(indistinct chatter)
[Narrator] ConGloms are an informal time for the teacher and the
students to interact, so it becomes a bonding time. (students clap enthusiastically) The ConGlom sets the tone for the day, and throughout the course of the day you see the team-building, sharing ideas, opinions, respecting each other.

Both of us were having difficulty. They did not just give up or blame us. They helped us along.

The mission of Riverside is every child should graduate saying I can. They should go out with the confidence that yes, I can deal with any problem, any situation.
(students cheer happily)

First thing in the morning, what do we do?

[Student] Conglom.

Can we do a Conglom? Yeah, you want a fun Conglom?

[All Students] Yes!

Conglom is a Riverside jargon. It means coming together. It actually comes from
the word conglomerate. Conglom is like a morning meeting where it is a pure relationship building time. They like the fact that this is an unstructured time for them. It’s just talking time, maybe playing a game together, always trying to know each other.

It helps me wake up from home. And it helps me start my brain.

One team over here. We have different types of Congloms, we have physical Congloms, we have social intuition Congloms, we have spiritual Congloms where we look at how am I growing my heart bigger.

It’s just like a good start to the day because you don’t want to start the day with
studying or seeing books. We either do an activity or we have some specific topic to talk about.

The need of the Conglom comes mainly from what is the need of the class.

Maybe that class has a lot of tension between the boys and girls. Maybe they’re getting totally wrapped up in exam stress. You kind of tailor those Congloms with that.

The Conglom that grade six had, the topic was body awareness.

We had a girl and boy Conglom separate. When it’s like completely girls, then it’s very comfortable to say anything we want.

So is it fair that someone teases you because you are starting to grow breasts? What else do you get teased for?

Tuli was telling me that Ihave a mustache and everything.

He was calling her a hairy potato.

So we also talk about people calling us names and saying that you’re fat, you’re thin. So then we would also shouted these to them.

The first thing I would do is, whatever is happening at that moment, I would firmly say stop it and second, I would approach a teacher.

Questions about the body or about behavior, we would never approach our teachers, maybe not even our parents, but Congloms are a moment when you don’t get judged.

Okay guys, we’re gonna play a game. Each team, three people will be mute,
two people will be blind, and one person physically disabled.Today’s Conglom was an active game to understand how my peers work, to understand how I react
to certain situations which are difficult and stressful for me. Your challenge is to use
these cardboard pieces to get your whole team to reach the other side of the lava pit.

It was a team building activity. It was about involving everyone no matter how different or alike we are.

Three, two, one, go!

How our team goes, we were taking care of the people blindfolded because the mute people could see and hear us, so we guided them, and we took support of
them in terms of helping.

Keep going, keep going! (students cheer happily)

We’re in the journey together so Congloms help us grow an individual who’s going to go out into society and be able to solve problems and be able to understand themselves and connect with other people emotionally.

We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Working as a class, we can cross the hole. (students clap enthusiastically)

Every morning, the students look forward to the Conglom. Even I look forward, as an educator. It is absolute outstanding, and we would not want to miss it for anything. (students cheer joyfully)

Schools That Work

Riverside School