From the Director's Desk

A very happy new year and a warm welcome back in spite of these cold January days. A special welcome to those parents and students who have joined Pathways school Noida in this semester. 

We are also happy to welcome in our community the five new members of staff who have joined. As always it is a delight to have the school buzzing with our students who almost uniformly have said how happy they are to be back in school. A reminder that the late start continues through January: we will revert to usual timings from 3rd February.

Barely has the semester begun before different parts of the school are plunged into activity. In the secondary school, Student Council elections are as always creating enormous excitement. Nominated students were interviewed by myself along with the staff coordinators and the Principals and we were impressed with the clarity and idealism of the candidates and their enthusiasm for contributing to the school.

Campaigning went to a whole different level with interesting posters and slogans, and the elections themselves provided excitement and heartbreak. I am convinced that the new council will contribute splendidly but also that they will learn the challenges and demands which leadership brings. 

Details of the winners are seen below.

Elections have provided a teaching moment for thinking about democratic processes – a timely theme in the light of recent political trends in the NCR and the positions of the Aam Aadmi Party. 

Thailand Community Service Trip

A group of  Form 11 students have left on a community service trip to northern Thailand where they will interact with students from two Thai schools, learn about the needs of the community and gain an understanding of the Buddhist culture of that country.

Form 3 introduces the IB to parents

Two students from Form 3 made a presentation on their unit of enquiry on Organisations to a group of admiring adults visiting the school to understand the IB curriculum.

  Diva Chhabra & Dhriti Bhattacharya        It  was  admirable  to  see  how  clearly  and 

confidently even our young students are able to explain complex ideas, summarise their research and assessment to demonstrate their understanding.

IB Reviews

Primary school teachers are busy preparing for the next IB authorization visit in mid-February. Our visitors, one from the International School in Dhaka and the other from the International School Singapore, will visit us in mid-February. Meanwhile our Diploma programme is beginning the mandatory 5 year review done by the IB. In middle school we have been confirmed as an MYP candidate school by the IB and our teachers are working towards planning for this. Each of these lengthy and detailed processes is designed to ensure that we retain the high standards which the IB requires.

Jharokha : A call to technical-minded parents

Our academic fair Jharokha: A Window On Learning has an interesting feature this year. We are setting up science-based construction challenges for students and inviting parents who have an interest in this area to mentor teams of students. I will be writing with more details shortly.

Hosting the Model UN at Pathways

In the first week of February we will be hosting our Model UN for students from Form 7 - 9. This year we will host teams from across the country and are happy to welcome students from international schools in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore in addition to schools across the NCR. It promises to be an exciting event. 

Dr. Shalini Advani

School Director

Student Council 2014-15

L to R First Row:  Sidhant Bagla, Aman Srivastava, Sameera Khurana, Ayush Dev; Sanya Chawla

L to R Second Row:Stephen Abraham,  Angad Singh, Karan Nag,  Pranav Farsaiya

                                                          Natash Sehgal, Rohan Paul

	Posts	Students
1	President	Sameera Khurana
2	Vice-President	Aman Srivastava
3	Sports Captain Boys	Ayush Dev
4	Sports Captain Girls	Manat Jolly
5	Air House Captain	Siddhant Bagla
6	Air House Vice-Captain	Sanya Chawla
7	Earth House Captain	Pranav Farsaiya
8	Earth House Vice-Captain	Karn Nag
9	Fire House Captain	Rohan Paul
10	Fire House Vice-Captain	Stephen Abraham
11	Water House Captain	Natasha Sehgal
12	Water House Vice-Captain	Angad Singh
13	Magazine Editor	Supriya Ganesh
14	Cultural Secretary	Simran Bhan, Tavishi Gupta
15	Technology Coordinator	Tushar Mahajan,    Abid Abbas

From the Senior School Principal Mr. Alexander Abraham

It was the celebrated Poet and Nobel Laureate T.S. Eliot who said “For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice”. How true, for a new year has come upon us and as we take on the second semester we look forward to new voices towards further success,  of taking on tasks that are daunting but through the experience of which our children and we become far more enriched human beings and the new voices of hope and optimism.

A winter vacation after nearly 5 months of the flurry of academics and co-curricular activities of an action packed calendar was indeed well deserved and we concluded the Senior School first Semester with exams where our students have done well and set the pace for academics for the next semester.

For the first time we had the December exams for FORM 12 as a Pre Mock Practice exam as we felt that this would help prep them and work on areas for the boards. The response from both parents and students of F12 has been very positive to this new initiative.

The New Year has already seen a week of academics go by and the secondary school is all agog with the Student Council Election Fever!

Nominations and Ratifications, Campaigning, Election Speeches with promises and ideas galore has been the most prominent voice thus far in Senior School. The vivacity of creative expressions so expressively 

depicted through the Posters has added to the colour of the process. Some schools do of course nominate Council members but at Pathways we believe firmly that the process is important and not just the end. We believe that through the democratic electoral process our students can get a say into who should represent them and their views and through it learn how to be responsible voters preparing for the world.

