From the Director's Desk

The end of the semester always comes upon a school with a breathless rush. In reviewing and reflecting, everyone in the school whether students or staff can look back with a sense of happiness at all that has been accomplished. While the list of what needs to be done next grows alongside, this is a time for giving and I am happy to reflect on time, effort, money which are donated so generously by so many.

Giving Initiative

The upcoming weekend sees a wonderful initiative by students of Form 9 & 10 to the village of Hazipur. In collaboration with the Eyecare Hospital they have arranged for doctors to run an eye camp with testing of villagers and follow up treatment recommendations. There is a special focus on hygiene with a nukkad natak performed by the students. A new library is being inaugurated equipped with books donated by students.

On Wednesday 16th we have our annual Day of Sharing which focuses on the contributions and talents of the support staff.  There is a talent show of support staff members with our children as audience. This is designed to create a connection between students and these vital members of our school community.

The show is followed by a langar lunch which is served by students of the senior school and is eaten together.

The Christmas Carnival on Thursday 17th is a labour of love by parents and students. All the food is home cooked and all parents are invited, so I do hope to see you there. There are games stalls run by students, a

raffle and a special auction of the dresses of Belle from the Founders Day performance of Beauty and the Beast. All proceeds go to the Sai Bal Sansar & Indira Public school. I would like to take this opportunity to give enormous thanks to all those parents who have been working so hard to make this event successful.

Day on Wheels

Primary school students have responded enthusiastically to the Day on Wheels. Dozens of bicycles, scooters, skates and roller blades have been brought in. The walkways were converted to wheel zones with one-way systems. A fringe benefit of this is that children are learning early, the benefits of lane driving, keeping to the left and learning road sense. It is a skill they will use for the rest of their lives.

Student Led Conferences

Across the school from Form 3 – 9, students have been sharing their learning progress and goals with parents. It involves reflection, careful planning and some tension. It is always surprising to see how nervous students are as they plan what to share with their parents. The learning process is invaluable because the most effective way of students improving is when they identify their own areas of development – more effective than being told what to do by adults.  Thank you to all the parents who so enthusiastically gave your time, listened patiently, supported and sometimes challenged your child. It leads to a lifelong learning.

Student Council

Ten days of lead up, campaigning, posters, speeches and politicking culminated in the secondary school student council elections. Between the elected and the nominated positions, I am happy to report that we have a very good council in place who will I am sure, take up the baton of leadership. It is an important feature of the culture of Pathways to encourage student leadership and voice and the year ahead promises to be interesting.

                                               School Council President Karan Pandanda

                                                          Student Council 2016-17

And finally….

All good wishes to all of you for the festive season.  I hope you have a happy and safe family time together. We look forward to seeing all our students back in school on 14th January.  Please note that presence on this day is an expectation of all children. If for an exceptional and unavoidable reason your child will not be in school on that day, leave must be applied for from the Principal.

As always, for the month of January, school will begin at 9.30 am.

Dr. Shalini Advani

School Director

From the Middle School Principal, Mrs. Sunanda Sandhir

Children need to see themselves as responsible, empowered, and able to respond to challenges that come in their way. They need this for their self-esteem, for their lives to have a meaning, and also to learn to handle themselves responsibly. They need, like the rest of us, to feel like they matter.

Therefore while providing students the freedom to make choices, it equally essential to hold them accountable for their mistakes. Teachers play the role of facilitators as they facilitate student’s learning by teaching them to solve problems independently.

Student- led conference is one such event where the students get the opportunity to not only share their learning with their parents, but also reflect on it and thereby set goals. As one student shared “I am not good in communication and I think I need to work on bettering the skill.”

Some of our students got an opportunity to participate at Lancers International School for inter-school competitions and I am happy to share the laurels they brought.

•             Prithviraj Singh Shahani, Tanvi Amrit from form 7, and  Shreya Trikha from form 8 won the first prize in the ‘Parliamentary debate’ .

