From the Director's Desk

Mr. Deepak Dalal

This week Pathways School Noida threw open the doors of our classrooms to a wonderful array of guest speakers –writers, story-tellers and artists who shared their craft with the student audience. Literary Week was celebrated in the primary and secondary school.        

                       

 Ms. Anupa Lal

We were delighted to have with us Deepak Dalal whose writing on Ladakh and the Snow Leopard had middle school students queuing up to buy his books, and Varun who enthused them about Treasure Island with readings,  Anupa Lal who transfixed Form 2 & 3 with story

Mr. Ajit Narayan, Illustrator                               

telling, Anjali Raghuvanshi who taught Form 4 & 5 about Folk art and had them creating Madhubani work, Ajit Narayan who taught cartooning tricks to Form 4 & 5, illustrators from Campfire who showed middle school students about graphic story telling ….the their inputs was breathtaking. 

                                                                                                                            Parent Story Telling

No less valuable were the parents who came and read to our students. Thank you very much for doing this.  In addition, there were student led activities including quizzes and book discussions. The week sends out the best message to students about the joys of reading and storytelling.

 

Model UN in School

In addition to all the literary week activity, students from middle and senior school got an opportunity to participate in an in-school Model UN. For many it was their first experience of taking on the roles of delegates from different countries, presenting their positions following the strict protocols of the United Nations. Guided by teachers our senior students did a spectacular job of organizing and running the entire event including a formal opening and closing ceremony. You can read more about it elsewhere in this newsletter.

 

Guest Teachers

In preparation for Founders we are delighted to have two teachers of dance working with our students. Elena Abakarova is conducting classes on Russian folk dance in middle school and Rosalia is working with senior students on Flamenco and Salsa.  Also scheduled are workshops on mime and kalaripayat for primary and middle school respectively. This is in addition to our own school faculty in drama, music and dance who are conceptualizing and working towards the Founders show. In the process our students will become exposed to a variety of cultural forms.
 

Parent Teacher Meetings

Parent Teacher meetings are scheduled on the 21st for Middle School and 29th for Senior and Primary School. These will enable you to meet your child’s teachers and review academic progress.

 

Staff Training

Teachers across the school are receiving training in multiple areas. Three teachers from primary, middle and senior school attended a valuable workshop on mental health at Max hospital, three others are attending a training on assessment and another three on differentiation in the classroom.  Meanwhile the didis’ who look after our children in the primary school have a training on personal development. It enhances our commitment to ensure that Pathways remains a school where everyone, not only the students, continues to learn.

 

Shalini Advani

School Director

From the Middle School Principal

It seems like a new beginning with the middle school growing into two sections in each class and many new members joining the team. Our staff remains committed and caring and we ensure that the students get different experiences and opportunities to develop their skills and advance their knowledge .

Many students have taken up the initiative to be a part of our communications to the parents through Newsletter and blog .The newsletter The Sensible 6th is by Form 6 and the blog Midway's voice is the work of Form 7 & 8 students. The editorial team plans and the other students volunteer for the role of reporters, photographers or designers.

The choice of clubs has expanded as we have added more to the list .The new clubs are Chess, Public speaking, Film making, Jewelry design, Dance and Community Service.

 

 

While we integrate technology to improve student learning we also use it to help students organize themselves. As a part of this we have introduced Google Calendar to middle school to help students, teachers and parents keep track of the ongoing projects, tests and assignments that students are working on. Basically, we have created a shared calendar for each form, where teachers will record all major assignments and the due date. All assignments for each form are recorded in one calendar.

Students have subscribed to this calendar, and can display it on their laptop or phone. They can also set up reminders by e-mail, pop-up message, or phone alarm for each individual assignment!

We also continue to use Moodle with the help of which teachers can create “virtual classrooms” where students and teachers collaborate in an interactive, on-line environment. It is also being used by the teachers to upload their resources and videos. Students can submit their assignments online, attempt quizzes. It is a learning management system which can help us develop students into independent learners.

 

It is an exciting school year with busy schedules. However, it continues to rejuvenate all of us as we see our involved children always eager to learn and experiment.

Sunanda Sandhir

Principal Middle School

Literary Week - Secondary School 10th - 14 Sept 2012

Pathways World School Noida hosted its annual Literary to commemorate and appreciate all of the poets, writers, and authors of the world. The week started off with high momentum as each English classroom was bustling with activity, highlighting the exquisite works of literature from various countries around the world. Distinguished authors and speakers shared their inputs with the students in the primary and middle school.
                                                             Orkojeet Banerjee

An entire school assembly was held on the second day of the week and an Elocution competition for the middle school was organized. The recitations were absolutely jaw-dropping, and even though the competition was close, Ayona and Malak from Fire and Earth respectively tied in first place, while  Orkojeet Banerjee from Fire won the second place with his recitation of 'The Twins' by Henry Sambroke Leigh.

