University Fair at Pathways Noida by Deblina Chakraborty College Advisor

It was a Fair with a difference – The academic block was abuzz with Senior School students and many of their parents during Lunch hour as they interacted with Admissions Officers from 10 different universities. While the students were very happy to ask numerous questions ranging from course requirements to campus life, the delegates from the universities were deeply impressed by the level of understanding of our students. They said that the students stand out in the way they are able to articulate their query and the diversity of interest and aspiration that they found in them.

During the First Semester we will be facilitating many University

Visits to expose the students to a wider horizon of opportunities that exist in the world. The overarching goal, however, is to help our students to make informed choices as they approach the Senior year with preparation and confidence.

The visiting universities were : –

Sl.No.	University Name	Country
1	Instituto Marangoni	Milan, London, Paris
2	Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Island	UK
3	Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, London	UK
4	University of Victoria	Canada
5	Campus France	French National Agency
6	University of Ottawa	Canada
7	University of Northampton	UK
8	University of Central Florida	USA
9	Kent University	USA
10	St. George's University, Grenada	West Indies
11	Ashoka University	India

Trinity College London’s Music Exams hosted a Pathways School Noida

We take great pride in announcing the results of the Trinity College London’s Music Exams. Heartiest congratulations to our students and our faculty Mr. Kamleshwar Verma, Mr. Poneet Sharma  & Ms. Snigdha Das for training them so competently.

S.NO.	Names	Discipline	Result
1	Ameya Naik	Singing Grade IN	Distinction
2	Shyla Majumdar	Singing Grade IN	Distinction
3	Natasha Gupta	Singing Grade IN	Distinction
4	Arushi Lakhanpal	Singing Grade IN	Distinction
5	Neel Verma	Piano Grade IN	Distinction
6	Bhavya Balaji	Singing Grade IN	Merit
7	David Abraham	Singing Grade IN	Merit
8	Dhriti Bhattacharya	Singing Grade IN	Merit
9	Anandita Ralli	Singing Grade IN	Merit
10	Agamya Singh	Singing Grade IN	Merit
11	Chahek Ladhani	Singing Grade IN	Merit
12	Jaiya Peterson	Singing Grade IN	Merit
13	Ananya Shahani	Singing Grade IN	Merit
14	Taijasi Nigam	Singing Grade IN	Merit
15	Arushi Monne	Singing Grade IN	Merit
16	Esha Anand	Singing Grade IN	Merit
17	Varsha Thimmaiah	Singing Grade 1	Merit
18	Arpit Khurana	Singing Grade 1	Merit
19	Vanya Bansal	Singing Grade IN	Pass
20	Vanya Bansal	Violin Grade IN	Pass
21	Aditi Amritesh	Singing Grade 1	Pass

Independence Day Assembly, Aishani Durrani gr 7A

         

Independence means the time when a country or region gains political freedom from outside control. India got independence from British in 1947. This was the act of the parliament of United Kingdom that partitioned British India into independent states. The leaders helping India to be independent were Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Netaji Subhash Chandra Ghosh and many more. These leaders helped India achieve independence. Even today we worship them as freedom fighters of our country.

Our school held an assembly on 11 August to celebrate Independence Day.

We had all kinds of acts and performances. We first had a drama play from the primary school about how eager they were to meet the leaders from the past and they even talked about historical places related to independence.  Then there was a small act from the middle school demonstrating different leaders’ dreams on what they wish to aspire after the independence. Then there was a small dancing act too. There was a survey done

by one of the middle school child on “Is India really independent?” The data was shown on “How many people think India is independent” and different answers to various questions. After the data was displayed the senior school brought up a debate related to the independence of India. There was a small question answer game session for audience. After all the acts, we stood up to sing the national anthem.

Freedom to me means walking on the streets alone. Freedom means standing up for what’s right and wrong. Freedom means telling what we feel in public. Freedom means having the right to make our own choices and decisions. Freedom is when we have the right to stand for our voice.  As a citizen of India freedom for me is living my life the way I want. And I conclude that I am proud to live in free India.

