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.