•             Harveen Anand got the First and Tushar Gupta got the Third Prize in Science Symposium. They both are form 8 students

•             In declamation, Harshita Gupta, Samarth Modi and Rishabh Menon from form 7 won the first, second and third prize respectively.

• Dev Verma and Adit Anand won the third prize in Science model.

It is really amazing to see the opportunities of learning the students get through the world wide web. Ms. Mayura Tiwari provided one such experience to the students of form 6 as a part of their unit on Space. She researched on the internet got in touch with an astronomer from NASA - Mr Louis Mayo who interacted with the students on Skype ! He shared the presentation on “Pluto post New Horizon” and answered many questions that the students asked. A memorable experience indeed!

I am also thankful to our parents community who at different times come in to share their expertise with the students and motivate them.

As form 8 studied Pythagoras theorem and Slope of line in Maths, they had to use their learning to sketch and design a Ramp for for wheel chair keeping safety of handicapped in mind. Mr. Manish Gupta who is an architect, shared this expertise in a workshop with the students. Many students said,”This is one of the best workshop and we learnt so much”.

Everyday is a new experience and wide ranging activities keep us all mentally stimulated and happily engaged. As a result, we continue to grow.

Student Led Conference, 3rd and 4th 2015

The student led conference 2015 was a great experience for

students and teachers. It was away for us to reflect on the progress we have made as Grade 9 IGCSE student. It allowed us to focus on our strength and work on our weakness. Collecting evidence, working on the reflection, putting our thoughts and work to paper. The entire process was a rich learning experience, where everybody put in time and effort to introspect about the concepts learnt and the skills acquired. We got feedback from the teachers that gave us a holistic perspective to set our targets and goals which are realistic and achievable.

The parents were very excited and supportive, listening to our presentation and asking question about the goals, reflections and choice of evidence .SLC provided a very formal platform which parent and student could engage and interact. The whole process allowed me to set direction for my improvement and growth .I have made plans based on the same that will help me to move forward to achieve the goals set

 Inika Prasad, Grade 9

The Parent Teacher Meeting or PTM is an exceedingly common term and occasion familiar to both students and parents. However, the much less common Student Led Conference or SLC has brought its own share of contributions to the Grade 9 parent,

teacher and student community at Pathways School Noida. First, the students of Grade 9 were made aware of the steps that we need to take to assure a fruitful SLC for both us and our parents. We had to choose 4 subjects that we would present in different ways for different reasons, two academic subjects, one creativity subject and one transfer of skill subject. I, Ishaan Gupta chose Math, Physics, Chemistry and English Literature respectively. I reflected on my strengths and weaknesses for each subject, I provided evidence to depict these. Furthermore, I set goals for each subject that resided in a specific time frame with achievable steps. To me it definitely helped me improve my organization skills since the frantic search for sheets to use as evidence is a definite reminder to be more organized in the future. The whole process of reflecting on your studies, works and self as a high school student really put things into perspective for me. It showed me what kind of student I am and what I need to improve on. Also it was definitely an enriching experience sharing and discussing my reflections and evidences with my mother and supervisor.

 Ishaan Gupta,  Grade 9

Parents SLC feedback

 1)           I am very satisfied in the way which SLC   was conducted. Adding anything more would not be of any help. I came with an open mind and absorbed a lot. It was pleasure attending it and a learning moment for me.

Parent of Ishaan Gupta Grade 9

2) Process like SLC improves and boost my child’s level further is most welcomed. We find a huge improvement in my child’s confidence level

Parent of Noah Khair Grade 9

 3) SLC is a good opportunity to understand my child’s goal and performances in the subject. Thank you for such process.

Parent of Sang Jun Lee Grade 9

  

4) Exposure and Participation in events like SLC is one reason why we wanted him to be in an IGCSE /IB school

 Parent of Tunir Mukerjee

Pathways Students in a Skype - A- Thon with VP, Education Microsoft

On 3rd Dec 2015, Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Education for Microsoft Corporation’s Worldwide Public Sector skyped with our students of IGCSE Computer Sciences, as part of a Skype-a-thon in which he travelled billions of virtual miles interacting with students worldwide.

