The new school year began on the 1st November 2007 - Druk White Lotus School now has 398 students, of whom 113 are residential students from remote areas of Ladakh. They are cared for by 20 Ladakhi and Tibetan teachers plus 21 support staff. Sarla Chhewang took these photos on her trip to find needy children in remote area of Karnak.

A lot of the remote area children are sponsored by the students of His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa. Here are some of the latest recipients.

Stanzin (top) joined the Nursery, whilst Tsewang joined the Upper Kindergarten.

All 13 students got there safely. There was a quick change of plan to build two adventure playgrounds for the residential children, rather than a greenhouse, and here is what they achieved:

On the occasion of the visit by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo, New York State, celebrated the local and global achievements of the Druk Padma Karpo School with an exhibition and a commemorative book titled ˜Building Culture"

In the book, Brian Carter (Professor of Architecture and Dean of the School) states, "This is a school built around an idea that seeks to provide children with appreciations and understandings of the wisdom of the past that are integral with new attitudes and skills for the future. The school is an outstanding example of a truly sustainable design.

Resources:

• View photos
• Read the University’s news article
• Download ˜Inside the School", an excerpt from the book

House competitions continue with cricket and football. Each of the five ‘houses’ has a boys team and a girls team. There was great excitement when the new tracksuits were delivered, thanks to the generosity of a donor, and now the infants would like some too!

September 23rd and 24th was a very exciting time for all, as the school hosted an international film crew of 300 who were making an advertisement for Cisco Systems.

On the Saturday, Junior 4’s classroom was the location for filming and all the children had the chance to watch the process.

On Sunday, the location was at Thiksay Gompa and Junior IV spent the day there. Cisco commissioned Ogilvy & Mather and Radical Media to produce their commercial.

A donation for equipment was given to the school as well as treats for the children. Some of the money will go towards school outings and also to the special Children's Day on 14th November.

Resources:

• View the video - before it premieres! (8.3mb | 30 seconds)