There is one theme which
characterizes our activities over the past two weeks - and it is how we have
addressed the question of what kinds of young people we want to create. If
there is one way of defining the role of education in the 21st century world, it
is through the development of confident, responsible young people with an
awareness of the world. This is a process which begins at the earliest age at
Pathways – at Pre-Nursery – and runs through the school upto the Diploma
programme.
Partnering with Parents
We believe that the creation of well rounded young people is a collaboration between home and school. Neither one succeeds without the support of the other.
Primary School - Back to School
Over the past two weeks parents
from the Early Years, Primary and Middle School have come in to attend Back to
School and Form Afternoons to understand the curriculum. For Pre-Nursery to
Form 1 this was run by teachers. Form 2 – 8 sessions were delivered by students
and teachers with parents acting as students, solving Maths problems, responding
to poems in English and creating blogs in ICT. Students were delighted to have
the upper hand, enthusiastically suggesting that plenty of homework should be
set and parents arriving late should be penalized. The turning of tables was
empowering for students who proved to be excellent communicators, clearly
explaining processes and allowing parents a peep into how our learning is
application-based and problem-solving in its approach. It was as challenging to
move parents back into class after the coffee break as it is for teachers to do
the same for students. Light-hearted and stimulating, the events were an
excellent example of a student-led partnership in learning.
Internet Safety Week
All this week, you will have
received in your inbox tips on internet safety – on what not to reveal in chat
rooms, how to use Facebook sensibly, using passwords on sites and online
payment. The internet is both enabling and dangerous and central to our
extensive technology programme is to educate young people in the right approach
to safe use. We knew it was successful when some children in Form 3 and 4
declared that if you gave your real name on sites, you could even be kidnapped.
You can read more about the week-long activity elsewhere in the blog.
Model UN in the Middle School
We were delighted to host the
first middle school Model UN, an event attended by 12 schools across the city.
It was the culmination of months of planning by our core team of teachers,
Smita Bhattacharya, Jyotsna Gaur and Aprajita Ralli. Visiting schools declared
that it was a wonderful learning. The value of a Model UN is that it teaches
the importance of international collaboration and debate, that countries like
Burkina Faso, Togo, Iran etc have an important voice in international issues
like human rights and environmental protection. You can read more about it at
http://psnmun.pathways.in/
The student council investiture
was a solemn and elegant affair focusing on the seriousness with which we take
student leadership. It came at the end of a hard-fought election inculcating a
respect for democratic traditions of
selection, complete with campaign speeches and posters. The President
Sonal Chawla administered the oath where council members vowed to perform
faithfully the duties of their office. We are looking forward to working
closely with the Council to strengthen the school’s activities.
Reminder
Sports Day is coming on 22nd
February from 8.30 am – 1 pm. Please do keep the day free to attend. For
pre-Nursery to Form 1 we have a non-competitive Sports Fiesta on Friday 15th
February. We look forward to seeing you there.
Shalini Advani
School Director