From the Director's Desk

One of the most powerful beliefs of an IB education is the focus on developing the whole person. Martin Luther King referred to education as the combination of intelligence and character, and indeed a long list of wise educators through the centuries remind us that to educate the mind alone is a poor preparation for happiness or success in life. It is a challenge to bring up people to be both free thinking and compassionate, or to develop self-discipline along with creative problem solving. But amidst the Units of Inquiry, completing of syllabi and summative assessments, the students have been busy with participating in this larger development of character and more is planned in the weeks ahead.

It is in the light of this that we are very happy and proud to begin this issue by reproducing an interview by our Grade 2 student Niharika Dwivedi who found the opportunity to conduct an interesting interview with the Chief Minister of UP, Mr Akhilesh Yadav. She was able to bring out a personal and child-centered response which makes for a very interesting read.

Events

Communicating and thinking about the purpose of education has dominated much of the activity since the school re-opened.

Primary Back to School

Primary school parents experienced the learning environment through the well-attended Back to School Day and Grade 6 & 7 parents will do the same on the 14th. Grade 9 students took their parents through their first student led conference.

 Grade 9 SLC

In the weeks since the new semester began, the secondary school was involved in the student council election, bringing with it the demands of communicating, campaigning and voting. For those who won and those who did not, it is a valuable lesson.

Digital Citizenship

At a time when the entire country seems focused on elections, it seems a good time to focus on the larger meaning of citizenship. This week is devoted to a focus on digital citizenship. As the virtual world has become an increasing presence in all our lives, it is essential to understand issues of safety, responsibility and health. For the past two years we have focused on helping young people understand the importance of retaining privacy and following safe practices. This year the focus has expanded to issues of health, the importance of moderation, radiation or lack of sleep. Parents, teachers and students will participate in discussing this issue.  Reminders will go out to parents too so please do use this as an opportunity to talk about this to your children.

MYP

In the upcoming week we take our next step towards MYP authorization with the visit by our IB consultant. She will be meeting teachers and students, sitting in on classes and reviewing our standards.  Appointed by the IB, our consultant Ms Aloha Lavina is a highly experienced IB practitioner and we look forward to our ongoing development as an MYP school with her.

Change of Date

A reminder that the Sports Fiesta for students upto Grade 2 is on Friday 20th and Sports Day is on Saturday 28th. I look forward to seeing you at both events.

Dr Shalini Advani

School Director

Interview of Chief Minister Mr. Akhilesh Yadav by Niharika Dwivedi Gr 2A

 Niharika : Which is your favorite subject ?

CM:      History

 Niharika : Which is your favorite Sport ?

CM :      Football

 Niharika : How do you spend time with your children ?

CM :     I ask questions

 Niharika : What do you like to do for kids like us ?

CM :     Inspire them to become good citizens and make them happy.

 Niharika : Please give a message for the students of Pathways School.

CM      All the good wishes, study hard, eat good food and play outdoor

All the good luck to Niharika !

Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister U.P

Student Council 2015-16

President	Divian Baheti
Vice-President	Shreya Dayal
Sports Captain (Boys)	Pulkit Kapur
Sports Captain (Girls)	Harmanbir Bhullar
Air House: Captain	Tanish Sadh
Air House: Vice Captain	Arjun Anand
Earth House: Captain	Vasundhara Goyal
Earth House: Vice Captain	Manav Khurana
Fire House: Captain	Kanishk Sehgal
Fire House: Vice Captain	Zahra Ali Khan
Water House: Captain	Sohini Singh
Water House: Vice Captain	Chahana Bansal
Cultural Secretary	Manasvini Nayar
Cultural Secretary	Divya Jain
Magazine Editor	Radhika Sharma
Magazine Editor	Shaheer Haider
Technology Coordinator	Armaan Nayar
Technology Coordinator	Kunal Gupta

Student Council Elections by Shaheer Nasim Haider Gr 11

The student council, a metaphor for tenacity, plays a vital role in school and student life.  The student council can effectively be called the “bridge” between the students and the school. The council of 2014-2015 had done an amazing job throughout the year and we were expected to step into their shoes.

“Registrations” began in December 2014 and all interested applicants had to apply and go through an interview. After the interview, the shortlisted applicants had to begin the campaigning began. The entire school was COVERED with posters. After a whole week of campaigning, which included the speeches, the “judgment day” arrived.

