From the Director's Desk

 As we come up to the last newsletter of this year, students and teachers are busy with different forms of assessment. It seems like a good time to think about how assessment is seen at Pathways. This depends greatly on what grade level a student is at. Senior school students launch into their mid-year exams which will be followed by a Parent Teacher meeting and reports at the end. Tests and exams are an important way of measuring how much students know, in relation to what they are expected to know by the Board. They are useful as summative feedback.

However they measure, rather than help a student to understand what exactly they need to set as targets or what they need to change in the way they are studying. International schools around the world have increasingly begun to involve students in the process of assessment and this is the value of the Student Led Conferences.

This week students from Form 3 to 8 sat individually with parents to review their progress after thinking through their levels with their teachers. Judging from the feedback , this thoughtful, reflective process is useful in helping students to see how far they have come in their learning and for parents to understand how they can help. From the carefully monitored SLCs in Primary to the more independent self-review of middle school, this form of self-analysis is very important in enabling students to become independent learners.

Events Upcoming

The last few days of the semester are packed with varied activity.

On 17th December we have the Day of Sharing which focuses on our support staff, celebrating their talents and focusing students on the major role played by them in keeping the school going. Staff put up a show for which students are the audience. This is followed by a langar lunch served by the students.

The Christmas Carnival on 18th December is a wonderful coming together of students and parents to work and have fun together over interesting games (run by students) and great food (provided by parents). All proceeds from the event go towards raising funds for Sai Bal Sansar school. Although it is a week day, I hope as many  parents as possible, will attend. Please do remember to carry your exeat cards as our usual security measures will be in place.

January Schedule

The last day of school is 18th December. It re-opens for students on 15th January. Please do ensure that your child is back in school on the first day. As always school timings in January are later in light of the weather so we will begin at 9.30 am.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a very happy time over this festive season.

Dr. Shalini Advani

School Director

NINS - North India Network of Schools Job-Alike-Session by Dr. S. Sawant, PYP Coordinator

Our school is generally a quiet place on Saturdays and Sundays.

However last Saturday the 22nd of November saw a great buzz in the Primary block.  124 teachers and a number of Primary School Principals and PYP Coordinators from 23 PYP schools all across the North of India who come under the banner of NINS – North India Network of Schools that has now officially become NINNS – North India and Nepal Network of Schools as schools from Nepal too have joined this network came together for a Job-Alike-Session that our school hosted.

Inquiry in the Early Years, Inquiry for Forms 2 to 5, Transdisciplinary Teaching Learning, Differentiation, Assessments, Inclusive Education- SEN & EAL and The role of Library were the seven significant discussion areas chosen for this meet. Fourteen of our teachers were actively involved in moderating and co-moderating these sessions and some others were enrolled as participants

The sessions started with welcome, registration and breakfast and was followed by a welcome address by our School Director Dr. Shalini Advani and the Principal, Primary school and Mrs. Usha Lamba. The Chariman of the NINNS, Mr. Siddhartha Kapoor also addressed the gathering. The

participants were given a glimpse of what happens in our Primary school through a short movie which showed our students and teachers in action. This was taken further by the PYP Coordinator Dr. Swati Sawant who brought to the group’s attention the logistics of the day to ensure everyone’s comfort and the smooth running of the event.

The role of the moderators and co-moderators  was to make all the participants in their group comfortable, monitor the discussions on the defined agenda and also facilitate other related discussions that emerged in the process. They made us very proud by the way they conducted these sessions and received many compliments for their knowledge, understanding and the confident and professional manner in which they fulfilled their part. Apart from this these teachers were of course a part of the group that they were working with, sharing openly and with gusto the numerous successful PYP practices that we follow in our school which – judging from the anonymous survey conducted at the end -  were well received by all participants.