An interact club initiative – Book collection drive conducted during summer break, Mehak Singhal,

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” In today’s fast moving world, it is easy to forget the importance of education and its necessity for growth as a community. With this aim in mind, the Interact club students of Pathways School, Noida, therefore collaborated together and organized a book drive at school for the less privileged students of an IB school that we support in the city of Bhopal by the name “Eastern Public School”.

The students of this school mostly come from the less privileged sections of society and follow the IB curriculum. They are very keen learners and are being supported in their educational pursuit through grants received from donors. Every year, we students at Pathways Noida do our part in supporting their educational endeavors and do so by requesting students from the pass out batches to liberally donate their used IB and IG books to these students.

Our outgoing batch of students of 2015, more than willingly supported this cause and we managed to collect one big carton of used books which were finally dispatched to Bhopal in the last week of July’15. 

All our outgoing students were delighted to have this opportunity to help  as a part of the CAS initiative. We wish to thank all our outgoing students for their support and also commend the efforts of the Interact Club members who worked through the summer vacations collecting books from student’s houses.

Sports Glimpses

Golf Inter School Laurels

Our Golfers Played Inter School Golf Matches during the Summer Break On 3^rd, 6^th And 27^th June 2015.

They Secured 2 Golds and 2 Bronze in these Competitions.

The detailed results are as mentioned below:-

1^st match:- DDA Gutub Golf Course Tournament, 3^rd June, 2015

                   Sareena Khanna of Grade 4 - 1^st position

 2^nd match:-34^th Lufthansa Junior Golf Tour in association with Callaway Golf, 6^th June 2015

                  Kyoung Rok Hong of Grade 9 – 1^st position

3rd match : Little Master Junior Golf Tour Series At Jaypee Mini Golf Course, Greater Noida - June & July 2015

                   Sareena Khanna of Grade 4 – 3rd position

    Sareena Khanna- Form 4       

                                   

      Kyoung Rok Hong- Form 9

Pathways YSCE Cricket England Tour

The 20 day cricket exposure trip comprised of two legs and involved various competitive games and provided many opportunities to the kids for sightseeing as well as grasping as much as they could out of  the rich English culture. 3 Boys of Pathways School Noida Ayush Tiwari, Aaryaman Dewan and Yashasvi Singh were a part of the YSCE Pathways Cricket England Tour.

We  started with London, where we stayed for 10 days. The team played 04 games against prestigious educational institutions like Hampton School and Wilson School. They also got to play with one of the oldest Cricket clubs in London called the Totteridge Millhilians, not to mention our hosts British Airways Cricket Club. Our boys finished with 2 wins out of four games impressing one and all. All our opponents as well as officials were highly impressed by the skills displayed by our boys.

Apart from games, boys also got the chance to Visit Mecca of Cricket, the Lords cricket ground and do an indoor net session. Icing on the cake was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet The Great Sachin Tendulkar who was there to meet the boys on a request made by Mr. Yuvraj Singh himself.

They also visited Madam Tussads, Lego Land and the beautiful beach at Portsmouth. A city tour for them was also organised by YSCE.Although Birmingham leg started on a sour note since couple of games got washed out, we finished wonderfully well. The boys made the most of the rainy days as they discovered Michael Schumacher’s in them at the Go-Karting tracks at Cannon Racecourse and Team Grand Prix. To compensate the washed out games two indoor sessions were also given to them at the Edbaston Cricket Grounds.

In the three games played at Birmingham, they won 2 and lost 1. At Cannock and Rugely CC, they defeated the 2nd XI of the club which is a huge achievement considering that we had boys as young as 11 years old representing our team.

Once again the trusted hands from Pathways raised their standards to notch a fantastic victory. But what made the victory sweeter were the important contributions made by almost all of them. Whether it was the fielding efforts of Medhansh, Advitye,Yashasvi and Vishesh or the timely bowling effort of Aayush from Pathways School Noida or the constant e paper from players like Ashutosh. Almost everyone chipped in. This was the real victory for each one of us.

All in all we had a great time with the boys. We provided them with best of opportunities at all times and did every bit possible to ensure that each kid went back enlightened. We believe that UK tour is not just educating kids about Cricket but to teach them about team spirit, discipline, gamesmanship, decision making and instilling confidence in them that they can be on their own.

