11.87° N · 75.37° E Malabar Coast Est. 2026

A learning stay by the sea

A family takes a house on the Kannur shore, cooks together, and spends a handful of unhurried days turning a stretch of coastline into a classroom — guided by a teacher who has spent a career designing learning for children who don't sit in ordinary ones.

Plan a stay → How it works
The temple pond at Kannur catching first light, palms and tiled houses reflected in still water Plate I the temple pond, first light

02 — What the coast can teach

Kannur is the syllabus.

Each stay is anchored to one or two themes, pitched to your child's age and level. A few of the threads this coast offers — every one of them a doorway into a school subject, approached from the real world.

See the full annual project plan →
fig. 1the morning market, town-side

The market economy

How produce is priced, sold and traded; supply, demand and the working day of a market town.

Business & Economics
A bare foot stepping onto wet sand at the shoreline, the ocean stretching out aheadfig. 2the shore underfoot, Kannur

Tide pools & the shoreline

Close observation of coastal life — habitats, adaptation and the rhythm of the tides, recorded by hand.

Biology & Environmental Science
The Handloom Museum at Payyambalam, Kannur, a red-tiled building behind clipped green hedgesfig. 3handloom, Kannur weave

The Kannur handloom

Pattern, fibre and the economics of a cottage industry that clothes the region and travels the world.

Geography, Design & Commerce
Home-baked bread dusted with sugar arranged around a glass dish of apricot jamfig. 4the working kitchen

The kitchen as laboratory

Measurement, heat, fermentation and flavour — chemistry and culture you can eat at the end of the lesson.

Chemistry & Life Skills
Evening sky over the Arabian Sea, sun breaking through cloud, figures wading at the shorelinefig. 5evening sky, the open sea

Maps, tides & monsoon

Reading the coast — weather, navigation and the geography that shapes how people here live and move.

Geography & Mathematics
A palm-lined backwater with tiled houses along the far bankfig. 6the backwater, palm-lined

Backwaters & exploration

Kayaking the backwaters, plotting the route by GPS, and a ferry down the Valapattanam river — fieldwork that doubles as adventure.

Geography & Fieldcraft
Visitors on the Kannur beach in season, families at the water's edge under a big skyfig. 7the beach, in season

The visitor economy

How a beach town earns from travellers — the seasons, what a homestay charges and why, and the real trade-offs tourism brings to a coast.

Business, Economics & Tourism
A temple pond at dusk, old tiled houses and palms reflected in the water under a soft skyfig. 8the temple pond, evening light

Temples, palaces & forts

Many families come to the Malabar coast for its ancient temples, palaces, forts and places of worship — Parassinikkadavu, St. Angelo Fort, the old shrines of Kannur and beyond. We read their architecture, history and ritual on the ground.

History, Architecture & Belief
A snake camouflaged among dry palm fronds and leaf litter on the forest floorfig. 9coiled in the leaf litter

Snakes, insects & the forest floor

Coastal Kerala's undergrowth is dense with life. We learn to spot what's camouflaged right in front of us, identify it carefully, and understand why a respectful distance is the whole skill.

Biology & Field Safety

03 — Who you'll be learning with

A teacher first, and only a teacher.

Portrait of Saqib Chinoy, glasses pushed up, smiling in a café booth Portrait Saqib Chinoy

I'm Saqib Chinoy. For the better part of a decade I've taught in classrooms that don't look like most classrooms — six years at The Valley School, part of the Krishnamurti Foundation India, building discovery-led, project-based learning for children aged twelve to eighteen, and more recently teaching Cambridge Business Studies at IGCSE, AS and A Level.

Before any of that, I spent fifteen years in science and business — research, corporate strategy, and bringing new things to market in Singapore and India. That is why my teaching tends to start from the real world and work back towards a coursebook, rather than the other way around.

I've designed original curricula and case studies, mentored students who still keep in touch as working adults, and helped children moving between boards find their feet. Designing learning for one child at a time, around who they actually are, is the part of this work I love most. Seagulls is that, by the sea.

Full background & credentials on LinkedIn

05 — Plainly stated

What Seagulls is, and what it isn't.

Bringing your child somewhere to learn is a matter of trust. Here, plainly, is the shape of it — before you write in.

01

Not a school

Seagulls is an educational travel experience, not a registered or accredited school. It issues no board qualifications, certificates or grades, and does not replace your child's legal schooling arrangements. Work produced becomes part of your child's own portfolio.

02

Enrichment, not a substitute

Activities are enrichment, built around your child's existing education. Parents remain fully responsible for their child's formal curriculum and any board, legal or homeschooling requirements that apply to them.

03

Supervision & responsibility

A parent, or both, stays with the family for the whole of the stay. I facilitate learning; parents remain responsible for their children's supervision, conduct and wellbeing at all times.

04

Safety, water & health

The coast, the sea and outdoor activity carry inherent risk. Families take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own travel, medication and insurance.

05

Dates & payment

Dates and rates are agreed per family and confirmed by an online meeting. Payments cover expenses only — this is not run for profit.

06

Privacy & contact

This website is the only place to find or contact Seagulls — there is no Instagram, X or Facebook, no agent. Anything you share in an enquiry is used solely to reply to you and plan your stay.

06 — Start a conversation

Or write directly hello@seagulls-kannur.in

[ placeholder address — to be confirmed ]

Thank you — your note is on its way. I'll write back personally, usually within a couple of days. (This is a preview form; live sending will be wired up before launch.)