Pathways Noida's participation in Lancers’ Gurgaon 2nd Annual Inter-School Festival 2014 by Ms. Meher Khan Form Tutor Gr 3

Pathways Noida participated in Lancers’ Gurgaon 2nd Annual Inter-School Festival 2014 with great fervor last week. The festival was organized with the purpose of providing platform for students to express themselves according to the given theme and promote friendly competition amongst schools from Delhi and NCR.  Events such as storytelling, drawing, singing, mental mathematics were hoisted from 24th until 28th November 2014 for grade level Pre-primary until grade seven.

Our Form 3-5 students took part in Singing (duet, solo), Quiz, Book Publishing, Story Telling, Spelling, and Poster Making events with immense enthusiasm. Students could be seen practicing for their events under the guidance of their mentor teachers and worked hard for their performance.

All our shining stars were winners as they displayed their talents with passion and confidence throughout the events. Whether it was our spelling masters reviewing their spellings with each other in the school or singers harmonizing their rhythm and voice for the show, all the participants gave their best and are winners on their own.

 Pathways Noida won a number of awards –

Book Publishing -3rd Position  -- Aditi Amritesh, Aarushi Pandey, Arushi Lakhanpal, Aarjav Bajaj, Natasha Gupta, Gia Bansal (Form5)              

Duet Singing – 3rd Position   -- Arpit Khurana,  Varsha Thimmaiah   (Form 5)

Story Telling -2nd Position  --  Arnav Kansal  (Form3)

Special Mention  -- Trisha Gandhi  (Form3)

Solo Singing – 3rd Position --  Agamya Singh (Form3)

Thanksgiving Assembly by Ms. Barkha Vahi EAL Teacher

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

And this is what we precisely saw in the Primary School’s morning assembly attended by students from KG upward. Students learning from their peers, the essence and the importance of a wonderful festival of North America called ‘Thanksgiving’. In line with this the children explored Gratitude as the greatest of all virtues and we had Grade 3 sharing how people from all around the world express their gratitude for the wonderful things that we have been blessed with, through a short role play.

It was followed by a video of ‘The Plymouth rock’ sharing its story and the history of ‘Thanksgiving’.

Form 3 also shared their unit’s summative on “Expressions” where they chose and adapted the story of ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson as a skit. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all the students attending the assembly. It was indeed amazing to see these young talents up on the stage taking charge of just about everything, right from the casting and the narration to managing the stage and taking care of all the logistics. The entire assembly was fabulously coordinated by Grade 3 students and their teachers, Ms. Aruna Jha, Ms. Meher Khan and Ms. Kaajal Pahwa.

The assembly was brought to a perfect conclusion with the primary school students rising to their feet and singing the National Anthem led by the Primary School student council and the teachers.

What a great start to a great day!

Illustrator/Authors interaction with Form 4

Pathways Noida has always believed in taking the learning beyond the classroom and true to tradition Form 4 had an extremely interactive session with two eminent authors/illustrators on the 27th November 2014. The two authors who visited were Ms. Vanita Pai and Ms. Ritu Khoda.

Both the authors cum illustrators are passionate about art and gave up their professions to pursue their passion. They have produced a wonderful book for children on the artist Raza, entitled Raza’s Bindu.

The session began with a story “Bindu”. They showed canvases painted to depict the settings of the story and one of them narrated  it. The students were seen glued to this interesting way of storytelling and loved the painted pictures. The story spoke about a young boy and his fascination with a dot ‘Bindu’ and his wild imagination of it. The young boy grew up to be the great artist Raza winning many accolades worldwide.

The two illustrators then had a discussion with students provoking them to express their views on what was the significance of the ‘bindu’ that Mr. Raza had drawn as a child. This was further explored by the students who drew and coloured their perspectives of the bindu. It was a delight to watch the hesitation to draw of students quickly turn into enthusiasm and creativity. The work done was later shared with their peers and some of the thoughts were very interesting. Perspectives like a time machine, a spiral wheel picking and mixing all the colors of the world, showing Pathways Logo, peace for everyone and many more were shared by the students as their thoughts on bindu.

This activity not just brought out the creativity, hidden artist in every student but also added wings to their thoughts.

