National day
Importance attached to the national day as well as the degree to which it is celebrated vary greatly from country to country. For example, Spain's national day Fiesta Nacional de España is held on 12 October, the day celebrated in other countries as Columbus Day or "Día de la Raza", and commemorates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. A military parade is held in Madrid celebrating the occasion. The national day in France is 14 July and known as the "Fête nationale" (known in English-speaking countries as Bastille Day) commemorating the Storming of the Bastille, which is considered the start of the French Revolution. It is widely celebrated and the French Tricolour is much in evidence, while the President of the Republic attends a military parade on the Champs-Élysées of Paris. In the United States, the Independence Day celebrations on 4 July are widely celebrated with parades, fireworks, picnics and barbecues. In Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day, 17 March, is the equivalent of a national day and has been a public holiday for many years. However, in the United Kingdom the constituent countries' patron saints' days are low-key affairs. In recent times campaigns have commenced to promote the national days of England, Scotland and Wales, with St. Andrew's Day being designated as an official bank holiday when the Scottish Parliament passed the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007. A National Day for the United Kingdom has also been proposed in recent years.
National Academy For Learning
The student demographic is largely made up of Indian families who have had some exposure to the west, mostly the United States. Many children were born in the US, raised there for a few years before returning to India when their families relocated. Or students have parents who are professionals who were themselves either schooled in the west or who travel to western countries on a regular basis. This gives the school a quasi-international flair while it retains a largely Indian approach to education, academic discipline, arts and culture. For example, for Bastille Day (the French National Day on 14 July), all students wear French colors to school just as they do for the Indian Independence Day (15 Aug). The school requires students to attend both Indian and Western music classes each week.