Joy of Sharing, 2021
The Joy of Sharing or “The Festival of Philanthropy”. This is our week-long celebration honouring our Founder’s vision, i.e., giving back to society irrespective of the boundaries that circumstances may try to bind us in. The idea is to inculcate in our children, the value of sharing and the joy that we receive and spread from the simple acts of kindness.
Education for life is the motto of Shiv Nadar School, an education that focuses on the holistic development of a child. An education that not only fosters towards building a child into an effective communicator, creative or critical thinker but also someone who will work in collaboration with the members of their society with a heart full of all-encompassing love and compassion. We believe that only when children are able to value the things they have, they can empathize with others and it creates in them a “spark”- an urge from within, to share.
The Early-years and Primary-years celebrated the week by starting off with stories and discussions to understand the importance of sharing and connecting it to their daily life. Students were explained how simply being thoughtful in helping around with chores at home also counts. Covid Warriors emphasised the idea of “Faith Triumphs Everything”. Children wrote letters to their future selves with motivating and encouraging words. They created gratitude jars and wrote ‘Thank You’ messages for their parents, siblings, friends and house helps.
The highlight of the week was the culmination, parents were invited and the response was overwhelmingly grateful!
The Early-years culmination had various sessions led by the parents on storytelling, drawing and painting, art and craft, and flameless cooking. The grand finale was a show by the internationally renowned ventriloquist, Mr. Santosh Kumar.
The Primary-years culmination had student-led sessions, each Grade put up its own show. They showcased their carefully planned and curated beautiful activities emphasising the fact that, while there’s nothing that beats the excitement of Joy of Sharing in meeting each other at school, the essence wasn’t lost in the online environment.
Humans are innately capable of being thankful, we at Shiv Nadar School recognise that and lace our learning with the attitude of compassion making sharing a joy indeed!
Shiv Nadar School Gurugram - Secondary School Examination - Grade X - Result Summary
Congratulations to our 2021 batch of grade X for their performance this year.
The result summary may be accessed by clicking on the link below.
Distraction to traction.
A chess prodigy, Shubh Kapoor’s (Gr.9 at SNS-Gurugram) journey started at the tender age of 6 following the diagnosis of an autoimmune disease called juvenile arthritis. Between high doses of medicines and not being able to lead a normal active life, he was introduced to chess as a means to pass time and keep the mind agile. Soon Shubh was able to defeat children 5-6 years older than him. This innate ability and intelligent grasp of the nuances of the game kept him happy and mentally active.
To give a boost to his talent he started professional coaching. Shubh participated in tournaments all across the country before his parents relocated to Kuala Lumpur. There his exposure was international, keeping aside his problems Shubh choose to focus on moving forward like the pawns on the chessboard, one step at a time.
Shubh specialises in the Simul format, where one player (typically of a high rank) plays multiple games at a time with a number of other players. Playing the Simul at the Taylor’s International School, KL Malaysia, Shubh won them all.
At the recently held Asian School Chess Championship in July 2021, Shubh represented India and won an individual Silver Medal while helping the team, India A, to bag the Gold. Shubh’s current FIDE ranking is 1617 and No.2 in India and Asian U-15 (amongst 24 countries).
Bob the builder sang, “… can we fix it, yes we can….” Looks like Shubh has learned that mantra very well.
Joy of Sharing 2021
The Joy of Sharing week marks the birthday of our founder, Mr Shiv Nadar, and brings alive his vision of sharing joy, compassion and the philanthropic spirit with the community of our school. The essence of ‘Joy of sharing’ was imparted to the children through various activities. The celebrations began with a discussion on the meaning of the word –’Sharing’, understanding “Who is Mr. Shiv Nadar?” and “Why do we celebrate Joy of sharing week at Shiv Nadar School?” Sharing is one of the most important virtues which bring happiness in life.
Grade 1
Students conducted various art and craft activities like spray painting, origami, card –making, pencil pop-ups and drawing. Intriguing science experiments on surface-tension, turning primary colours into secondary colours, pop-rocket were also led by our little learners.
Parents also came forth to celebrate the joy of sharing by conducting various activities like art and craft (book holder from waste material, landscape painting, snake craft, pencil pop-ups), fire-free cooking (club sandwich, Nutella fruit sandwich) and storytelling session (Giraffes can’t dance).
The joy of sharing was continued as teachers engaged learners in interesting activities like elephant mask making linked to the English story ‘Gajjapati – Kullapati’, science experiment (balloon activity), storytelling sessions and other games.
Grade 2
The Joy of sharing week commenced with the narration of an insightful story ‘The Giving Tree’ by the HRT’s during the Circle Time. This was followed by an engaging discussion on the meaning and the reason behind celebrating the Joy of Sharing at Shiv Nadar School.
The children enjoyed various craft activities like raised salt art, origami composition, hand puppets etc. conducted during the week. They were very excited to share their birthday messages for Mr. Nadar on his 76th birthday and made beautiful handmade cards for him.