Culture Galli Pathways Noida - by Ms. Sania Arora and Ms.Upasna Khera, Form Tutors Gr 2

On a pleasant winter morning, it was a delight to see our ever enthusiastic parents of the Primary School set up a variety of Culture Stalls for the Culture Gully. The walk through the gully was an interesting one as one could view the Chinese, Korean,

Persian, Bengali, Punjabi, North Indian Muslims, Marwadi, Tamil, Bulgarian and Awadh stalls. These stalls gave the students a real taste of “diversity” prevalent in the world today. The students got an opportunity to experience, think and reflect on how diverse cultures can co- exist together. They tasted Bengali sweets, Chinese tea and various other popular dishes native to different cultures, they enjoyed using chopsticks, learned about various rituals and writing their names in Korean and Tamil. It was a fun filled event with lots of learning.

Metro Ride for Form 1 by Ms. Vandana Majumdar Form Tutor Gr 1

On 27th Nov., Form 1 got the opportunity to go on a Metro Ride from Noida City Centre to Mayur Vihar Extension as a field trip to their unit of inquiry on ‘Transport’. Needless to say the children were very excited to go on the metro and had prepared loads of questions that they wanted to be answered through this trip.

The Station In charge at the Noida City Centre patiently answered the queries of our first graders giving them an insight into this much loved mode of transport that the city prides in. It was heartening to see the children asking pertinent questions about the speed of the train, the number of coaches in each train, the duration between trains  and many such. The journey from Noida City Centre to Mayur Vihar extension was filled with animated chatter from our little ones discussing the signs they saw en route. On reaching Mayur Vihar extension, they again met the Station In Charge and in answer to their curious queries were told about the history of the metro and given route maps to study. The learning from this field trip clearly reflected in the discussions that followed back in the classrooms. It would sure be fair to say that we were “on track” with this field trip.

Form 1 visit to the Institute of driving and Traffic Research at Sarai Kale Khan by Ms. Monica Garg Form Tutor Gr 1A

Form 1 had the opportunity to visit the Institute of driving and Traffic Research at Sarai Kale Khan on the 19th Nov, as part of our Unit of Inquiry on Transport.

We began the day with a very engaging and informative interactive session on basic driving and Traffic rules by the Deputy Manager of the Institute.

Our little inquirers came up with some amazingly witty and insightful questions, like, “At what age can I start driving?”, “What will happen if there were no traffic rules?”, “How fast can a car go on the road?” etc, during

the session. We were then taken for a walk and talk tour around the institute where the children were introduced to different traffic signs and signals. We got to know what those signs meant and why it was so important for us to follow them.

We ended the day with a little picnic in the lush green lawns of the institute and the students had a great time learning and playing together.

On our journey back to the school the students could be seen excitedly looking out of the bus for traffic signs on the road and pointing them out.....

Now that’s what we call a fun learning experience...

Grandparents Day by Ms. Parul & Kriti Nigam

Grandparents’ Day celebration is a well-established tradition of Pathways Noida that both the students and grandparents look forward to every year.  This was the annual celebration with more than 250 grandparents of Kindergarten and Primary in attendance.

A joyous grandmother commented, “This is a special day that I look forward to each year. It's an opportunity to share time with my granddaughter in a beautiful, spiritual environment. It truly creates a memory for us both.”

The primary school council and teachers traditionally welcomed their visitors followed by a scrumptious breakfast in the cafeteria. Later the grandparents were escorted by the students to the respective venues.

In the classrooms, grandparents enthusiastically participated in various events planned by the students and teachers. They sang songs, played games, recited poems, decorated cupcakes, and played ‘antakshari’. Students discussed comparisons with their grandparents between their favorite toys, school subjects and grandparents expressed their joy of engaging with the young students.

Some grandparents traveled long distances, from Ludhiana, Jaipur, and Patna to support their grandchildren.

MFL Day by Ms. Neeraj Vashishta HOD, MFL

The Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Day was celebrated on 26th Nov 2014. MFL

students put up an excellent showing and took education beyond the classroom much in keeping with the current best practices of experiential learning.  Their co curricular participation in this activity included sharing newspapers from Spain and France and reading out the news much in keeping with the town crier concept of these beautiful lands.  MFL students conducted interviews of random students and teachers to obtain their varied perspectives which were projected as a movie followed by a talk show. These differing points of view, essentially explained the diverse viewpoints about learning another language.

