A warm welcome to all board members, colleagues, guests and friends of the school, parents and dear children.

It is indeed a beautiful evening, all soaked in the Pune theme. The decoration outside, the ambience and the Puneri Pathiya . Thank you all for this enthusiasm and spirit of togetherness.

We are at the junction where a chapter closes and a new one begins. It is overwhelming that we now count 7 years from the inception of the school. What a journey it has been with each year having its own triumphs and struggles and yet unique it many ways.

We grew from - 24 students to 880 and 30 staff members to 120 now and still counting. Next year we have Nursery to Class IX with 983 students as of today.

The year 2010 - 11 has been a defining year in many ways. The Indian cricket team got us a World cup and the Orchid school got its CBSE affiliation. The similarity between the two is that, both would not have been possible without team effort. But before we begin to celebrate and rejoice we need to wait for the precious piece of paper to land in our hands. It is probably still roaming and virtual space. But ( another but, this time a positive one) we know from the CBSE officials, from the horses mouth, that we have got it.

The whole experience was not less than a grand Indian wedding except may be for some shenaai.

We were on the brides side nervous and biting nails, ensuring all is kept and prepared well. Files, files and more files.

We even put on our best attire only to ensure that if the school program does not impress the inspectors, we will. But, fortunately, that was not needed. Evidently, the IC members the Inspection committee members were pleased with what met their eyes here. They were extremely impressed with

the people, the program, the infrastructure, the facilities, the features and the processes, we already have in place. They were full of praises about the school in general.

Undoubtedly, the team was on a roller coaster for months together before the inspection. But nothing in vain, it brought us tremendous learning, confidence and assurance.

The experience validated and showed how the intent and the philosophy of the school is in tune with the larger cause of education both at national level and global level. So we can proudly pat our backs. The TOS team each and every individual deserves a roaring applause for doing their bit and their best.

On the other side the experience helped us identify lacunae in our system and procedures which we have been adept to learn and implement. The support we received from some neighbourhood CBSE schools to understand the gamut of inspection has been invaluable.