A very happy
new year and a particularly warm welcome to the families who have just joined
the school.
Award for Early Years Programme
To begin
with, a celebration. I am delighted to
share that the Pathways Noida Early Years programme received the Education
World award as the top school in Noida
in a number of categories. For Early Years (upto Nursery) we were awarded first
position for Competence of Teachers, Infrastructure Provision, Innovative
Teaching and Teacher Welfare and Development.
Building changes and developments
As
characterises our ongoing programme, a number of additions are
under way in the school buildings. Work on the elevator in the primary block
Cassia is almost completed and the lift will be operational in the next few
days. A new gate has been created to enable easier access to Cassia.
This will also ease the congestion at Gate 2.
The new entry will be operational shortly. Also being developed on the walkway
is an outdoor play area for Early Learner students. A new badminton court is
being laid out in the Rosewood atrium to support after-school badminton.
An interesting development to the primary
library took place as a result of my interaction with Grade 4 students. I was
asking them about improvements they would like to see in school and they
brought up the difficulty they have in accessing the primary library during lunch
break since they are not allowed into the building at lunch time. They
suggested an external access from the corridor.This suggestion has been implemented allowing both students
and parents easy access. As we know it is most important to encourage their
interest in reading.
NEASC Accreditation
This approach
to learning will also support a new international accreditation which the
school is preparing for. In addition to
the CIS membership we have just received, we have enrolled for accreditation by
the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The accreditation
will help us look more closely at our classroom practice and will also
strengthen university applications of graduating students if they come from a
NEASC accredited school.
Student Voice and Professional
Development
New Head of Music
We are
delighted to welcome our new Head of Music Mr Otieno to the school. He comes
from Kenya and is a specialist in woodwind: saxophone, flute, clarinet and
recorder. These are instruments which will strengthen our music programme.
Pathways Student Published by Pearson
I am very
proud to share that Aanya Sharma a student of Grade 7 was a winner in the
Pearson Mypedia Reader creative writing contest. Of the 1500 stories received,
only 42 were selected and have been published in a three volume set. Pearsons
wrote to say “We want to congratulate your school for this
achievement. Moreover we want to congratulate you for shaping and nurturing
such talent in your school” You can read more elsewhere in this
newsletter.
Student selected for Baseball Nationals
It's my pleasure to inform you that our Baseball Academy Grand Slam
Baseball’s highest achieving athlete, Paarth Kohli participated in the UP State
Level tournament
Paarth has been selected for the Senior Nationals, bringing him one step
closer to represent India. It is especially creditable that Paarth is only 15
years old and should have played in the junior or sub-junior category. Playing
in Senior Nationals means that he is competing against athletes who are 5-10
years older than him. Paarth was also given an offer to attend MLBs development
centre in Germany during the All India Talent Hunt held in Delhi a month ago.
As his coaches say, Virat might not be the only Kohli shining in Indian
sports. Paarth’s consistently improving performance might make him the face
Indian Baseball has been looking for.
Morning Drop Off Traffic
As many of you whose children come in private cars are aware, it is
becoming an increasing challenge to drive along the road to the drop off point.
This is because a number of cars do not follow the directions of our security
staff. Some cars stop in the middle of the road causing jams for others, or
even park their cars along the central divider. Others drive very fast even
though it is clear that children are crossing the road. When we do this, we
teach children that other people do not matter, or that rules do not matter.
Getting late for school is not a reason. I would like to ask parents to
cooperate and to ask your drivers to follow directions of the security staff.
The solution to this problem of traffic jams lies in our own hands and
collaboratively we can solve this. We will also be talking to the children
about this.
Preparing for Milan
A reminder to those parents who are interested in taking part in the
special programme for Milan to get in touch with Mr Manish Gupta as soon as
possible. Details have already been shared in a mail.
We are looking forward to a
productive and vibrant semester ahead.
Dr Shalini Advani
School Director