Form 10 Geography field trip - When learning was empowered us with hands on experience, Aastha Agarwal, Gr 10, IGCSE Geography student

Form 10 Geography field trip- when learning was empowered us with hands on experience

IGCSE boards. The mere words are enough to give any IGCSE student palpitations. When our geography students time came to start with our coursework encompassing a field trip we were scared due to its weightage in our final grade. Little did we know that this 'hands on' experience would only empower our learning and broaden our understanding of the topic.

Our fieldwork task was to investigate the sphere of influence of two markets. 
So, in order to carry out the fieldwork on 4th August 2015 our first stop was Big Bazaar, Sector 18 Noida. We were supposed to investigate all the factors influencing its sphere of influence. For this we had a guided tour by Mr. Vikas Khanna- head of business operation of this hypermarket, where he patiently answered all our queries and gave us an insight into the working of retail world while providing us with facts that would be key to analyzing for our coursework. Our next step was to complete questionnaires and interact with customers, which made us use interpersonal skills as well as make our own judgment. Other activities included range survey, basket survey and bipolar environmental survey.

Next day our stop was Sabka Bazaar, Sector 50, Noida. We could easily see differences and form our hypothesis in our head. We proceeded with our surveys and got evidence supporting our hypothesis. We could also compare why sphere of big bazaar might be bigger.

In conclusion it was a learning experience like no other. Collecting our own evidence enabled us to test our research skills as well as had us develop some tact in administering questionnaire to people. We are grateful to our teachers for planning the trip, which became an asset to our knowledge.

From the Director's Desk

The month of May is always a time of both endings and beginnings in a school.  Even as students and teachers are preoccupied with final summative assessments and exams, we are busy planning for the new year.  I would like to begin by celebrating some of our students who have recently excelled in different areas making us very proud of their accomplishments.

Aditi Amritesh

   Ahana Joshi

Anandita Ralli

Sanketh  Hotchandani & Devmay Dewan

Aditi Amritesh from Grade 5 was 2nd runner up in a nation-wide Scholastic competition for story-writing. Ahana Joshi of Grade 5 entered for the Trinity College exam for drums and got a distinction. Our Golf students continue to make us proud winning the overall championship in an inter-school sports event by  Anandita Ralli of  Grade 4 . 

  In a national inter-school creative technology competition, 'Camp K12', Sanketh  Hotchandani Grade 5 won the first prize  in the graphic animation category and Devmay Dewan Grade 5 got the special award for the 'Best  Fight scene under the graphic designing category.

School Culture

I would like to thank the parents and teachers who came together for a very useful exchange of ideas on school culture.  Out of the discussion emerged a reflection that in today’s world a single understanding of culture is no longer possible. We all grapple with a world dominated by wealth and brands and competitive aggression.  How different children respond to these is influenced by the attitudes and messages given out by adults.  We reviewed some of the steps being taken by the school through our community service and lifeskills programmes, and through the appointment of student ambassadors and the role played by the senior Student Council. Also discussed were the different follow up actions which are effective. To what extent is hard punishment effective in bringing about change? To what extent is reflection and acting to make up for a wrong done?  How should parents and school balance these two approaches?  In conclusion, we all agreed that the school’s plans to increase emphasis in the next academic year on a culture of kindness and on celebrating difference will help young people to develop these aspects.  It is also important to present the right role models who will communicate in the right way with students.

Staff Development Visit to US Universities

   At Pathways we recognise that the ongoing development of our staff is an essential feature of being a great school. Over the year 73 staff members – which is over 50% of our teachers – went to external workshops. In addition there were online trainings and in-house workshops.

Our Career and College counsellor  Deblina Chakraborty was part of a two week tour of US universities from the west to the east coast. It was invaluable for highlighting the profile of Pathways School Noida and establishing relationships with admissions counsellors in these universities. The particular requirements of different universities was an important learning.

