in Goa and sit examinations, in such as SATS or GCSE’s. Children are required to bring their work from their home country with them and will be supported by us (fully qualified teachers) to complete their homework and/or prepare and revise for exams.  This class is open to all; you do not need to be a student of River House Academy to take advantage of this opportunity

Admissions

Places are only available for stays of more than 3 months.

Maximum class size is 15.

Priority will be given to long term students and/or those who have siblings at the school.

We welcome students of all nationalities.  Please let us know at the time of application if your child will require additional support with their spoken English so that we can arrange TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) support.

After we have received your application you will be required to pay one month’s fees as a deposit to hold a place.  In addition, we will email you with a quote of total fees and a payment schedule which breaks down the payment process for you so you can see exactly how much and when payments should be made.  This quote is only an estimation based on the information given to us at the time of application.

Fees

5 to 10 months - Rs.15, 000 per month
3 to 5 months - Rs.20, 000 per month