Our theme was Game based learning. The students were super excited and the interaction was memorable and fruitful. Our team introduced our school logo and the culture of our country in a few words following which they discussed game based learning and even gadgets like  surface pro. They discussed their ideas on dynamic web site building  and also world building across continents on Minecraft among other ideas. The Microsoft team tweeted as below:

Here's a tweet by Anthony:

Trophy presented by Habitat for Humanity India to School Director on 30th November 2015, by Bhavika Hotchandani, Gr 10

On the 16th of October, the students of IBDP Form 11 visited a village in Bawana, a slum in North West Delhi. As a part of their CAS program, students painted houses for the less privileged sections of society and therefore, extended their support to the rehabilitated workers living there.

Many people in our country are deprived of housing, which is an essential need for all human beings. The Form 11 activity was in association with Habitat for Humanity, an international organization which contributes to build houses for the less privileged all over the world. Our school donated an amount of Rs. 1.25 lacs for this noble cause.

As a gesture of appreciation for this support extended by Pathways Noida students, Habitat for Humanity India awarded our School Director, Dr. Shalini Advani with a trophy on the 30th of November, 2015. The activity was a fantastic opportunity of experiential learning for our DP students and the students are keenly looking forward to more such opportunities to serve the community, in near future.

Skype a session with Lou Mayo by Siya Sharma Gr 6

In English, we are currently learning about man’s fascination for space. We have learnt and researched about different planets, space, astronauts, etc. We have also learnt about NASA’s contribution in exploring possibilities in space. We were fortunate to have an interactive skype session with Mr. Louis Mayo from NASA on December 3rd. The session was on “Pluto Post New Horizons”.

We asked questions like “Is any life possible on Pluto?” Another question which was asked was “Is it true, that the moon Charon is half the size of Pluto?” He answered all the questions with a lot of patience. 

The session was amazing. Mr. Louis was a lot of fun to talk to. He has researched about the moon Titan of the planet Saturn. He shared a PPT with us about Pluto and also the largest moon of Pluto, Charon. He showed us some beautiful pictures of Pluto, which have never been seen before.

I would like to thank Miss Mayura and Miss Sakshi for organizing this session. Looking forward to more of such sessions in the future, too.

Siya Sharma, 

Grade 1 visit to the Theater Festival 'Dramebaaz', Ms. Monica Garg Form Tutor Gr 1

Stories are a wonderful way of engaging with children and opening their eyes to the world!

As Dr. Suess puts it, “Oh! The places you’ll go!” On 4th Dec, Form 1 got the opportunity to be a part of an exciting experience through ‘The Dramabaaz Storytelling Festival’ which was a unique combination of story-telling through drama, Puppets, music, dance and Paper craft.

Since the start of the day the excitement was in the air as children were all charged up to take a day off from the classroom and enter the world of stories . At the festival they got an opportunity to capture various moments of emotions and expressions from the stories that were showcased.

Children were quite taken up by the first act which was Puppet show of ‘A Naughty Fly’. Then followed a colorful and amazing folk dance performance to which the children were spell bound. Children also witnessed a one act short play titled ‘The Dictionary

Salesman’ performed by brilliant little actors. The festival ended with children being part of puppet making and instrument making workshop and carried back a token of the same. It was a wonderful experience for the entire form 1 students as was evident from their chats on their way to back to school.

Early Years Rhymes Showcase

Pre Nursery

Four months into the academic year, the children of Pre-Nursery were all geared up and ready for their first stage performance. They presented a variety of rhymes in their classrooms for the audience – their mummies and daddies. The children practiced a lot, all the rehearsals paid off and culminated into a wonderful showcase. They all sang beautifully and did the actions associated with the songs. The happiest moment for the parents and teachers was the delight on the faces of the children to sing for their parents. It was commendable to see such little children handle their emotions and deal with the fear of facing an audience.