A cultural program show casing the culture of these foreign lands employing skits, songs and dances was another highlight of the event and was much appreciated by attending dignitaries including two French guests.

The French guests Ms.Isabelle lenseigne and Ms. Marie-Pierre Perrier they appreciated the performance through the glimpse they got of the learning of foreign languages through the assembly that was put up by the MFL students. They shared their experiences thus enhancing mutual understanding.

The food fiesta including a cultural fusion of Indo - Spanish - French cuisine was perhaps the most practical mark of this event.  There was a variety of ethnic and traditional food of these countries, giving a glimpse of the “terrazas” restaurants of Spain and France.

All enjoyed the burritos, sangria, fresh baked desserts, baguettes, the chocolate croissants, chocolate sauce and cakes. The Hindi group offered the typical Indian street food. There was music being played and every one had kind words appreciating and enjoying the food.

MFL students collected money for the benefit of the  under privileged children by selling Greeting Cards written in Spanish, French and Hindi which showed yet another experiential side of this successful occasion.

Sports News by Mr. Deepak Thakur HOD Sports

Invitational Inter School Basketball Competition for Girls & Soccer Competition for Boys 

Pathways School Noida had organized an Invitational Inter School Basketball Competition for Girls & Soccer Competition for Boys Under 15 age group from 26th November 2014 to 28th November 2014. Various schools from Delhi NCR participated in both the competitions including Pathways School Gurgaon, Step By Step School Noida, Lotus Valley School Noida, Shiv Nadar School Gurgaon, DPS Noida, Cambridge School Noida, Alcon Public School, GD Goenka World School Sohna, Aster Public School, Greater Noida, Somerville School Greater Noida, and Amity School Noida. The environment of competitiveness displayed various talents and skills amongst different soccer and basketball players.  Pathways School Noida Girls Basketball Team secured 3rd Position overall and Sanya Chawla the captain of the team got the ‘Best Player Award’ for her performance in the competition.

Given below are the results of the Competition:

Position                Basketball Girls                                                 Soccer Boys

1                       DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL NOIDA                   CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL NOIDA

2                       STEP BY STEP SCHOOL NOIDA                    LOTUS VALLEY SCHOOL NOIDA

3                       PATHWAYS SCHOOL NOIDA                        STEP BY STEP SCHOOL NOIDA

4                       ALHCON PUBLIC SCHOOL                            SOMERVILLE SCHOOL G. NOIDA

                Delhi NCR Inter School Tennis Competition

Gautam Budh Nagar District Tennis Racket Association organized Inter School Tennis Competition at Pathways School Noida

from 22nd – 25th November, 2014 for the students of age 10 years to 16 years below. Various school from around Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad participated in the competition such as DPS Noida, DPS G. Noida, DPS R.K Puram, DPS Vasundhra, DPS Ghaziabad, Cambridge School Noida, Father’s Agnel School Noida, Somerville School Noida, Vishwa Bharti Ghaziabad, Vishwa Bharti   Noida, Amity Noida, Amity Vasundhra, Amity Delhi, Khaitan Noida, Bal Bharti Noida, The Millennium School Noida, Lotus Valley Noida, Ramagya Noida, Apee Jay International School G.Noida, Fr. Agnel G.Noida, Cambridge Noida, Cambridge G.Noida, Uttam School For Girls Ghaziabad , Step By Step Noida, Genesis Noida, Ryan International School Noida, Ryan International School G. Noida, JBM Noida, Billabong High International School Noida, Shriram School Noida. The competition was conducted on knock out format for the entire age category. The students of Pathways School Noida  participated in the event and performed well by being semifinalist and quarter finalist which was very creditable in the face of stiff competition.

