A long distance (eight kilometer) running competition was organized by the District Youth and Sports Services, Leh, for under seventeens, held in Leh on April 22nd, 2014. About five hundred youths participated in the competition. Ms Yondup Phurbu of class eight and Master Jigmet Norboo of class ten of Druk Padma Karpo School (Druk White Lotus School) came third and sixth respectively. Ms Yondup Phurbu completed the distance in twenty one minutes and eighteen seconds.

The District Police, Leh, organized a painting competition for students on April 21st, 2014, on the theme of "Election", held at the District Police Line, Choklamsar, Leh. In all twenty five students from different schools from Leh participated in the competition. Master Tondup Namgail of class nine and Master Stanzin Norboo of class ten from the Druk Padma Karpo School (Druk White Lotus School) came first and third in the competition.

The School Management Committee and the Principal of the school congratulated the winners in the painting and running competitions. They also appreciated the effort of Ms Mahau Mitra, the art teacher, and Mr Tsering Gyalpo, the physical education teacher, for the outstanding results in their students.

The Poplar cuttings arrived for planned planting next week. We have put them in the water storage basin ahead of planting. They were almost immediately a prop for lots of birds, which was lovely to see and hear.

Tsetan and I went to Nimo nursery on Wednesday to collect some more apricot trees, We managed to get 120 trees. This brings our fruit trees total to about 200.

The plan was to take three days to plant these trees into the nursery and to mulch them and clear up. We got 100 in by the end of Friday, which is pretty good work, especially as it is hard work and although the soil in the nursery has been worked previously there are lots of rocks, some very big, to dig out, and there are other watering duties to do.

I arrived on Saturday morning to discover that the polythene cover to the large polytunnel had blown off in the high winds the previous night and knocked a bunch of pots off with it. It looked like quite a big job to fix but all of a sudden a load of children and their house-mother appeared and made very light work of it in about 5 minutes.

I arrived into Leh safely and with all my luggage and limbs intact. We were taken to the Botho Guesthouse in Shey and rested up on Friday.

Over the week I have met with most of the construction team and school staff and everybody has been really very friendly.

Sadly there is a large loss of trees that were planted last season.

Tsetan showed me around the nursery which is clean and tidy and we had a good walk around site when he showed me areas that he thought needed attention – such as some willow to pollard and reposition and a few soil level changes and plant losses. He talked with me about the planting season for trees, flowers and food and we talked about the season ahead.

Other tasks completed this week include seed collection across site so now we have a healthy supply of ornamental seed.

We have cleared the front nursery beds in preparation (I hope) of planting more fruit tree stock. Lots of spinach was harvested and sold to the kitchen.

The school governors are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Shomie Das, an eminent Indian educationist, as Education Advisor.  Mr Das is an alumnus of The Doon School and graduated from the University of Calcutta and the University of Cambridge, UK.  Mr Das was Head of the Physics Department at Gordonstoun School and was Principal of Mayo College from 1969 to 1974 and then Headmaster of the Lawrence School, Sanawar, until 1988.  He served as Headmaster of The Doon School from 1988 until his retirement in 1995.  He is currently the Chairman of Oakridge International School.

Please join us for a fun evening to raise funds for the school's Landscape & Gardens Project on Thursday 27th February at 7pm.

The event is called BRIGHT IDEAS BIG CHANGE and is organised by YTFN, the Youth Funding Network.

Three charitable projects pitch for your £10 entry fee; we want lots of people to pledge their entry fee towards the DWLS project! Plus there is live comedy and music to enjoy.
Venue: London School of Economics, Old Building, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE, London.

Tickets can be purchased on the door or in advance via http://www.ytfn.org/events/ 

https://www.facebook.com/events/786862087995972/

This month the Class 10 students, aged 16+, sit their external Matriculation Examinations before leaving school. The results will be available in March when the students make final choices on further education or work opportunities.

The students are working very hard as they are all striving for good examination results.

Students enjoyed making musical instruments with music volunteer Will Embliss from KINSHIP, UK, this summer.

Will made instruments out of spare construction wood and taught the students how to play them. On the day of the Plant Nursery Inauguration guests also enjoyed the xylophone. Will also made instruments from metal tubes and old oil drums.

His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa was invited by His Eminence Thuksey Rinpoche, Chairperson of the Druk Padma Karpo School, to inaugurate the "Dragon Garden", and to watch a series of performances by the school children and a presentation by the landscape architects from UK.

Three years ago this month, a big mudslide hit our school in the night and did a huge amount of damage. Nobody was killed on the campus, but more than 200 people lost their lives nearby in the Indus Valley. School staff saved our residential students and led them to safety on adjacent high ground. Villagers' fields were left covered in mud, boulders and debris, dramatically affecting their livelihoods.

The school buildings took a direct hit, but top-class design and good construction enabled them to withstand the large forces. The mud made a terrible mess inside buildings, and carried away books, furniture and equipment.