Candice Rodrigues, Form Tutor PN-B

Nursery

It was great to see beautiful smiles and amazing tunes twinkling in Nursery on Thursday. Our children proudly opened their doors to parents and sang rhymes and songs from different cultures, on various numerals and on their favorite characters like Santa and Bingo. The children were confident and sang songs like  ‘He’s got a red red hat’, ‘if all the raindrops’, Christmas carols, and hindi rhymes with actions. It was a pleasure to see our parents sing along to boost their morale. The children were confident and independent. It was great to see them being happy helpers to their peer group. Last but not the least they were thoroughly delighted and performed like ‘Rockstars’.

Pihu Kapoor, Nursery Coordinator, Form Tutor - Nursery A

KG

Music has been the heart of any kindergarten learning. As the great philosopher Plato rightly put it, “Music gives soul to the universe,

wings to the mind, flight to imagination and life to everything”.

On the 4th Dec. this year, our little kindergarteners put together a musical extravaganza for their parents to showcase their learning through songs. The songs were carefully chosen by the children keeping in mind every aspect of their learning. They sang songs related to their units of inquiry, to learning the phonic sounds, to Math songs and even some peppy Hindi rhymes.

This showcase gave our kindergarteners a wonderful opportunity to not only share their learning, but also helped in building their confidence in presenting before an audience and working together as a team.

The thunderous applause from the parents said it all… Another feather in the cap for our little ones!

Vandana Majumdar, Grade Coordinator – Kindergarten

Form Tutor – KG D

From the Director's Desk

The past couple of weeks have seen a rich array of guest speakers coming in to talk to students. We have been fortunate to have writers and illustrators engaging with students in primary, middle and senior, sharing their expertise, telling stories and expanding horizons.  By drawing in experts we aim to give our students a level and variety of learning which is not possible with their regular teachers.

    Guest speakers combined with Literary Week and the Readathon which draws children into reading for raising funds as well as for pleasure.

 The list of expert visitors is an exciting resource for learning at every level. Early Learners had story telling from Ritu Agarwal and Valentina Trivedi. Primary

students interacted with Sharanya Deepak, author of The Vampire Boy and Satya Narayan Govind, the illustrator and cartoonist who got Grade 5 to create a story through illustration. Middle school students interacted with Lalit Kumar Sharma the illustrator from Campfire graphics and the writer/journalist Vikas Singh who read excerpts from his mythological novel Bhima. Meghna Singh the author of the popular detective series The Casefiles of PI Pojo made Grade 7 into real-life detectives by setting up a crime scene.

   

Senior school students were fortunate to engage with thinkers and writers on the contemporary world. In a scintillating talk Nalin Mehta journalist and political scientist, made them think about how the news is “constructed”, often promoting a particular point of view and driven by commercial requirements. Ajay Chaturvedi a renowned Young Global Leader spoke on entrepreneurship and the skills required to be a successful entrepreneur today. 

Tapan Goel HR Head from Barclays Shared Services discussed banking as a career option and the mindset and approach required. 

 I would like to thank those parents who have suggested guest speakers, some of who were part of the list here.  This is a process which will continue at different times throughout the year so please continue to make suggestions if you know of anyone suitable for a particular age group and we will draw upon them whenever possible.

Sports: Interschool Competitions

There have been a multitude of inter-school sports events hosted by the school, which our students have participated in. In this week there was an inter-school basketball with 10 schools and tennis competition with 8 schools. Overall there were nearly 300 participants. Our basketball team reached the Finals where they were defeated. Shivesh Luthra was awarded Most Promising Player. In the Tennis, Ameya Naik of Form 4 stood in 2nd position.  

Masters Junior Golf Tournament

Students from Form 3 – 6 also participated in the Masters Junior Golf Tournament in Jaipur. Our team stood Second. Ten students from Form 4-6 participated. Anandita Ralli of Form 5 stood First and Sareena Khanna of Form 4 stood Second. Three students won prizes for Nearest to the Pin: Diva Gandhi, Yashasvi Singh & Ekaansh Arora.