The atmosphere was electric. All applicants were cheerful but the anxiety could be seen on their faces.

The voting, although simple yet precious for each of us, was conducted and the results were declared there and then. The new council was formed and we students were the ones who chose the members.

29th January was the day of the investiture. Every student council member was dressed for the occasion and it was a really beautiful event.

The badges were passed to the council members and the oath taking ceremony took place. Finally, the ceremony ended with the old and new council having tea together. The entire experience was extremely rewarding and as a member of the student council, I hope to live up to my expectations.

The Student Council 2015-16

Back to School - Upper Primary, by Ms. Megha Arora Form Tutor Gr 4

The theme for this year’s Back to School was to share how we develop our Language and Math in class. The students lead the session completely and became the teachers for lesson. The session began with a glimpse of

how the development of skills was interspersed with various activities related to reading, writing, presenting etc and would repetitively occur during the day at various times. This was followed by the sharing of the system of reading and tracking in class. Lexile tests,  Reading assessments through tasks and written responses,  the expected reading levels of the class,  number of books to be carried home, process of guided reading-novel study, online reading websites for reading along with parents, due importance on reading both at home and school etc were some topics covered by the students through their talks and samples of work.

A demonstration lesson on ‘Biography Writing’ took the parents through a process wherein reading, writing, spelling and grammar

blended in well to create a perfect written piece. The students engaged the parents in reading and writing of biographies through differentiated tasks, laying due emphasis on grammar and spellings.

The math lesson headed by the students looked at the tuning in to a fractions unit. The parents were divided into four groups and were given an opportunity to explore fractions using a variety of manipulatives, based on differentiated situations. The students lead the parents into various hands-on activities related to fractions using cakes, a ball and bucket game, Jodo Gyan fraction kit etc. These activities were followed by revision sheets to be filled in. The parents were truly engaged and excited to have gone through a typical lesson and could get further clarity on how and where they could help the kids at home.

Grade 7 trip to Akshay Pratisthan… by Shikha Chatterjee Gr Gr 7B

On February 6th 2015 Grade 7 of Pathways School Noida went for a field trip to Akshay Pratisthan, a school for differently abled children. This trip was part of our English unit on the Art of Persuasion and also part of our Science unit on nutrition.

We went to this school to interact with the

children and observe what they get to eat for their mid-day meals. The mid-day meals were provided with the help of the organization MCKS which runs the Ek Muthi Anaaj campaign.

The objectives for this trip were for us to recognize the needs of these special children and persuade others to help join in with the Ek Muthi Aanaj campaign.

We were touched as we entered each classroom and saw the smiling faces of the children. Some even came up to us and shook our hand. It was a memorable experience at the school and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

At the beginning of the tour there was a short assembly where the children performed for us. The choreographer of the school who is physically challenged performed a dance for us, while sitting in his wheelchair. It was amazing and taught us that even if you have any kind of disability you can achieve a lot in life. We gave him a standing ovation. We also were lucky to witness hearing impaired children perform the national anthem using  sign language.

Towards the end of the tour when we were on the sports field the boys of both the schools made teams and played a quick 5 minute basketball match.

As usual when you start to enjoy things a lot time flies past without you knowing and soon it was time for us to board the bus and go back to school with happy and cheery faces and memories.

 We all knew that we should not be sorry for these special children but we should appreciate them for who they are. Well that really had an effect on us because all of us went home with that lesson engraved in our soul.

Grade 7 will be starting a drive wherein we will be collecting any types of grains such as rice and daal which will help the campaign Ek Muthi Aanaj provide healthy and nutritious food for the children in the school. 

Global Youth Forum Speaker of the Year Award, My Experience !

Experience at the Speaker of the Year Contest,  My experience !

Speaker of the year was truly an enlightening experience. To get perspective of so many people on important topics such as health and nutrition amongst children was an enriching experience. When

I had got the mail that I was selected I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked, surprised over filled with joy and yet I knew I had to prepare for it and speak in a manner which could make me a winner. There were 200 people in my category in the first round and only 15 were to be selected and fortunately I was one of them. The next round was a panel discussion round and to be honest I was quite happy about this as group discussions is one of my strengths; I spoke well in the second round as well and got into the third and final round. The final round was a J.A.M where we get a minute to speak on a random topic which we pick out through chits. The topic that I got was raising awareness about correct health and nutrition amongst children, I did start off well but before I could finish my time was up which was a pity but I think doing bad in the last round was due to our lack of preparation for it as we hadn’t practiced J.A.Ms in school or otherwise as well. All in all it was a great and fun experience and wouldn’t mind doing it again