From the Director's Desk

As we put the joys and successes of Founders Day behind us, we continue to feel pride in the talent and hard work of our entire school community which made the event into what it was. Our students are still basking in the thrill of their spectacular performances, of the enormous talent which made us all so very proud. But already that seems long ago as new events overtake us,  plunging students and teachers into so much else.

Events Post Founders

The past two weeks have seen a cross country and the Children’s Day picnic in the park. There have been teams going to an inter school music competition, an inter-school Spanish event, a soccer match.Primary school students went to the Red Fort and hosted                 
                                                                Grandparents Day.

Early Learner teachers have gone to a Regio Emilia workshop in Mumbai and on Saturday, our teachers are facilitating  a collaborative training for 16 PYP schools across north India. The school also organized a free health camp for our support staff.

Celebrating Our Parents

All of these activities are part of the rich experience of Pathways. However I would also like to focus this newsletter on the multiple ways in which so many of our parents are contributing to the school community, bringing in education, resources and support.

A number of parents provided invaluable help during Founders. From training singers to helping students to dress, to providing sponsorship there were multiple types of help which were forthcoming.

A large group of parents have plunged into preparing for the upcoming Christmas carnival, and have begun meeting regularly to plan this. True to style, I am sure that numbers will grow as the menu is finalized.

Meanwhile an advisory committee is finalizing their review of the school menu and is

making suggestions, giving recipes and focusing on developing  healthy and tasty snacks for students. This follows consultation with teachers and students and visits to the well-equipped school kitchens – which I am happy to hear that they were impressed with. 
On Thursday a group of Primary school parents contributed brilliantly to the

learning of the Form 2 unit by setting up a culture gali of stalls from different regions and countries. Bringing artefacts, films, food and practices, they sportingly dressed up in the region’s traditional style bringing new worlds into the lives of students. We had stalls from many areas in India - Benaras, Rajasthan, Punjab, Bengal, Tamil Nadu  and also shared the culture of Korea, Persia, Bulgaria & China. It was both fun and packed with information as the best education should be.

ASSESSMENTS

As we come up to the end of the semester, learning is culminating in many different types of summative assessments. All senior school students sit their mid-year exams.  PYP & MYP students from  Grade 3- 7 will evaluate their own learning for their parents at Student Led Conferences. And there are parent-teacher meetings at different levels.  With the new assessment systems being introduced at the MYP, teachers are moving to finalise multiple assessment.  Detailed reports will go out to all parents in the third week of December.

Dr. Shalini Advani

School Director

From the Senior School Principal Mr Alexander Abraham

In the famous Broadway musical “SEUSSICAL” that debuted in the year 2000, there is a line that says,

“Oh the things you can think; think and wonder and dream- far and wide as you dare!” These words in a nutshell I believe encompass the wonderful journey that all of us at Pathways Noida experienced as Founder’s Day 2014 came to a close. For surely as a school we all were able to experience the joy and wonder of daring and dreaming and in a very special way achieving what we had set out to do in August of this year. It has been so rewarding as a school family to see our young students act, sing, dance, play with great accomplishment many instruments and do absolute brilliant production work such as design and help in sets movement, creating visually spellbinding LED backdrops and handle with great aplomb the AV tech for the production. As a school we feel very proud of our student community.

What I believe is one of the best features of being at a school like Pathways Noida is the fact that every experience/event is meant not an end in itself but a journey with learning. What has been heart-warming is the fact that so many of our students have shared that an experience like the one at this Founders has made them value not just being a performer on stage but the fact that all of us are a team and the ones who worked in the Production crew are as important to make the whole thing tick. This for us is the most satisfying blessing of the whole exercise.

If one is to carry the quote from the musical “Seussical” further one can say that this is one of the fulcrums with which Pathways as a community has worked. It is a cliché in today’s world that “dare to dream” but few educational communities have exercised and given that space to its community members to truly dare to dream and venture to fulfil them. We feel privileged that our students and teachers have responded magnificently in what we have achieved in these last four years and a little more.