Baseball at American Embassy

This week our baseball teams will be going to the tournament at the American Embassy.  This is a special event, played before the US Ambassador and the UN Ambassador. As a special feature, our percussion orchestra has also been invited to perform.

Parent Teams in Expat Cup and Corporate Tournament    

Finally we were delighted to involve some of our golfing parents in an event. Two parents  Mr. Dev Amritesh and Mr. Umesh Dubey played in the Expat Cup at the JP Greens as part of a combined team with the other Pathways schools and a further Mr. Umesh Dubey, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi and Mr. Harry Monné will play in the Corporate Tournament this Sunday. It is a delight when the Pathways team extends to parents as well.

Founders Day

Although Founders Day rehearsals have begun in earnest, academic work has continued. Students in secondary school have been juggling rehearsals with summative tests and teachers in primary have continued to track and record assessments. This has been done by slightly shortening lessons, cancelling clubs and making other adjustments. The learning via performance  - whether it is exposing students to different types of Broadway or West End musicals, singing, dancing and acting – is a most valuable experience. Moreover it teaches children to balance multiple demands.  Some homework and academic learning will continue to be demanded when the school moves to outdoor rehearsals next month.

    

Dr. Shalini Advani

School Director

From the Primary School Principal, Mrs. Usha Lamba

The school has been abuzz with the ‘Literary fortnight’ that has

been conceived for students to explore, enjoy and experience the World of books. One of the best ways for children to read is engaging with books and the book business. We  hope this fortnight kindles their romance with books through the year and through life.

Teachers created wonderful moments in class With ‘sip and read’, ‘musical books’, character dress up day, ’bedtime stories in pajamas’ and ‘hats off to reading.’ We had authors and illustrators invited into school to interact with students for them to get a deeper understanding of book making. Sharanya Deepak, spoke about her book,The Vampire Boy that encouraged them to follow their dreams and overcome their fears. Many students of Form 2 and 3 are already wishing to author books one day.

Form 5 had a session with Mr. Satya Narayan Govind who engaged the students to create a story through illustration. He introduced “Scroodling” a technique that mixes doodling and scribbling. The students’ creativity is at display in the school atrium.

Form 1 enjoyed Julia Donaldson’s stories told by Ritu Aggarwal , a fantastic professional story teller.

Perhaps the most unforgettable visit was by a Story teller, Ms. Valentina Trivedi. All students of Grade 1 were spell-bound as she dramatically narrated a story of a little dragon called Alfie, who liked ice-cream.                                                                                   

To spread the love of books students began to think of donating their favourite books for ‘Daan Utsaav ‘a very noble deed that has been spearheaded by our very own student council.

The book fair is a tremendous success as we see teachers and students engaged in selecting and getting familiar with the latest publications. This is also very popular with the Primary parents.

 You will notice a tremendous display of books read and reviewed by our Primary students pinned on the fencing of the Basket Ball court. The houses are represented by pictures of sports equipment. By end of December the house that reads most gets to celebrate their success!

Apart from having the larger World into the school for student learning during the literary week, we also had an ecstatic Form 1 exploring E2A- an electric car, brought in by a parent who is a dealer of cars. It helped our students of Form 1 who were inquiring on advance transportation systems to take their understanding and inquiry further. There were many questions, wonderings and new learning which emerged through their interaction with the engineer. 

Guest Speakers in School, Mr. Ajay Chaturvedi & Mr. Tapan Goel

On 15th October 2015, Grades 9 &10 had the honor of engaging with the founder and chairman of HarVa (Indian BPO) and social entrepreneur, Mr. Ajay Chaturvedi. Many of us claim to have decided our future careers, even our retirement plans. Yet, others are still bombarded with new ideas every single day that lead them to a state of confusion. After all, each and every human being needs to keep an open mind and whether one has chosen his or her career path or not, a brand new gateway leading to a brand new calling shouldn’t be something to hide from.