Along with the exciting elocution competition, the department of English planned a myriad of entertaining activities such as the Literary Quiz competition for form 9 and 10 which was held on the 13^th of September. The winners of the event were Supriya and Tanmay of Earth House. The Book Discussion on Gabriel Marquez’s ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’ was held for form 11 and 12. The participants discussed the theme of honour and the world of magical realism. The Scholastic book fair was the culmination of weeklong activities marking the Lit Fest.

Through these various activities, the students gained a larger and broader appreciation for literature and the texts presented from the different parts of the world. Highlighting the international culture present in our very school, we were all proud to see different works of literature being presented in a comprehensive and interactive manners. Overall, the week turned out to be a major success as each student had an opportunity to contribute some thought into the theme.

Sudeshna Dutta

Form 12

Literary Week - Primary School 10th - 14 Sept 2012

The Primary School is celebrating Literary Week from 10th September 2012 to 14th September 2012. The main emphasis during the week is to encourage children to inculcate the habit of reading, to do so various activities to push reading have been going on in the Primary School.

The week began with a bang!!! On Monday morning, the students from Pre nursery to Form 2, came to school in their pyjamas with a cuddly toy and enjoyed bedtime stories with their form tutors. During the day students from all the classes wrote book reviews and put them up on the river flowing through the Primary School corridor. All the classes even redesigned the cover of their favourite books and did an amazing job at it.

 

Tuesday was another exciting day. We had an author, Ms. Anupa Lal coming to read to students of Form 2 and 3. Students thoroughly enjoyed the stories told by her and are looking forward to buy her book from the Primary School Book Fair. Students also wrote more and more book reviews to float in our river.

Wednesday was a day full of literary activities for students. Mr. Ajit Narayan, an illustrator and cartoonist, took a workshop of Form 3,4 and 5 on drawing cartoons. Students learnt a lot from the session. Later in the day, form 4 and 5 had a workshop with Dr. Advani on ‘Spoken Poetry’. Students really enjoyed the session and presented poetry in groups to each other. Other classes up to Form 3 read Eric Carle’s books and made artwork inspired by the stories.

 

 

 

When students walked into the school on Thursday morning the book fair was all set up. The classes up to Form 2 visited the book fair with their form tutors, chose books to buy and read with their form tutor in the classes.

 

Also Ms. Anjali Raghbir, an author came and talked about various art forms to Form 3, 4 and 5. Students also made lovely paintings with her. A special thanks to the parents who took time out of their busy schedule and read stories to students in various classes of the Primary School.

 

Nidhi Khurana

Literary Week Coordinator, Primary
 

 

Mixed Bag - Glimpses into the Primary Literary Week

 

Independent Reading

 

Book reviews being put up on the river

flowing through the Primary School

corridor

Redesigning covers of their favourite Books

Ms. Anupa Lal taking a workshop

Dr. Advani's Workshop for Form 4 & 5



     

                

 Book Fair

                                                                                                              Parent Story Telling

Teachers Story Session














                                                                                    Illustrator's Workshop

 

Mock MUN at Pathways World School, Aravali

A group of twelve students from Pathways School Noida were sent to Pathways World School Aravali on 1st September ‘12, to attend a mock MUN session. The aim of this workshop was to help students gain an understanding of the functioning of an actual Model United Nations.                

Honestly, when I was first told that I was selected for the mock session, I was a bit apprehensive about it and wasn’t sure if that’s how I wanted to spend my weekend. Little did I know that the whole experience would be so enriching!

The day started early, even though we reached a bit late. It was pleasant to see all participants present in formal attire, motivating first-timers like us.

The first day was just an introduction to the sessions, and I found the day to be long and tiring. We were given time for research and preparations for the next day’s meeting’s post dinner, but since everyone was so exhausted, we only did a bit and slept early.

The next day we were all assigned committees, and I was selected to the ECOSOC, whose meeting was held in the huge and extensive library of Pathways Aravali. The mock session went for about 5 hours, and then after expressing our gratitude to their principal, we left for Noida

On the whole, it was a great experience, a perfect combination of education and enjoyment -- visiting a new place with friends, socializing with people from schools all over, and preparing ourselves for future inter-school MUNs!

Ashira Singh

Form 11

Trip to the National Science Centre: A scientific journey

While inquiring about the human body systems and their interconnectedness, Form 4 students went for a trip to the National Science Centre located near Pragati Maidan, on 3rd September. They were excited to see the different sections related to various body  systems  such as circulatory, respiratory, nervous, digestive and skeletal. Students were enthralled by the section on sensory organs where they could gather a lot of interesting information about the 5 senses. Luckily ‘no crowd’ at the NSC on Monday, allowed us to have detailed sessions on the circulatory system and sensory organs. Students took copious notes about different body systems, not willing to leave any new information. It was a pleasure seeing the students enquiring and posing questions to the staff present at the NSC. All in all, they had a very informative outing which helped them relate to the ongoing unit of inquiry under the theme ‘Who we are’.