The senior school is focussed towards the semester ending exams and students and teachers are in exam mode with lessons, and practice papers and sample exam papers being worked out in classes. The essence of today’s student who steps out into a challenging world is one who is expected to strike a balance between the various facets of the human personality- the cognitive as well as the sports and cultural spheres of gifts that we are endowed with.

Our form 12 students have a few months left in school and many of them have already applied for colleges across the globe and we are confident that they will receive very good offers for their future prospects.  I would like to specially thank the outgoing student council who have just conclude organizing their last event—the Inter house Music Assembly which was as expected a display of the plethora of talent that we have here at PSN. The council over the last year has done a marvellous job and organized many innovative events such as the Radio show, the Prom with the theme on the Oscars, the Senior school Gender Fest- “Resonance” and so many more.

As we come to the end of another calendar year, myriads of thoughts and memories flood us but none more appealing than the many simple acts of warmth and affection of our students, staff and of course our parent community that make the days more, indeed much more endearing. As we walk away from the year- sure the school has had students who have done well academically or in the sporting arena or in a cultural event but I believe what will far outlive all these finally, is that they have learned what life is all about and what is most momentous is to support others, build lives and make a difference in their own inimitable way.

Children's Day

Children’s day celebration at Pathways focused on the students and their enjoyment. It was a day for marking childhood celebrations. It was a community event with participation from early learners and educators. The teachers demonstrated enthusiasm and love for their little ones by actively participating in all the various games and getting them goodies. Children were served delectable snacks and drinks during the day.

Tonga ride and the magic show, were the highlights of the day. The magician mesmerized our young ones by involving them in his magic. They were spellbound seeing coins coming out from stomach, ears and nose. The exhilaration did not end here. To add to it we had Tonga ride which geared up our little ones’ excitement. Early learners were thrilled to ride on a luxury of the bygone era. Celebrating little moments of joy at school helped us cherish and appreciate our young ones’ presence. With all these activities the kids and the teachers went home feeling content and inspired.

Sandeep Kaur, Form Tutor KG

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday is celebrated in India as Children’s day on the 14th of November, because Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, loved children very much. In our school, we celebrated Children’s Day with some special events. We started the day with a marathon for children and parents.

The main event of the day was the picnic in Swarnajayanti park. When we left for the park, we were all very excited because this would be a fun field trip and not educational, for a change. In the park, we all had lots of fun playing, reading, climbing trees, catching butterflies and exploring some ant-hills. After a while, our teachers also played some games with us.

After a lot of running and jumping around, we settled down for lunch which had been packed from school. After another hour of playing, we left for school. When we came to school, we all received a special surprise from our form tutors to remember this day – a mug in our favorite color.

Aditi Amritesh Grade  5

Children’s day was a very good day. In the morning we had a marathon and since everybody participated had run till end of the marathon and it was great fun.

Many of us fell on the rocky part but still got up and ran. After the marathon we went for breakfast and after that we set off for a picnic to the Swarnjayanti park. The experience was amazing. At the picnic we played with our classmates and teachers, had snacks, and ate lunch on the grass. It was a very good experience and I had a lot of fun. We had gone for many educational trips but this was the first fun trip.

Saksham Ranjan, Gr 6

A very special day dedicated to each and every child; Children’s day, was held on 14th November 2014. Our school didn’t hold back in the exciting events that were organized. Students and teachers, gathered at the field for the annual Cross-Country! With butterflies in our stomach and our hearts racing, we started our respective races with our assigned classes. Running such long distances was quite challenging but we all gave it our best and finished the races with pride! The rest of the day was jam packed with enjoyment as we went on a picnic to Swarna Jayanti Park. What stood out to me the most was the fact that we were able to interact with children from other grades and the new friendships gained. Collaborating with our peers during games and eating lunch in our beautiful natural surroundings was definitely the highlight. The entire experience was nothing short of an exceptional Children’s day!

Katyani Mehra, Gr 9

Reathon

There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.

–Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

As the quote says, we need to develop a love for books in our students and Read-a-thon was one such initiative. Read-a-thon made a lovely beginning on 7th November. Students of Forms 2 to 5 were engaged in reading, in and outside the class! Splashes of enjoyment were seen in the students – reading to each other, quiet reading, reading to sponsor teacher and reading with parent.