Mr. Chaturvedi did just that, starting his interactive session with a simple question, “Who do you want to become”? As straightforward as that sounds, even I, somebody who has a clear cut idea of future aspirations, was taken aback. Do I want to be rich, successful, famous? No, I want to be happy. Mr Chaturvedi encouraged us to pursue a career that we are passionate about, not one that is attached with any personal emotions because true passion is what is ultimately going to result in happiness and contentment.

What I admire most about him is his ability to connect with the audience, even young teenagers like ourselves. He didn’t go on and on speaking about his achievements but rather his inspiration to start entrepreneurship. I have a strong passion towards women empowerment and I could see clearly in his eyes that he did too. HarVa is an organization set up in rural India which employs only women. He told us that while setting up the organization, he faced several challenges that came from all directions. But his passion and love for innovation pushed him to move past these obstacles and we all can laud him for where he has reached now.

An avid reader and believer in philosophy himself, Mr. Chaturvedi introduced us to the main symbol of wisdom; the swastika. Some might link the swastika with the Nazis, others with Hinduism. However he presented us the true meaning, wisdom. His book is about just this: how the swastika represents wisdom in all shapes and forms. Personally, I feel blessed to be able to interact with a man with such immense drive and talent. Even though this session didn’t exactly motivate me to change my career choice completely, it did open up my horizons.

Katyani Mehra, Grade 10B

As we, the IB DP students, prepare for college admissions and explore our future career ambit, it is easy to find ourselves in a quandary about career choices. On October 15th, the Economics

and the Business Management students of forms 11 and 12 were opened to the future opportunities involved in retail and investment banking through a guest session with Mr. Tapan Goel, the Head of HR at Barclays Shared Services Pvt. Ltd., Noida. In this session, Mr. Goel talked about the history of banking, distinguished between the types of banking and introduced the field as a career option on a whole. With a focus on the banking sector, he also shared his life experiences and emphasized on the need of having holistic growth and the right attitude towards life. He later answered the various questions we had related to his stream and profession. Overall the session was quite useful in opening the possibility of a career path.

Divya Tyagi Gr 11

“STEER CLEAR ”at The TECH Summit 2015 by Aryan Srivastava, Kshitij Upamanyu, Dhruv Singh, Mehr Chawla - Grade IX

Learn Today's Educational Technology Summit, 2015, “I am the Change” envisaged to be an event which is student-led.  This was the second such Summit they had organised ; the students  needed to create ,run and peer assess the Student Leadership Case Study ('Tech for Change' Project) with the self-

drawn  rubric for the Project. Every school had to form a team of students, who would identify a real-life problem and provide a solution for it, using sustainable and cost-effective technology. The solution would need to be rolled out; and the result of the study recorded by September 2015. On completion, the teams had to send their respective projects to Learn Today for documentation. At the Summit, every project would undergo peer evaluation.

The theme evolved from the belief that when students take the lead in their learning, they are more likely to concentrate on ideas around a given concept that interest them. This allowed us to engage with any topic from a perspective that differs substantially from the focus of a typical curriculum. Up to 20 schools formed a Core team from select schools to spearhead the planning process. It was the requirement of the core members to engage with students from other schools to brainstorm the programme, agenda, workshop themes, the 'Tech for Change’ Project and the rubrics for peer assessment. To help facilitate the process, many meetings were conducted at Vasant Valley School.

Our school was a member of the core group, along with 19 other schools of the NCR, for the All India technology Summit. We brainstormed and came up with a common everyday issue, which affects all our lives – “Road accidents caused by distracted drivers”, distraction being the use of mobile phones while driving. So, the technological solution provided our team was Steer Clear. There were 47 schools with displays and case studies out of the 80 that were participating.  Although we did not win the competition, but we are very proud of the fact that we completed it and have been able to test it on many phones. It would be a good idea if we could have the Delhi police use this for their “Save Delhi From Road Accidents” campaign.

Steer Clear : According to statistics, ⅗ of road accidents happen due to the carelessness of the driver. And ⅓ of those happen due to using phone while driving. This application will prevent that by not allowing incoming calls and silencing your phone when the vehicle is in motion. When a call is made, a message will be sent to the caller notifying him/her that the recipient is busy driving. Moreover, it will come with a special feature (in case of emergencies) which will allow a few chosen contacts to be put through after 2 attempts have been made.