Celebrating the spirit of sharing, 4 children from each section collaborated with the teacher for a storytelling session for the kindergarten children. The story ‘Nobody Laughs at a lion’ was appreciated and liked by all. On 16 th July the week culminated with a special morning assembly. The highlights of the assembly were a melodious song- Gift to you by Music Teacher Mr. Dennis and a Hindi play - ‘Ekki Dokki’ by the grade 1 teachers which shared the message that the ‘real joy in life is not in what we get but in what we give’.
Grade 3
Grade 3 conducted several activities as part of the Joy of Sharing Week. We discussed the importance of communities, of standing by each other and how we are grateful for connecting virtually despite our distance. The class led several activities – Joy of Eating together, Joy of Making together, Joy of Compliments etc. Students taught each other different recipes, gave each other compliments, made crafts to decorate and celebrate.
Grade 4
Grade 4 celebrated the ‘Joy of sharing’ week with so many different activities. Focusing on inculcating the values of giving, sharing and social responsibility in our children and experiencing the joy in doing that, we had various sessions throughout the week during our circle time like Fire-free cooking sessions and knowledge sharing led by children, creating useful items using materials available at home (craft activities), sharing a compliment, exercises for eyes, making eye soothers etc.
We unfolded the plan for the following day a day prior to keep the excitement going and the children well prepared before the sessions. Our children participated with all their hearts and brought forward certain skills that were hidden from each other.
Grade 5
Grade 5 celebrated 'Joy of Sharing' enthusiastically with a multitude of activities. Students engaged in fire-free cooking exploring delicious delicacies like coconut laddoos, sandwiches, Dora cakes, oreo balls, etc, purely student-led. Their circle time was filled with joy as students discussed their pets and how they care for them. Art and craft activities were also student-led along with some presentations, it was an amalgamation of sharing and exploring.
Middle and Senior School
The week’s line up featured guest speakers from various fields in sessions led by the students, for the students and parents of the grades 6-11.
12 July 2021:
Mr. Shivang Mehta, an internationally acclaimed wildlife photographer and Canon India ambassador joined Aryan Veer Goenka (Habitat Conservationist, Senior school) and Ria Singh (Environment and photography enthusiast, Grade 11) for a conversation on the power of photography and its role in conservation in India.
A former journalist and PR professional and now an author and one of India’s leading wildlife photographers – Mr. Shivang Mehta has worn many professional hats. His love for the forests of Kumaon pushed him to choose Corbett as his main area of work and he left the cozy comforts of corporate offices to work on the field with his organisation Nature Wanderers which he started in 2007.
The conversation candidly covered stories from his adventures and students’ questions around photography as a career, conservation and the need of sensitivity towards the rich wildlife of our country.
13 July 2021:
The senior school counsellor Ms. Manisha Massey facilitated a panel discussion with student panelists Sadhya Gaur (Grade 10), Suhani Sharma (Grade 11) and Madhuanisha Katoch (Grade 11) and child psychology expert Ms. Sarika Kumar, who is also a parent of the school.
The discussion addressed student survey questions raised anonymously on adolescence, keeping a healthy mindset while coping with the pandemic, generation gap and other sensitive student issues.
The panel touched upon perspectives from the experts and how students perceive and work their way through the various challenges that come up in online learning, including homework and assessment anxiety.
14 July 2021:
Disputandum 1.0 , a two-round parliamentary debate was held on the 14th of July., Disputandum was led by the MUN secretary Yagna Gupta (Grade 11) and Mannat Kaur (grade 11).
A neck-to-neck competition was held between participating student teams and eventually the audience voted through mentimeter to pick the team Golden Jackals as the winner of Disputandum 1.0. The parameters of voting included matter, manner and the most creative name.
An expert panel of students Aarav Balyan, Yashvi Midha and Krishiv Khatri, who have been trained under the Behes program, were the jury members who were called upon for a decision when there was a tie between two teams.
15 July 2021:
On Thursday, Cultural secretary (senior) Avni Thapliyal and House Captain (Tiger House) Tia Jain led a conversation with Ms. Dhwani Vij. Dhwani is one of the founding members of theatre group ‘The Third Space Collective’ in Delhi and is an actor, director and educator of Theatre.
The conversation was studded beautifully with excerpts from her previous work, and explored the depths of production, lighting design, casting and community involvement with Theatre along with addressing the student audience’s queries about the field.
16 July 2021:
The culmination of Joy of Sharing week was marked by Siyaahi 2.0, a poetry slam event started in the year 2020, where parents, students and teachers alike, all came together to share their self-composed poetry and recite other beautiful works by famous poets. With a line-up of more than 20 participants, the evening culminated into a beautiful shared space for the love of language and explored themes from comedy, satire to the depth of blues.
We believe that this celebration and its tradition speaks volumes of the culture at SNS, a culture that students, teachers, management and parents build together. We would like to thank our parent community for being equal partners in this journey.
These extraordinary times compel us to think differently and therefore our aspirations for JOS unfolded with a unique flavour and nuance.
