5 March 2015

From the Director's Desk


The past few weeks have been dominated by important events across the school. School-wide events play a special role in the mind of a young student, making up their memories of their school life, often more powerfully than what they learn in their classroom. At Pathways we see them as important teaching moments and with students, focus on attitudes and behaviours that are desirable.

Events
The interhouse rivalry, individual athletes and multiple competitive events characterized Sports Day. The  different guests of honour provided great role models of the sports world. It was an honour to welcome Mr Munaf Patel and Mr Ajay Ratra, legends from the world of cricket. But also important for students to engage with Mr Nishant Arora who has devoted his life to sports promotion and administration and Mr Francisco Garcia Rabasco  an international sports coach. The world of sport is an expanding professional opportunity for students to be aware of.
In contrast to Sports Day was the lively and good humoured Sports Fiesta for students upto Form 2. Participating in physical skill events without any more pressure than having their parents or other adults watching, the morning was a good example of how at a certain age, the absence of competition is important.
There have been significant leadership opportunities and development. Leaders of the Interact club were sworn in at a solemn ceremony in the presence of their parents and members of
Rotary International. Senior student council members spent Saturday in a workshop on leadership, developing a deeper understanding of what it means to be a leader at Pathways.
Finally, there is high excitement among students about the upcoming annual adventure camps. Students from Form 2 – 11 go out to locations near and far, learning from their environment, sharing teambuilding activities and enjoying education which is only possible in outdoor classrooms.

MYP
Teachers and the middle school were on tenterhooks preparing for the review by our IB consultant as our next stage towards MYP authorization. She had detailed conversations with different groups of students, went into classrooms, and  had teacher discussions. She was very happy at the standards and quality of education. She even wrote about us on her educational blog which has a wide readership among international educators across the world, dedicating it as:  This post is dedicated to colleagues at Pathways and other schools where teachers are being the change.  It is a high compliment.

Working with the IB
I am delighted to share that two of our Primary school teachers will be featured in the IB Blog stall at the international IB conference in Macau attended by delegates from many countries in south-east Asia. Sana Noor and Vandana Parashar will feature as exemplary IB contributors to the PYP blog raising the profile of Pathways School Noida in the international school community.

Jharokha
Our academic fair is on Friday 13th March from 11 am – 1 pm. Across the school the special challenge for students was to conceive of a design for cities of the future – thinking of energy, construction system etc.  Alongside these challenges, we have an Art exhibition with students exhibiting their beautiful work.

Lost Property
In both the Primary and Secondary school, our lost property stock expands with lost blazers, hoodies etc. The problem is being created because these items are not labelled. I urge you to please ensure that all items are labelled with the student’s name.

Greetings
Finally a very happy and safe Holi to all our families. I am sharing the effort made by our Caterers to create the spirit of Holi for the school.

Dr Shalini Advani
School Director