Newsletter from the Principal's Desk...Closing the Year
Dear Parent
The year has been phenomenal, unpredictable and extraordinary in every sense. I remember writing to you at the beginning of the session in April 2020, where I quoted Lenin, 'There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen', describing the revolution of a 100 years ago. His words deftly encapsulated the situation in the world at the dawn of 2020 and continue to pulsate in our lives.
The structural and strategic changes we have witnessed in Education in this last one year have been remarkable. What stands out most is that we have much to be thankful for.
Our children are blessed to be in homes that have a stockpile of supplies, secure, loving environs, digital devices, uninterrupted internet, a clear pathway and possibility to continue their learning that has saved them from a ruinous gap year, which is the unfortunate destiny of many children in our country; children who lost out on learning, reading, schooling, and above all lost their childhood.
I feel compelled to write this in my year end letter to you, it is imperative that our children count their blessings and focus on the gains of the year than the gaps. It is important they remain grateful and humble. It is crucial. you'll agree, that they remember how privileged and fortunate they are.
The year has built immense reservoirs of patience and resilience in us all. Children have become more self reliant. empathetic and displayed a maturity that defies their young years.
Every child has been heroic in his/her endeavours and adapted to a novel way of living, learning, evolving.
Whilst all children have scaled many mountains in this year, I am happy to share with you certain defining accomplishments of the year gone by.
Click on the links and savour the Faridabad SNS journey from Disruption to Consolidation.
https://youtu.be/HXc2tB4DWqg - Student Accomplishments
I will write to you again, soon, to welcome you to the new session which promises to have it's own share of ambiguities and uncertainties.
With my Prayers for you and your families & Best Regards
Anju Wal
Principal
THE BUTTERFLY TIMES, February 2021
The Butterfly Times aptly celebrates the life of Sarojini Naidu ‘The Nightingale of India’ who was born in the month of February. The issue has articles and poems on myriad subjects. A heart wrenching article on missing a grandparent will surely melt the readers heart.
Read here: THE BUTTERFLY TIMES
E Pluribus Unum, February 2021
In this edition of E Pluribus Unum our students have donned the hats of economists and have also raised social issues that have global impact, through their articles. The books and the movie reviews also show how these young minds have their own understanding of events that take place in other parts of the world. You will surely be compelled to give it read.
Read here: E Pluribus Unum
VUCA CHRONICLES, February 2021
VUCA Chronicles is a platform for our young global thinkers, where they weave together their thoughts and present them in different forms – an article, a story, a poem. Some take you on a journey into the past and some to the present. Some are magical, while the others thought provoking. Enjoy as you read through this issue!
Read here: VUCA Chronicles
Anandam - 2021
Culmination of the joyous journey of year-long Aha Arts Programme marked as 'Anandam'. Click on the vidoes to witness the culmination.
Grades 1 & 2
Group 1: Grades 3 to 5
Group 2: Grades 3 to 5
Part 1 Grades 6 to 10
Part 2 Grades 6 to 10
-min.jpg)
-min.jpg)
 (1).png)
 (1).png)
.jpg)
.jpg)
GOALS PROJECT 2021
This year our school participated in 2021 GOALS PROJECT, where the students collaborated with 1600 global classrooms from 118 countries to examine the UN Sustainable Development Goals and their ability to take action through shared experience and use of innovative technologies and practices.
This project aimed to lead behaviour change, through education and was reinforcement of our school philosophy of Education for Life. It provided the phenomenon based learning and 21st century skills allowing students to be creative, to collaborate at a global scale, understand empathy, think critically and most importantly take action.
The students of our school worked on the project: Life Below Water. During the six week project they connected and interacted with teachers and experts across the globe. As a group they acted upon (SDG) Sustainable Development Goal 14 - Life Below Water, which states the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Collectively, our Environmental Stewards from Middle and Senior school explored the SDG by studying its causes, effects and pondered upon the solutions. Their ideas and solutions took diverse directions of composing and performing songs, creating school-wide and community wide campaigns, making resolution paper and draft policy as they continue to reach and report. They voiced their dissent through various mediums like stop-motion videos, neighbourhood clean-ups, beach clean-ups, bake sales, clothing and food drives. Various Art projects, inventions and experiments were also shared on this platform.
They got the opportunity to join hands with project partners from the UN in a global online celebration of the Goals Project Day of Solutions. These students spoke of diversity, equality, climate change and clean energy when they conducted interviews, wrote letters and raised their voices.
The Goal Project culminated with the students from all across the world sharing their final projects. Through their passion and grit they are teaching the world how change can be brought through actions and shared humanity!
THE BUTTERFLY TIMES, JANUARY 2021
January is a month of celebrations, ringing in the New Year and festivities. The articles in this edition bring in the joy of celebrations giving a peek into the festivals celebrated in the first month of the year. Our students have also written about the various other important days that are celebrated during January like- Global Family Day, Internal Day of Education, Road Safety Week. Their stories will take you to the world of magical creature, detective Panda and a soldier – such is their imagination. Don’t forget to test your brain muscles with a crossword on Indian Tourism!
Read here: The Butterfly Times
Basant Baithak 2021, Celebrating SOUL: The Spirit of Unlimited Learning
Basant Baithak at Shiv Nadar School Noida has always been a space for sharing learning in all spaces, a time to reflect and rejuvenate ourselves as we celebrate the Gods and Goddesses of Learning, such as they may be. As winter frost gave way to the warmth of spring, parents, students from and staff members came together in the school field to celebrate this time with the entire community of learners - through song, dance and poetry!
In keeping with the colours of Saraswati and Kamadeva, The Gods of Learning and Love - who represent Basant, everyone came dressed in whites and yellows.
The celebrations saw participation from students right from the youngest learners of Nursery to the outgoing batch of 12th Graders, teachers, parents all artists in their own right. Bhajans, thought provoking poems, including some original verses from teachers and students alike, folk songs from India, Yoga Asana & Mudras, a musical jugalbandi along with abundant sunshine made it a perfect celebration of the Spirit of Unlimited Learning, a coming together of the community of learners after almost a year of the pandemic.
Watch the highlights of the celebrations: https://youtu.be/9kQNz7WEs7Q
In Conversation with Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
In Conversation with Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, who is a professor at the Harvard University Extension School in a course called the "Neuroscience of Learning: An Introduction to Mind, Brain, Health and Education"
Sharing a glimpse: https://youtu.be/Qyg4k0ulEW8
World Read Aloud Day
'World Read Aloud Day' was initiated by Litworld in 2010, to celebrate the power of reading aloud, creating and connecting communities to amplify new stories and to advocate for literacy as a foundational human right. Litworld, an organization committed to spreading the joy of reading and building a community of readers has earmarked the first Wednesday of February as World Read Aloud Day.
World Read Aloud Day was celebrated across Primary, Middle and Senior School through Live Book Talks. Through the years students have been sharing and exchanging books with their friends. Their excitement was evident when they got this opportunity to do it in a live event. They were invited to present their books and speak about the author, the title, the genre, and reasons why they would recommend the book to their peers. After the presentation, they also answered questions about the book. A small session of teachers followed where they read out an excerpt from a book they had read.
The event was a huge success and generated an awareness about new genres and authors. The suggestions poured in by the students - the Live Book Talk to be a regular feature, Hindi books to be a part of the event and so on. Students looked forward to reading the books recommended by their friends which concur with the essence of the event to build a community of readers.