CODING AWAY TO GLORY by Aryaman Dewan Gr 11 and Ms. Sana Noor Primary ICT Teacher

Coding in the simplest of terms, is telling a computer what you want it to do.

So writing a code is like telling the computer what to do. Coding is integral to every website, app, calculator, or any digital product. Slowly jobs, which are not related to computer science like banking or journalism, are going to require basic knowledge of coding too.

“Everybody should know how to program a computer as that teaches us how to think!”  says Steve Jobs.

In the coding week held from 6th to 10th of Feb students as well as parents participated in a number of activities.

The KG kids and older were introduced to the concept of coding through games. Here one player was blindfolded and the other was supposed to guide the partner to a specified destination by giving instructions. This game made it completely clear that coding is nothing but instructions to the computer, and it’ll do whatever we want it to.

While grades 4 and 5 were introduced to Scratch Programming, Primary teachers too tried their hand at coding and got hooked.  Yet the highest point of the week was the Parent-Hour of Code, where about 40 parents enthusiastically participated with their children and attempted coding for the first time. It was a delight watching all the adults as eager as children, trying to figure out the right path or the correct conditional statements to reach the destination at each level.

The seniors with their inter-house debugging challenge, the middle school with their robotics competition, the STEM challenge, and the finale of games, robots and posters made at home and showcased at school - truly it seems Pathways Noida spent a glorious week coding away to glory.

Working With Habitat For Humanity by Rishina Tyagi Gr 11

Each year, students from Grade 11 have a CAS (community action support) trip to Savda Ghevra in association with Habitat for Humanity India. Savda Ghevra JJ Resettlement Colony is one of Delhi’s most recently established resettlement colonies, and is located on the outskirts of Delhi. It was established in 2006 to allocate land to the displaced residents who were from Yamuna river bank and alongside Indira Gandhi air strip. It was done then to accommodate space for the 2010 Common Wealth Games that India had successfully bid.

Stepping out of the bus, one of the first things we say was a huge tank filled with water and a line of people in front of it. Miss Indira, one of our teachers in charge, later told us how there is a shortage of water there and that everyone carries cards to pay for that water. The idea itself was so shocking and surreal to us, especially since we were provided a large number of bottles of water for our 2 hour stay there. We were split up into groups of 8-9 and assigned a house to paint, and on the way to the house assigned to us, I noticed something else that shocked me. All the roads, except for the main road, were insanely narrow and the houses were all cramped against each other. In each house, there were at least 6-7 people, spilling out on the streets and staring at all us in our masks, gloves and brushes in hand.

We started by painting the inner room on the ground floor; there was no light in there, only a cot propped up on bricks, a small dresser and a stool. With only the lights of our cellphones, a few brushes and baby pink paint, we painted their houses and tried to brighten up their lives. Afterwards, we got to interact with some of the people who lived there. They talked to us about their daily lives and the obstacles they faced. Some of them worked to empower the women in the society by teaching them things like sewing and saving money to contribute to anyone going through hard times.

These people with barely any education and so little to their name still give so much to their community; their words and actions truly inspired me and everyone else. Our short time in Savda Ghevra taught us so much about community, compassion and kindness.

‘Exploring through an obscure world’ Our art trip to the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi by Prachi Sharma, Grade 9

Our trip to the National Gallery of Modern Art was thought provoking and fun at the same time.

Jitish Kallat’s exhibition of ‘Here After Here’ showcased various art forms and styles and mediums such as steam, paint, dental plaster, black lead, resin, steel, etc. He had also showcased the speeches of late exceptional leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru in the form of art. The most astounding art piece was of the ‘fog screen projection’, which exhibited a letter being typed in steam. It had various components involved such as a

projector, real steam, a typewriter. The author also created real life visual effects with the help of a projector in order to communicate the very idea of how we observe. Each and every piece of his had some story or message to share in order to make an impact on the audience and show how he looks at the world. The color scheme differs in each of the art pieces produced by the artist, be it still life or infrastructural art. Some of the art works also portrayed the artist’s scientific thought process, like the piece in which police officers from different countries were working; in total there were 24 pieces just like the 24 hours of a day.