By Orkojeet Banerji Gr 8

A platform that allows the youth of a nation to speak up and address issues that they wouldn’t be allowed to influence is bound to grab the eyes of schools nationwide. Maverick Ventures’

Speaker of the Year was a fantastic opportunity for school going individuals all over the country to come and post forward their ideas on how ‘Health and Nutrition’ should be modelled in this country. The thing about this contest that impressed me the most was its professionalism, right down to the first round that we participated in. The information in our hands, dressed in our formal attire whilst speaking with a microphone into a camera can be a nerve racking experience but it instilled confidence in us like never before. To top that up, getting rattled with questions in a one on one interview strengthened the inter-personal skills that are required in all areas and fields of life. The forum was a great opportunity for new speakers to gain confidence and experience competition nationwide whilst experienced speakers honed their skills and worked towards the trophies. It was an excellent and intuitive experience for me and I do hope I am able to participate in it once again, hopefully to win this time.

by Karan Pandanda Gr X-B

Inter House Talent Competition by Aditi Amritesh (Magazine Editor, Primary School)

Last week the primary school organized a talent show for the students of grades 2-5.

All four houses - Water, Fire, Earth and Air - had participants who together put up the show.

The final participants in the talent show were chosen after selection rounds that were conducted during house meetings. Guided by the house teachers, they were judged by the house and vice-captains so it was a decision made by students.  Four students were selected from each house, one from each grade.

On the final day, there were sixteen acts performed. There was a variety of talents displayed, from graceful dances to beautiful songs, interactive story sessions and even an expressive monologue. We enjoyed the performances immensely, and cheered for our friends. Our very own teachers Dr. Sawant, Ms. Pihu and Ms.Snigdha were the judges of the Talent Show. The Earth house came out as the clear winner, after earning three winning places. I am sure everyone in primary school had a great time watching and cheering for the variety of acts presented. We were all very happy when our Principal, Mrs.Lamba announced that this will now become a yearly event. It definitely soared our house spirits!

Session with photographer and movie-maker Umang Bhattacharya by Tanvi Amrit Gr 6

On the 20th of January we had a session

with photographer and movie-maker Umang Bhattacharya. We interacted and talked about civic responsibility. The session began with a talk about the importance of empathy and sympathy. Mr. Umang involved us using all our definitions, ideas and thoughts to reach a final conclusion. We realized how empathy is different for each and every one of us, for some is it taking action and not only thinking. For others it merely talking as you care and actually caring. Empathy as we think of it is looking at the same incident from another point of view. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Sympathy is merely saying or stating that you are sorry and simply feeling sorry and not empathetic. We talked about how we can be empathetic in different situation like breakouts, epidemics and disasters.

We

also viewed and talked about one of his films, made for The Water Trust, New York (on his website www.umangb.com). It is about a community in  Masindi, Uganda  and how with the help of Water Trust they were able  to overcome the many challenges they had been facing due to shortage of clean drinking water.  Water Trust empathised with the community, involving them and using the community’s help to build their water source, a water pump. This provided the community with fresh underground water.

This session went really well. I really liked the way Mr. Umang involved us as if we were making this session and in reality that was what it was. It was really an informative meeting. It also brought out the fact about how every person had a different perspective but everyone empathises.

Gr 7 Yakult Workshop by Arshee Sahni 7A

On the 30th of January, 2015, two members of the Yakult Danone India Ltd had come to our school to give us some information about Nutrition and Health which is our current unit in Science. It was basically an interactive session where we learnt new things about the human body and asked different questions about them.

First we were introduced to them and they gave us some facts about our digestive system-  for example; they told us that the length of our digestive system is 12 metres long and the oesophagus is 24 cm long. In between the session, they asked us some questions just to test our knowledge so far and they would give a prize to the person who gave the right answer.

After all the facts about the digestive system and the quiz, the visitors showed us a cartoon video of the probiotics in our small and large intestine and how Yakult Probiotics supplements that. It showed us the different enzymes and chemicals in our intestines which take in the nutrients eaten by us. It also showed us how bad nutrients could harm us.

Overall this interactive session was very informative and it was fun also. We all look forward for more interactive sessions like these!