Nepal Relief

Thank you very much to all families who contributed so generously to the drive to help the people of Nepal. In the light of information about the excess of materials trapped on the runway in Kathmandu we took a decision to gather the materials from

all three Pathways schools and directly deliver the material by road and distribute it via an on-ground organisation called Helping Hands. 

You can see more about it at:

https://www.facebook.com/helpinghandsnepal2015?fref=ts

Once the material gets distributed we will be sharing more pictures with you.

Events

Our school hosted a unique  inter-school technology competition which was attended by schools from across the city. The event stood out because of the exciting variety of competitions for all age groups from Primary to Middle to Senior. But also because of two unique features – a Tech Slam like the popular Google Slam. And also because this was not just an event for students, but also included a brainstorming and sharing by teachers on the use of technology in education.

Security

Thank you for cooperating with our enhanced security emphasis at the gate. It has become easier as the awareness of the importance of exeat cards has become more widely accepted. Our next focus is to be very strict with the need for exeat cards at bus stops. Please ensure that whoever is picking up the student has the exeat card with them. A failure to do this will mean that the student will not be handed over but will be brought back to the school.

And finally….

To all those families moving away from the NCR and Pathways – our very best wishes for your new phase. To Grade 12 students and their families who will be leaving us – our best wishes.  Do keep in touch and remember that you always have a place as a part of the Pathways family.  To all other families, a very happy summer break. I am sure you will take advantage of the time to have fun together as a family. I look forward to seeing you back in school on Wednesday 29th July.

Dr Shalini Advani

School Director

From the Primary School Principal, Mrs Usha Lamba

The school academic year 2014-2015 was filled with Curiosity, Creativity and Collaboration as primary students sought ways to follow the big ideas through the UOI themes and began to learn how to learn. Primary classes focused on the skills of being self-managers, thinkers, collaborators, researchers, communicators and creators, and the language related to these concepts.

At our Primary school assemblies all primary school students got an opportunity to celebrate not only the festivals but also their learning in class.

Term 1 highlight was the’ Lion King’ not only for its grandeur and performances but the exposure every child got though the process of the production. 
Apart  from this the students        Nukkad Natak for Social Cause -  ' Ek Mutthi anaaj'

collected funds through Read – a thon as they looked at equipping a Library for the ‘Bal Sansaar’ a local school supported by Pathways. Our Student leaders began to get more involved with many whole school events and raised queries and made several suggestions to their teachers to participate in house and interschool events. The teachers took ideas from students seriously and we saw many students participate in several cultural events organized by other schools in the NCR or South Delhi regions. It was very reassuring to watch our students make a mark with their presence wherever they went for Drama, Music, recitation and Sports. Pathways Noida hosted an Inter- School Tech Fest -P.A.T.H (Pathways Annual Tech Hangout). Amongst many categories, Our Primary students won laurels and prizes too.

Term 2 saw the teachers introducing a new Math book to raise Math standards and this came with its own challenges of bringing in a new resource mid-way through the year. It was very welcome by parents as many spoke to me on this during the PTA. Also, as we go through year end reviews we certainly see significant comfort and raised Math levels for many students. We also had many parent volunteers to read routinely with students from Form 1 , 2 and 3.

This has shown good results as we looked at raised Form 3 lexile scores. And, now we are looking forward to extending this next year to Form 4 as well. Students got really involved with Sports day and inter house sports activities. The Early Years students had their sports fiesta. They presented ‘ Kuk doo ku” at the Rhyme Time Day.                                      Rhyme Time Day     

The teachers packed active learning and very passionate and explicit teaching into the school days of the Fifth Formers as they worked on their Exhibition just before they end their years at Primary School.
                  PYP Exhibition  

Very recently students have been engaged with the plight of people in Nepal and have been running a collection of things that we could send them to ease their misery.

As we come to the end of the year we have begun to look for ways to keep our students thinking and sensibly engaged during their summer holidays. A tip here, many parents feel obliged to fill their children’s every waking moment during the summer because if they don’t they are afraid of complaints of “I’m bored.”  Learning to say, “I’m sure you’ll find something interesting to do” is a great tool for a parent.