Our trip to the art museum not only helped us explore different mediums of art but we also gained a little more on how we can apply our understanding to art. For instance it was incredible to see a letter being typed on steam along with pictures that the author took to share his idea of an issue. Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech or Gandhi’s, too were depicted as art with the use of different mediums. It was a great learning experience.

United We Stand Divided We Fall by Udai Taneja & Rishab Menon 8 C

Division and inclusion.

Division is present throughout the world. Here in India, it goes back centuries in the most distinctive form, caste. Walls too are present everywhere - from Israel to Mexico. President Donald Trump wants to build a wall to separate Mexico and the USA. Israel has built walls to separate itself from Palestine. These leaders claim that building walls are preventing major wars but if we look at the research provided by ‘theguardian.com’, it seems Mexicans have been living both in America and in Mexico for decades without having any trouble. So one wonders, why build walls to separate people if they pose no threat to the countries?

This global divide is caused by different mindsets in the world. Different people have different opinions about different circumstances and these opinions cause a major rift in the unity of people. Some believe that women should not be educated while others, that blacks are inferior to whites. A major difference between the USA and the USSR caused an ideological war, that of communism and capitalism. The division of Germany into West and East is another example.

Even though there are divides, the world over, people have also destroyed both mental and physical boundaries. Take the Berlin wall for example. This wall had divided people for so long but in the year 1989, people destroyed it. Nowadays there, people are more open-minded. There are other examples of progress too. For example, now the girl child is more widely accepted, supported and even educated. In certain pockets racial discrimination too has come down making it a better place.

 This is what Ms Urvashi Butalia brought out through her interactions with us on 24^th February. She rightly said referring to Pakistan, ‘You can't consider a country an enemy’. Ms Butalia argued that Pakistanis look like us, in so many ways live and think like us, how can we call them ‘the enemy’? This is a man-made border and a fictitious enemy. Supposedly Pakistan became home to Muslims, and India to Hindus during partition. People were told that their only identity was their religion and the other religion was their enemy. Similarly, the Northeast borders were created during British rule. Many of us label people from the Northeast as foreigners and Nagaland once demanded independence from India. So often two different communities seem unable to live together but why? Surely, the real solution is not to live apart but to live together.

We concluded Borders aren't always bad; it’s a question of how they are viewed and written about. Perspectives and opinions are often one-sided and prejudiced. Needless to say leaders could definitely play a positive role in bringing people together but the questions remains: do we as ordinary citizens have absolutely no control over how we view those on the other side of our own borders?

India Art Fair Visit at NSIC Exhibition Grounds, Okhla Industrial Estate, New Delhi Anoushka Nalwa, Grade 11

Visiting to a grand art hub is an exciting experience. On 5th of February, all senior school art students visited the India Art Fair, South Asia’s modern and contemporary art fair, which seamlessly captured exactly what art meant to each one of us. The whole experience of observing art pieces from all around the world not only widened my horizons, but it also motivated me to create art work that not only looks beautiful or aesthetically rich but also relates to its viewer in some personal way. During the exhibition, I absorbed various perspectives of the world and understood how beauty is just a technique to capture attention, while the main objective of our work should be to move people and offer our perspective on the issues of the world.

During the trip, we also got to interact with a few artists and talked to them about their artistic practices and methodology. Furthermore, the whole experience of getting to view art pieces from around the world helped us pickup tons of new techniques and helped us understand the purpose of art better. The whole experience altogether, helped us understand different art pieces and the curatorial practice better while even introducing us to new art forms.

From the Director's Desk

Despite all the upheavals in the world outside our walls this has been a good start to the year. In the three weeks since school started our students have done us proud.

  

A group of middle and senior school students competed against 22 other schools for the World Scholars Cup and all our teams qualified for the next round which will take place in either South Africa or Greece. Many students also won individual medals

   

 Junior and Middle school Golf students entered for the Junior Golf tournament in Noida and won 4 gold and 5 silver medals

  

 A group of 35 students representing the tennis, swim and basketball teams have gone to the Association of International Schools (TAISI) interschool tournament competing against over a thousand students. 34 students along with 4 teachers participated in TAISI Inter IB Schools National level sports competition held at Bangalore The Inventure Academy . Overall 1175 participants participated in the event from various IB Schools. Students represented the school in sports like Athletics, Swimming, Basketball, Soccer, Table Tennis, Badminton and Tennis. Our students secured 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 5 Bronze in Athletics and Swimming.

