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Inception of Ullens School Kathmandu

The Principal for the School, Mr. Medin Lamichhane, went to Bank Street Graduate School of Education in New York to study education leadership.

When he came back in 2004, he reviewed the Nepal Government National Curriculum and initiated a short term pilot project to train school teachers in the Bank Street approach to education. A not-for-profit company was registered with the name Ullens Education Foundation to honor the contribution of the Ullens’ family to impoverished families in Nepal. The first program of UEF, the Ullens School came to life in May 2006, with 64 students & 24 faculty members focused on “diversity” and the concept that every child is unique.

In just over a decade of establishment, the Ullens School has earned recognition as a leader in progressive education in Nepal and is one of the most desirable schools in the country for the parents to enroll their kids. Currently, it serves close to 1200 students across these three programs and provides employment to over 300 people including academic and non-academic staff.

The goal was for each classroom to reflect the ethnic and geographical diversity of Nepal:

  • Economic diversity: Fully paying, partial paying, fully subsidized
  • Occupational diversity: Parents from different walks of life, diverse professional backgrounds
  • Ethnic diversity: include all ethnicities of Nepal
  • Gender balance

Our Beliefs

  • Every child is unique. The Ullens approach to teaching respects the cognitive diversity of its children.
  • Education develops a child to a complete being, which includes the child’s social, emotional, physical and intellectual development.
  • Education leads to an understanding of important concepts and mastery of essential skills through instruction which is based on well-researched philosophies of teaching and learning strategies. The school believes that: Learning is ‘child-focused’. Learning is active: students are engaged with real experiences and ‘hands-on’ activities, which help them to construct and develop their own understandings. Learning is engaging students in critical and creative thinking: students deepen their understanding through questions that ask them to solve problems, make connections, draw conclusions and articulate their own ideas. Learning is students reflecting on what they have learned from their experiences. Education is enhanced through respectful, open and supportive relationships between students and teachers. Students are encouraged to be creative and to share their ideas and feelings. Education is interactive. Parents and teachers are engaged in a partnership through which they support each other to provide positive learning environments for children.
Ullens School strives to encourage and empower children to pursue their intellectual curiosity and creativity along a path of self-discovery that leads to responsible adulthood and, to provide a multi-faceted learning environment that includes parents, teachers, students and the community, where children from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds are treated with respect and dignity.

Kindergarten

The Ullens Kindergarten offers a world-class pre-school, progressive and child centered education to the children of ages 2.5 years to 5.5 years old.

Elementary school

Students of grades I – VIII are in the elementary school program of the Ullens School. In the primary grades (I­­–V), we have a grade teaching system.

Senior School

The secondary school program consists of students of grades IX and X and the Nepal Government’s NEB (then HSEB) Program. Like other programs of the Ullens School, the students of secondary school also experience a holistic learning experience courtesy to the teaching-learning pedagogy.