Next time your child whines about being bored, simply delate a few simple items off your own overcrowded To Do list.eg: Try car washing. Put the dvds into the right cases, water the flowerpots, sort the laundry, clean the bath, make your bed, decide which old toys you want to give to charity. It doesn’t matter if they don’t do it as well as you would - that’s not the point – it’s giving them a little responsibility which is great for their sense of self-esteem. Older children can plan activities – give them a budget and let them research which theme park they want to go to and how to get there. They will be learning something and next time they are bored they will find something to do themselves rather than whining about it.

Have fun and enjoy being with your children as much as we have enjoyed working with them through the year.

Mrs. Usha Lamba

Primary School Principal

Rhyme Time day, Ms. Aneesha Sahni, Early Years Coordinator

The much awaited ‘Rhyme-Time’ Day celebrated by the young students up to Form 1 was a feast to the eyes with an array of dances and performances.  They all managed to please and bring the Sun back to the farm. The programme was opened up by Dr. Advani, where she rightfully

stressed on audience expectations remotely based on perfection as the performers were very little. But, they proved everyone wrong as they were as good as professional artists on stage.

Right from the tiniest tots of Pathways Noida who wiggled down the aisle dressed up in cute animal costumes to Kindergarten farmers who grooved on some foot tapping bhangra beats, to Form 1 percussionists on various instrument, to the Pre- Nursery birds who danced amidst the heavy parent crowd and Nursery singers singing beautifully to introduce the farm. They rounded it up amazingly with a Grand Finale- an extravaganza of colours. The applauses throughout motivated our students on the stage.

There is no end to the learning, experiences and fun that the students had. Singing in chorus, moving and swaying to the right angle, playing instruments, getting into the character, pre-recording of songs, handling of props and much more.

Every student and teacher took pride on being a part of the ‘Rhyme-Time’ Day. It surely was an event to cherish and remember.

P.A.T.H - Pathways Annual Technical Hangout by Geetanjali Diwan Head ICT

The first inter-school Technology festival at Pathways Noida created a buzz. Not only because of the exciting variety of competitions for all age groups from Primary to Middle to Senior. But also because of two unique features – a Tech Slam like the popular Google Slam. And because this was not just an event for students, but also included a brainstorming and sharing by teachers on the use of technology in education.

    On 1 May 2015, schools across the NCR participated in The Pathways Annual Technical Hangout. Teams were challenged to put in their best in various events spanning across the Primary,  Middle and Senior School segments including Spotting the bug in codes in Java, Cryptography,Website                                     Tech Slam Winner                          designing, Movie Making, Movie Mashup, Gaming, Tech Relay , Photography, Junk Art ,Comic Strip as well as Book creation amongst the main stream events.

The two unique events held for the first time on such a platform had participation from the boldest members. One, named Tech Slam had student participants who had to come up and present a geeky tip within one minute. The other event was aimed at providing educators a              Audio Mixing                              platform to hangout and share. This was the Teacher Hangout, in which Teachers shared within 5 minutes how Technology had made a difference to the delivery of content in their classrooms.

The events had both external as well as internal judges .

The external judges were:

Mr Ankur Rohatgi, an Education Technology professional from IL&FS, with a special focus on the Internet of Things and Smart Homes, Mr Utkarsh Lokesh, Director of EdTech Review, Ms. Sapna Bhatia, CEO of TV News International and Film Director, Ms Ameeta Sachdeva Artist, Ms Saloni Mangal, Operations Director and Head of Delivery, HCL,Europe, Mr Umesh Kalia, Operations Director and Head of e-Commerce & Multi-channel,HCL

Overall trophy won by Step by Step School, Noida

The ICT Faculty along with other Teachers and Administrative department members as well as members of the student council along with student volunteers from Form 9 worked hard towards the success of the event.The standard of entries was high. Competition was tough. While students of our school performed very well and won many awards and positions, the overall trophy was bagged by Step By Step School, Noida .

In the words of Steve Aoki,

'Neon Future' is, in short, a positive outlook on human progress and technology, looking forward to a bright, colorful utopia.

We look forward to this event as did the rest of the visiting schools to be held next year as well!