Musicians distinguished themselves in an inter-school non competitive event at The British School.

Recognising Academic Achievement

Students who excelled in the first semester were invited to a special event Dessert With the Directors where in a formal setting they conversed with the school executive management– the Jain family and Dr Datar. Over dessert they were able to discuss their views and put questions to the Directors of the school.

Careers Day

Thank you to the parents who came into school to share their experience and lives in different careers with students from Grade 9 up. We were happy to welcome Mr Tuli who spoke on banking and business risk, Mr Tomar on animation and gaming, Mr Swami on journalism and Dr  Sinha on medicine. They provided an invaluable insight to students.

Staff Development

   Since December 60 teachers have achieved Microsoft certification as Microsoft Educators. 6 teachers have been appointed examiners by the IB for the MYP and 4 for the Diploma programme.  

     I am delighted to share that Dr.  Kaul, the IGCSE Coordinator and HoD – Social Science has been appointed as a global Team Leader for Geography  and joins the elite team of Dr. Garrett Nagle and Lucy Greenslade, the other two global leaders. We are proud at how many of our Faculty are now recognised by the IB.

Four teachers are attending the South Asia IB Schools Association (SAIBSA) conference in Mumbai. Three of them, Ms Pilar Cinca, Ms Pallavi Dwivedi and Ms Anshu Sharma,  will be leading workshops at this session.  

        
The Administration leadership team from all 3 Pathways school met together for a two-day workshop on good practice.

  

Looking ahead, we will be having a number of important training sessions for groups of staff this month.

1. Crisis Management Response: on Disaster Response, Terror Threat, Fire Fighting & Crisis Response.

2. Theatre In Education:  A workshop on Theatre in education for 30 teachers across primary & secondary. The facilitators Geoff and Anne Readman are visiting from the UK and will be running workshop sessions with Grade 4, Grade 7 &Grade 11 and a training for teachers across the school. Dr Readman is a Specialist Teaching Consultant in Drama Education. He has previously worked as an actor-teacher, primary and secondary teacher, drama advisor and university lecturer for teacher training. He has published articles and a BBC book on primary drama. Anne Readman is an experienced primary drama practitioner who has developed drama initiatives in both in the UK and Hong Kong.

3. Academic Leadership Retreat: a weekend retreat and training for all coordinators and Heads of department

Student Community Service

  

 In January the new Interact student leadership was welcomed at a special ceremony, marking our ongoing commitment to intervening to improve the world. They organized a contingent for the Cansupport walk seeing widespread participation from parents and students.

     
Grade 9 & 10 students ran a health checkup with doctors for the children of Sai Bal Sansar school, They also arranged a sports event for them.

MYP students had a Readathon to both encourage reading and to raise funds through sponsorship of the pages they read. You can get a sense of this event by clicking on this link 
https://youtu.be/EZEZ-N1GdJY

Coding Week

In the upcoming week we introduce Coding Week to all students from Grade 2 up. The challenge has been thrown open to parents too, to come and learn coding. No previous experience is necessary.

Medical dept. update

We are pleased that a fully equipped school ambulance is in place on the school premises. The Interact club will also be running a blood donation camp during the PTM on 18th March and parents are urged to come forward for this important cause. More details will be forthcoming.

Dr. Shalini Advani

School Director

From the Primary School Deputy Principal, Mrs. Aruna Jha

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”  ― Helen Keller

Primary school begins the new semester with fervor of happiness and positivity to make it another fruitful term. Reflecting on the semester gone by I would like to thank our parent community for an enthralling Christmas carnival. The carnival bore the festive spirit and has been a true example of harmony and bonding. The innovative game stalls, food counters and the exciting activities portrayed a true sense of collaboration visible to one and all. This has been possible because   every member of the school community has been selflessly extending themselves for the benefit of students who are the heart of Pathways fraternity.

After the winter break everyone had done their prior planning and were once again enthused to learn, contribute and share. The children quickly settled into the new term and there is a happy buzz through the school which is good to see.

To consolidate student learning, parents have always been very supportive. Sparing precious time parents have been reinforcing our reading programmer from KG to grade 3. This has been welcomed wholeheartedly by the students and are eager to read with them.