 So now our app, STEER CLEAR IS READY AND WAITING FOR AN OFFICIAL LAUNCH. We are so excited with this product.

CAS trip for Grade 11 students on 16th of October’15 to JJ Colony in Bawana in association with Habitat for Humanity India.

A CAS trip was organized for the Grade 11 students on 16th of October’15 to JJ Colony in Bawana in association with Habitat for Humanity India. The students painted a few of the houses in the slums of Bawana and also interacted with the community members. 

Students were able to interact with the locals and fathom how they live in unfavourable and difficult conditions. After observing the surroundings many students reflected on how fortunate they were to get the chance to offer their services to them:

I remember feeling a little nervous and a lot excited when I arrived in BAWANA. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But as we met the habitat staff, things seemed to just fall into place.  The entire trip was exceptionally planned. I was at first a bit nervous about my health as the area wasn’t clean and the smell was excruciating.

Students were divided into five groups, each with a particular task given to them. For all groups, the main focus was to paint. We together as a group were trying our best to contribute our efforts to the local community.

 Everyone was given instruction on how to deal with equipment and beware of the surroundings. Every group had a leader to lead the team with a teacher. I was the leader of group 2 and I had the responsibility to maintain the discipline and coordination in the group.

Group 2, had the task to paint a room in the community hall of J.J colony. My whole team was worried about their health as we were working in a surrounding which wasn’t properly maintained and very unhygienic. We were quite happy as we got mosquitos repellent, mask and gloves.

Habitat staff then gave us sand paper and taught us how to use it. It looked quite easy but it wasn’t. Rubbing that sand paper against the wall to take out the previous paint was a tough job. The room in which we were working became full of dust. One of my friend was having asthma so it was my job to take him to a safe location where the dust couldn’t reach him. After sometime everyone finished the first task that was to take out old paint. Each of us were tired and our hands were paining.

As the second task began, the other groups also joined us. Every student was doing his/her task to the fullest. We completed our task on time.

In my opinion a field trip like these is very essential.  It provided an excellent opportunity to know what is going on in our society. Moreover, I found out that even though we have different cultures and we come from different backgrounds, we can still communicate and work together to achieve our common goal. The efforts that I put in helped me to get more lessons than the contribution that I was putting in was less and that I should help the other communities with my resources and efforts. I believe that helping the ones in need is a global requirement and always begins with a small initiation like this one

Himank Goel

Grade 11

Last Friday, the 16th of October 2015, the students of Grade 11 embarked on a CAS trip to the North-West district of Delhi, to a census town called Bawana. This town has been assisted by an organization called Habitat for Humanity for over 7 years now and in the duration of this time, they have built over 500 houses for the inhabitants. Before we left from our school we had been briefed on what the expected outcome was.

We were to be divided into 5 groups and each group would be given a specific task to complete. Our job revolved around the replenishing of the walls in their community, by applying coatings of paint. 3 of the groups were allocated houses and two groups were assigned to the community hall. The idea of renovating houses for a day and being rewarded with dominos pizzas thrilled most of us. However, after the completion of our tasks we were left with much more,  to be delighted about. We were able to interact with the locals and fathom how they live in unfavorable and difficult conditions. After observing the surroundings we felt fortunate to get the chance to offer our services to assist them. It was a tremendous experience and I am certain that the whole grade wouldn’t pass up another opportunity that would allow us to contribute to the wellbeing of the society. We might have not built an entire household for the people of Bawana but even the slightest involvement gave us immense satisfaction.

 Jahanavi Datta

Form 11

Parenting Workshop in the Primary, Ms. Kriti Nigam, Form Tutor Gr 5

Building on the partnership with the parents to provide a holistic developmental environment for the children, Pathways school Noida, in collaboration with Parvarish Institute of Parenting hosted a workshop on 10th October 2015 focusing on the changing role of parents.