 

Vandana Parashar

Form Tutor Form 4

Trip to Qutub Complex and Mehrauli Archaeological Park

Students posing on site

 

To get an in-depth glimpse of the life in past- in the ancient civilizations, the students of Form 4 and 5 went for a trip to Qutub Complex and Mehrauli Archaeological Park on Friday, the 7th September 2012. Beautifully landscaped gardens, lush green lawns and a majestic tower in the centre, the Qutub Minar welcomed us as we walked into its premises. This was a study tour with ‘Itihaas’, a group that organizes school trips to various historical sites across Delhi. The trip was very informative for the students as they have been doing research on Ancient Civilization in their UOI.

 

Students discussion forum on hisporical facts

 It was a new place to discover and know more about the past, the civilizations that once existed, their lifestyle, buildings, architecture etc. The instructors from the ‘Itihaas’ organised various activities for our students and narrated lots of interesting stories from the past. The students carried their jotters with them and have got back loads of information that they took as notes when their instructors showed and told them facts. The big feature of the trip was the 75-metre stone column, but there was much more to see too. The mosque, tomb and the iron pillar — everything there was visually captivating.

 

Ms. Nidhi Khurana

Ms. Vandana Parashar

Form 5

Parent & Me - Aneesha Balwani, Early Years Coordinator

Primary school saw Pre-Nursery, Nursery and Kindergarten parents working with the students in their classes on 6th September, 2012.

 

           

Working together in the class
 

‘Parent and Me’ was a wonderful opportunity for the   parents to experience a day in school with their child. They were a part of all their lessons and worked as partners. It was

We all danced in Sushant Sir’s class

fun to see them dancing to the tunes of Sushant Sir, jumping with the little ones in P.E, showing their creativity in Clay modeling and their hidden talents came out during the music class.  ICT was also enjoyed by all as they were all  pro at using I-pads. The icing on the cake was the sight of the parent and the child sharing their meal together from the same plate. At the end of the day, parents carried a souvenir which they made in the class during the Form tutor time with their child. Many parents said that this would be a memory they would cherish forever.

 

                                        Working together on

                                                                                           I-Pads in the ICT room

Music



First Career Steps Summer Internships Experiences

 “For the first week, I was given an exposure to general judicial structure of India, taught the differences between civil law and criminal law, different kinds of agreements and their validity and the different courts that operated in the country”, says Ammarah, form XII student who was a part of Summer Internship Program started by Pathways School, Noida for the first time. She wants to be a lawyer and before she enrolls herself for Law in one of the UK universities Career Counseling department of the school decided to help place students like her in an actual work space so that they could take an informed decision before plunging into any course or career. Pathways School, Noida started with a pilot project this summer and placed the rising seniors in various organisations/ companies for gaining an insight into the careers and the nature of work including working hours, job commitment that it entails. Since this program was started on an experimental basis a few of our parents supported us in this endeavour and placed our students in their own organisations.

The students who signed-up for this program had mixed emotions after the entire experience. Students like Aakanksha, Shubhang, Bakhsheen, Anand and Evan liked their experience as they felt it was important for them to get under the skin and live their everyday life like the people of their chosen career live. On the other hand Ifrah had a mesmerizing experience with a reality check in tow. On one hand she was in awe of the doctors and their commitment to work but on the other hand she was forced to ask herself if she is ready for this kind of hard work and dedication. “They say it’s the noblest job and rightly so. Being a doctor is no joke. If you’re thinking of being one then ask yourself this question “Am I willing to work that much?” “Am I willing to sacrifice everything for this?” and the answer she got to her question was YES but with a slight change of plans. From Bio-Chemistry she now wants to move towards Neurosciences.

We had students placed mainly in Delhi and NCR with one student getting an opportunity in China with a garment manufacturing and export firm. We are very grateful to Mr. David Housego, Mr. Satinder Luthra, Mrs. Upasana Arora, Mrs. Sapna Bhatia, Mrs. Nandini ( parents) who agreed to take on our students and give them this valuable experience.

Puja Dawar Rao

School Counselor

Visit of Trinity College, Dublin

On 23rd Aug, 2012 we had the Trinity College, Dublin visiting us at a session which was attended by all senior school students. The Vice-President of the college, Prof Jane conducted the session where she spoke about demographic facts about the college and Dublin city along with the kind of courses the college offers. She gave information about the admission criteria for IB students in terms of their final IB and Predicted scores and also the scholarships available to the international students. In the end she took up questions from students on various aspects like TOEFL requirement for IB students, number of scholarships available and college’s strong academic areas etc. While saying goodbye to the students she promised to visit us once again in November and left a few brochures which are kept in the Office of College Counseling of our school for reference.

 

Puja Dawar Rao

College Counsellor