Collaboration helps transform the process of learning.  An orientation for parents of Grade 5 to understand the objective of PYP exhibition has been appreciated. Eagerly   parents have been volunteering to collaborate with groups of students inquiring on Human made systems. The process for

many is emerging to be very nostalgic. An attitude of learning from students and parents supporting and guiding them in their inquiry is in true sense humility personified. Parents and students   once a week are reflecting on the progress of the inquiry with respective groups and suggesting changes and seeking opinion both ways to make it an experience worth remembering.

Grade 4 inquiry on Migration has provided students an opportunity to gather first - hand information from Brigadier Singh.   He kept his young audience gripped with personal anecdotes about his experiences of the largest mass migration between India and Pakistan. The interaction led students question further to understand the plight of refugees and reasons for migration. Interacting with the famous author Mr. Deepak Dalal led fourth graders make interesting connections between human migration and bird migration majorly for survival.

Besides a variety of learning engagements in school we continued celebrating important events around the world and this time it was India’s 68th Republic day. The day has been   celebrated across school in the primary and senior school assembly. Teachers decoding important constitutional terms through roleplays and grade 4 students identifying learner profiles with experiences of Gandhiji led all to recognize the value of celebrating Republic day.

In the lower primary all students and teachers are passionately working for the Rhyme time day. Editing the script, designing costumes, recording   music and working on stage performances has been   the focus in. They are working hard to prepare a show that matches up to everyone’s expectations.

Spirited as we are, grades across primary are also gearing for Readathon with a host of engagements planned to make reading enjoyable and enhance skills for reading effective. Teachers at Pathways need to continuously evolve and what better example of the many MIE certifications earned by our teachers. In the coming weeks   many opportunities are designed for the students to show case their understanding of various spectrums in multiple ways and we continue to motivate students to initiate action and grow.

The Interact Club Badging Ceremony by Bhavika Hotchandani, Interact Director

Steve Maraboli wrote in his book “life, the truth, and being free”:

“Give freely to the world the gifts of love and compassion. Do not concern yourself with how much you receive in return, just know in your heart it will be returned.”

The Interact Committee is the heart of the expression of service to community at Pathways School Noida, and it was an honour to welcome the new team of leaders on the glorious morning of the 18th of January to take this very spirit to greater heights.

The theme for the ceremony was “Serving Humanity” and the event began with the auspicious lighting of the lamp. This was followed by wise words from our school director, Dr. Advani, who welcomed the gathering and spoke about the Interact Initiative at Pathways and the spirit of community service. Next, it was truly heart-warming to see the students of Sai Bal Sansaar school perform the “Swagatam” dance, a showcase of their wonderful talent. Through the presentation of the CAS and Interact initiatives over the past year, we had the opportunity to reflect back on highlights, such as our collaboration with CanSupport and SPCA, the book drive and teaching Sai Bal Sansaar students, appreciating the values we were enriched with.

It was a pleasure to hear the students speak with confidence as they reflected on their learning experience and expressed their gratitude. To celebrate their achievement, many of these students were awarded proficiency and merit certificates for their commendable progress. Next, we invited Ms. Padmaja to provide her insight and accept a contribution which would facilitate the students in their endeavour to learn dance. Enriching the occasion were the musical performances – a solo song by a middle school student and an orchestra presentation by the talented students of Grade 10.

This melodious performance was followed by the reflection from two members of our support staff about their learning experience which truly represented the spirit of community at Pathways. Next, it was a proud moment as we welcomed our outgoing Interact President, Jahanavi Datta, to share her experience. After congratulating the outgoing community for their fabulous job, it was time for the much-awaited welcome of the new committee to take charge.

The badging was a moment of great faith and pride for the school, we look forward to the committee’s leadership. The Interact President, Muskaan Srivastava, introduced the plan for the year ahead and the theme: “Women Empowerment”. We had Mr. Sachin Vats, the district rotary head, to share his thoughts and words of inspiration. This was followed by the badging ceremony of the new publications team and the event concluded by the encouraging words from the Director of Pathways School, Mr. Praveen Jain.

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. We at Pathways believe in this philosophy and we aim to make our contribution towards a better world and a brighter future. 

Republic Day at Pathways School Noida by Ms. Sunita Thakur, Academic Research Support

India became an independent republic on 26th January 1950, when the Indian Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution. One of the most detailed and nuanced in the world, it was written under the stewardship of Baba Saheb Ambedkar, appointed Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee.