The parents shared their concerns and behavioral challenges they faced while dealing with their child. They ranged from resisting to try something new to social interaction, sibling rivalry and many more. Everyone identified with the issues raised by them at some level or the other. As parents, we all shared the vision and the need for a child to grow up to be confident, adaptable, having intrinsic values and possessing sound decision making skills. But, as all were looking for easy solutions, it was a surprise to realize during the discussion that Parents and teachers are the role models that the children try to emulate and that they are ones who can bring a difference to the children's lives. Through some reflective exercises and  exchange of views, the audience was made to reflect on the opportunity and the modelling they can provide as parents. The importance of

communication to understand the child and a non-judgmental environment for the child to thrive in couldn’t  have been stressed more effectively. Towards the end of this reflective session the take away was a list of all the good practices we would like to continue in our family, things we are going to stop to provide an apt model of behavior for the child and the things we would like to begin to strengthen the bond we have with our children. Overall , it was an enriching experience for everyone where we all realized that a small change in our outlook  could make a world of a difference for our child.

From the Director’s Desk

I would like to begin this newsletter by promoting some thinking about the fundamentally important  area of Mental Health and Wellbeing. As always at the end of a year, we spend some time looking at what should be focus areas, what more we need to do to help our children become well adjusted and empowered people.

Of course mental health is a huge basket of different things and at different times the focus shifts from one area to another.  Most broadly we look at how to create successful and happy human beings. In doing so, we promote thoughtful kindness, mutual respect, accountability and responsibility. 

This is a complicated list of words so let me share some initiatives undertaken so far. I am not here, including the major focus on Mindfulness as this has already been shared.

Anti bullying week

In a primary school assembly we had an interesting discussion on whether in future we should give it a different name – Kindness week for example.

However in this year we deliberately chose to highlight the specific area of bullying prevention, because the creation of general awareness is in itself a deterrent. Students themselves planned and contributed to activities. You can read more specific details elsewhere in this newsletter. 

The school rules were highlighted at an assembly – that bullying can be verbal and psychological as much as physical, that bullying leads to strict disciplinary action such as suspension and parent interviews. Through workshops and discussions an understanding was created on what to do, the feelings of the victim and how to develop assertiveness, the role of the bystander and how they too have a responsibility. 

Valuing Teachers

Teachers Day is always a time to promote positive energy, express gratitude. The warmth and affection which students expressed, their creative energy in putting together a performance with no adult help – were all an indicator of a special bond between students and teachers. This was perfectly captured in the painting done by IB students and presented. Taking a tongue in cheek line from Harry Potter’s school Hogwarts it declared Help is always given at Pathways to those who seek it.

Accountability

Well adjusted happy human beings are those who can distinguish right from wrong, who know that wrong actions have consequences. This basic understanding is true at every level and in this year we are strengthening this message to all students. A Nursery or KG child who bites or hits another one knows it is wrong and is often trying it, to test boundaries.  It is very very important for us to send the message that this is not alright –through a time-out on a special chair and by the teacher saying so. Similarly, in secondary school students are held accountable – with a focus on changing behaviour through consequences.  This could be for inappropriate behavour or for self management areas such as punctuality or assignment .

 Alongside this there have been self-development trainings for children in areas such as leadership, assertiveness, healthy understanding of sexuality. A career day planned later in the year will get senior students to look at where they want to go in life, the options available and what they need to be like to get there.

Founders Day Planning

As you know this year the celebrations of Founders Day have moved to November. This has enabled a stronger establishment of academic areas at the beginning of the year. For the first time we will have two separate productions – one for Primary and the other for Secondary. Also for the first time, the Primary production will be for students from Grade 2 up only. Students from Grade 1 down will do their production on Rhyme Time day, during child-friendly daylight hours.

   

In October students will begin preparing with some slight adjustment to the schedule to enable this. Beginning with the first Thursday after the semester break, school timings on Thursdays will not be shorter but will move to regular hours i.e 8 – 3.40. We will be updating you with more details of planning in a separate communication later. 

Dr Shalini Advani

School Director