Even as the Primary School gears up towards PYP authorization and the Middle School moves towards MYP Pilot courses, the Diploma Programme has just commenced its 5 Year Review.

This is a terrific and integral part of the IB Systems where every school that has been authorized goes through a series of self-studies matched against the IB Programme Standards and Practices to ensure that the uniform quality of teaching and learning is taking place globally where IB programmes are being

taught. This 5 Year review enables us to look back on best systems and practices and is so very synchronous with the Pathwaysian belief that excellence is continuous and is not an end in itself. What also came across to us is how quickly time has passed and it looks like just yesterday when  just over three years ago,  with             Five Year Review Workshop
great vision the Pathways group and the directors; the founding staff and students embarked upon this beautiful journey of creating young responsible citizens.

 The next few months are hectic for Senior School as the focus of course will be ever so much for Forms 10 and 12 for completion of the Internal Assessments and Coursework, for Mock exams and the final stretch of the Board Exams. I am so happy to share that our students are focussed and working hard with intense zeal for the challenge of the boards. While they do keep academic focus, the rest of Senior school is also busy with preparation for the Pathways Model United Nations in first week of Feb, the Sports Day and of course the treks in March.

Through it all, the endeavour is to enable our students maximum opportunities for learning not just in the classroom but so much in situations that are not academic. Our aim here at school is then to combine fun and seriousness and to learn to do whatever is done to the best of human ability. This we know will keep them well in life. It was Abraham Lincoln who once said, “I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.”  We are confident that our students with the support and belief of all of us will go all-out to do the same and succeed.

Best wishes

Alexander Abraham

Senior School Principal

New Joinees

Barkha Vahi - EAL, Kanika  Gupta - Bus. Studies, Ekta Sharma - PE

Satyajit Bag - Maths HL

Belinda Paul - Primary Co - Tutor

From the General Manager Administration, Mr. Jayant Joshi

New school initiatives  for  environmental awareness and energy conservation

The word Energy conservation refers to the reducing energy and the Administration has put in place a number of initiatives to do this at Pathways Noida. Energy conservation differs from efficient energy use, which refers to using less energy for a constant service. For example, using less electricity is an example of energy conservation. Energy Conservation: Energy saved is energy produced 

Some of the new energy and environment saving initiative taken by us are as follows:

 •            Training of the school security, housekeeping and maintenance staff to switch off air-conditioning, lights and fans during the school breaks, school events , assemblies, after school hours and switch off power when ever they see  wastage of electricity.

•             Alternate use of street lights in the night in the school campus.

•             Installation of Ventilation Fans in Primary and Middle Block for circulation of Fresh Air which utilize wind energy and don’t require any power.

•             Your school has a modern Sewage Treatment Plan (STP) where as all the waste water is recycled and is used for the horticulture.

•             We have 3 Rain water harvesting pits where rain water is collected to recharge the underground water

•             We have installed a Paper recycling machine which is used to recycle paper waste to make art paper.

•             We are using waste oil of buses and DG sets in the open drains around the school to control mosquito menace.

•             Placing of energy saving placards behind every class door to educate and encourage all students and staff to save the energy, save the environment and save the earth.

•             Planting of trees and shrubs to make our school greener. We have planted around 5000 trees and 40000 shrubs in the school campus.

•             We are in the process of obtaining the green building certification for our school.

With our Drive for Energy Saving, we have saved a substantial amount of Energy  Approx. 15%  compared to the same period in the last year ,though the area of operation has increased this year. We would be very happy if students and parents can come up with some suggestions to save energy and help us in saving the environment and saving the Earth.

RYLA – 2013: ‘Be the Change’ - Khanak Mehta Form 11-A Interact Club

The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, or RYLA, as it is popularly known, was held at the O.P. Jindal Global University in Sonipat from 20-22nd December, 2013.

Six enthusiastic and excited representatives from Form-11, Interact Club arrived at Sonipat. With over a thousand participants, the energy level at the venue was palpable. The first evening we enjoyed the Rock Band event with the theme, “Angels and Devils”. Since we were all staying on campus,

every morning, there was a range of sports activities that you could participate in, like badminton, table tennis, running, etc. The next morning, after breakfast, we attended various lectures on leadership, self-improvement and giving back to the community. In the evening, there was a singing competition, followed by a Bollywood themed dance. There were various performances by classical dancers. We then spent the rest of the night dancing to the beats of an in-house DJ. 

The last day was dedicated towards community service where we went to a government-run school and help set up a library for the students. We also helped out in a medical health camp in a nearby village. The feeling of satisfaction that each one of us had was immense. The words of Mahatma Gandhi rang in my ears – “Be the change you want to see in the world “

The three days at RYLA taught me about leadership and giving back to the community. It gave us a platform to showcase our talents and we were all sorry to see it come to an end. The theme of the conference, ‘Be the Change’, left a lasting impact on us and inspired us all to lead by example.

Overall, it was a great experience and a perfect blend of learning and fun.