At Pathways, Noida our Republic Day Assembly celebrations were a little different this year as we tried not just to celebrate this all too significant moment in history but also take a look at how we have progressed in the fulfillment of those lofty goals.

The constitution is a guiding map for shedding the mentality of ‘them and us’ colonialism, and embracing inclusivity, celebrating the multicultural, multi-religious diversity of India in which no one is the outsider. Our charter of six fundamental rights is an example of this:

1.            Right to equality

2.            Right to freedom

3.            Right against exploitation

4.            Right to freedom of religion

5.            Cultural and Educational rights

6.            Right to constitutional remedies

Yet as just a few painful moments depicted on stage showed us the

truth is elsewhere and all too often. Be it in the suicide of Rohith Vemeula, the young and bright Dalit student who killed himself when he realized he would always be persecuted for his caste, never able to reach the educational potential that was his right because of prejudice in the higher education system.

In a pithy excerpt this inequality was depicted in the threat to Kashmiri Pandits forced to flee their homes in the Valley in the dead of night in the 1990s” due to Muslim extremists. More than 100,000 (and some estimates put the figure much higher) have never returned to their homes.

A young woman reminded us that In Nagaland, a predominantly Christian state, thousands have been killed, homes destroyed in the drive to depict them as ‘outsiders by Hindu extremists, despite historical evidence to the contrary.

In a dramatization of events in Dadri, UP, we were reminded of the family ruined, father murdered, brother beaten because a frenzied mob believed they had the right to lynch a family because of what they might be eating - beef.

As tears swelled and rolled down many a cheek in the audience, we were reminded of so many moments in our independence history not to be proud of, including of the daily inequality and indignity of poverty for so many.

These cameos in this assembly nudge us to understand the delicate nature of ‘rights’ - yours and mine - that trampling on someone else’s rights is a precursor to mine too being trampled upon. And yet if we respect difference as the constitution urges, refraining from all too easy labels of the ‘outsider’ , how truly free we could be both in mind and hearts?

The final fundamental right – to constitutional remedies – showed us the strength of our constitutional process by focusing on landmark public interest litigation (PILs) which have been used to protect the rights of the weak or dispossessed. India has been a world leader in this area.

The morning ended with the entire school community gathering on the field to unfurl the flag and sing the national anthem. 

The First CAS Initiative for 2017, the Medical Camp ! by Vanshika Goel ( Gr 9) and Ananya Jain ( Gr 10)

 “We are given so we may give” ~anonymous

Being some of the most financially and socially privileged members of our society gives us not only the ability but the responsibility to extend a helping hand to those less privileged but equally deserving. One step towards the same was taken by grade 9 and 10 as part of our CAS program on 21st January 2017 as we conducted a health camp and sports fiesta for a group of 80 children from Sai Bal Sanskar.

Young learners, aged 7-12, attended the medical camp,in which aspects of their health, such as eye power, heart rate, weight, etc. were recorded and checked, by professional doctors, with the assistance of the students of our school (in terms of recording the information being given by the doctor, assigning numbers to the students, etc.).

The second event, was a sports fiesta, in which the students competed for prizes, in events such as novelty races, sack races, and more. The role of the students, here, was to cheer the runners on, organise their prizes, and monitor the start and finish lines of the race. The last event, was a match of box cricket, organised for each age group, where the students were able to run freely on the basketball court, and unite for a game of their most-loved sport. Here, the students were umpires, players, coaches, and more.

And when they had finished their events, students gave them McDonalds burgers and coke, to finish their day on a full note. As students, it was hard not to miss the gleaming smiles on their faces, as they won prizes, the grins on their faces as they ate, met new people, and had an amazing day overall.

For the students of grade 9, this was our first experience as working members of the CAS initiative in partnership with Sai Bal Sansar. Initially, some felt that coming to school on Saturday, would be extremely boring, and unfair, but as the day’s events rolled out, many of us realised what an enjoyable experience it was. Everyone had a role to play, in ensuring the success of the day, and the experience as a whole. For many of us, the students of Sai Bal Sansar felt like long lost friends, and our day with them, became a wonderful experience for both sets of students, because after a point, we didn’t remain just students, we became friends.