To push reading is our main aim as it is an essential skill which helps the students to flourish academically, socially and emotionally.   The whole process has helped our students to read for pleasure and purpose as it aimed to raise the funds for the underprivileged.

Knowing that they are raising money for a cause motivated children to read more, and it added to their sense of achievement. Parents and teachers whole heartedly supported the programme by sponsoring the students. We hope that the reading as a result is not ended with the cause or the week but will carry the same zeal for years.

Upasna Khera Form Tutor Gr 2

Readathon is annual event which helps us do two things, encourage us to read and aid a cause .

This year our school teamed up with Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that helps children who are in need of a good home. Some people ask that how does Readathon work? This event has a very simple format, each student finds sponsors who are agreeable to donate money per page you read, there is a limit of 3 rs per page. After you have read the set amount of pages you go to your sponsor and provide them evidence for the pages you have read and get the money. Readathon is a fun event which all of us enjoy  and participate in with great enthusiasm and being a 8th grader this would be my last Readathon. I can say that I am going to miss it. A lot.

Orkojeet Banerji Gr 8

Field trip to Red Fort by Ms. Aruna Jha Form Tutor Grade 3

To understand the past of their local area, New Delhi, students of Form - 3 went out on a field trip to Red Fort with members of Itihaas. A discussion about why they should visit Red Fort helped them activate their thinking and research skills. Red Fort is a local structure, easily accessible than other prominent structures and informs about culture, place and time at the time of construction were some reasoning’s provided to visit Red Fort.  

On reaching Red Fort students were excited.

They were received by Mr. Sarthak and Mr. Pawan, members of Itihaas. Students were eager to find answers to bits of scattered information, they possessed about Quila – I – Mubarak, the Red Fort. They communicated politely and recorded details in pocket diaries. Easily students picked up terms like Diwan-I-am, Hamam, Chhata chowk and Quila –I – Mubarak. As they were guided around the place they were tolerantly listening to stories connected to the place.  Walking tirelessly they interacted with Mr. Sarthak clarifying between a fort and a castle, reasons for its construction, the Red color and  specific features of the place. Many stories related to it were interestingly informed to our enthusiastic Pathways tourists. Story of the Peacock throne, reasons for building moats and how people shopped at Chhatta chowk. Organized habits of past rulers and their luxurious lifestyle kept students gripped all through the field trip.

They were happy to recap all that they gathered through an interesting activity organized by Itihaas. The famous silent Itihaas clap, was also a new way learnt to applaud. The trip was a fruitful learning experience. Students were polite, respected surroundings by not littering the place. They made an effort to remain with the group and handle their belongings, an effort to build self-management skills. Learning in new environments specially outside school is an opportunity enjoyed by students and teachers.

News from Career Counselling Section by Ms, Deblina, Career Counsellor

The College Guidance Office at Pathways school Noida has seen a lot of activity in the past one month. While Early Decision and Early Action applications have been sent out to various universities, there have been a number of visitors on campus who have interacted with the students and offered various learning opportunities to them. It is an even more encouraging experience to see universities within India taking on the challenge of introducing world-class standards in undergraduate education. This week, our students interacted with Admissions Officers and Faculty from two such institutions –

Ashoka University – a private

autonomous university which offers a liberal education at par with the best in the world. It takes inspiration from a variety of sources: from Emperor Ashoka’s commitment to knowledge and peace to the Ivy League’s emphasis on rigour and breadth.

For more information on Ashoka University, please refer to www.ashoka.edu.in

Azim Premji University –

a not-for-profit, private autonomous University established in Karnataka by the Azim Premji Foundation, as a part of its philanthropic initiatives to contribute to Education and Development in India.

For more information on Azim Premji University, please refer to www.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/ug

Interview with Ms. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor by Tanvi Amrit Gr 6

On the 13th of November we had a telephonic interview with Mrs. Naylor, the author of Shiloh the novel we are studying . We found out about the book to help us with our interview. As a class we wrote and shortlisted a few questions we would ask her. And then on the morning of the 13th we all went to the room 101 where we waited as the speakers were tested. As I stood in the line of the people asking the question a shiver of excitement went down my spine, I could not believe that I was going to interview the author of the book that I am reading. As I introduced the class I felt extremely excited and I was grateful to get the opportunity to talk to an author. She told us a lot of things about how if we feel anything we can make it into a story. She told us about how a simple incident can make a story about how we can write a story ourselves. She told us that reading, and writing was the key to becoming a good author.

Free Health Camp for subordinate staff - Ms. Santosh Sharma, School Nurse

A free medical Check-up Camp for support staff was organized on 15th Nov 2014 at Health Centre Pathways school Noida. The camp was organized in association with Mahavir International Charitable Hospitals Delhi.

A team of  5 Doctors including 2 Eye specialist, 1 Physician, 1 ENT, 1 Ayurvedic Doctor, 3 Technicians, 2 Optometrist,2 Pharmacist had come to the school. Free Physical examination along with thorough Eye check-up and ENT consultation were provided by the hospital. The purpose behind organizing this Health Camp was to spread awareness about prevailing illnesses and the ways of preventing them which people generally neglects.

A total of 121 support staff from all the department underwent the Health Check-up. Doctors advised and distributed various free medicines during the camp.

From the Director's Desk

This issue is devoted to celebration - of our community at Pathways of the talent of our students and our staff, of the myriad opportunities which help us to strengthen the learning opportunities which enable our students to grow

Kashmir Donation

It was overwhelming to see the generosity of the response of so many families to the tragic flood in the Kashmir valley.

Help poured in every day in the form of blankets, medicine, buckets, kitchenware, clothes, shoes… As the mountain of materials grew it was a visible example of how our community connects and a visible learning for children. 

Celebrating writers

Congratulations to Vanshika Goel of Grade 7. Her poem in response to Dylan Thomas’s The Hunchback in the Park  was shortlisted for publication in an anthology to be released by the Seventh Quarry, the magazine that initiated this competition to celebrate Dylan Thomas’ centenary.

Congratulations to Vasundhara Goyal  of Form 11 for her short story  A Highway Called Life  published in a collection of short stories called Café Latte by Amit Shankar. 

Congratulations to Dr Ravender Kaul our Head of the Social Sciences department for the fact that his book Migration and Society was prescribed in the MPhil programme of Mumbai University and Shivaji University Kolhapur.

Beyond School Walls

We were delighted to welcome the celebrated children’s writer Anushka Ravishankar who read to Form 4 & 5 from her classic children’s book Moin and the Monster

Two of our teachers attended the Global Citizenship conference in Bangkok and have returned with multiple ideas of creating links with schools around the world.

Grade 5 students had a lively skype conversation with similar students in Australia where they discussed their experiences of how technology assists learning.  They were delighted to see that in many ways they were doing more than  the Australian students.

Grade 6 students had an engaging session last Saturday with children from Salaam Baalak foundation where they worked together to make items for sale.

Grade 12 students went into the slum which is across our school boundary wall. They performed an enchanting Nukkad Natak street play on the importance of cleanliness. In collaboration with the Eye-hospital in Noida they also arranged an eye camp for the inhabitants of the colony. 

Leading Up to Founders

At this time of year nothing is more celebratory of talent than Founders day. Our actors, singers and dancers are practicing with discipline and enthusiasm. But those who are working on backstage

help, technology, sets, costumes and publicity have also made a gigantic contribution to what promises to be a great show.  At many levels children have been relating to the story – via character study, drawing parallels with Hamlet etc.  And some watched and interviewed our mask makers from Ujjain who have been creating masks for the show. 

Do remember that evening school is from Monday 27th  to Thursday 30th , leading to the show on 31st and 1st November. Monday 3rd is a holiday.

Finally, all good wishes to you and your loved ones for a very happy Diwali. I hope that your year ahead is filled with light, togetherness and success.

Dr. Shalini Advani

School Director