Newsletter Vol.3 from the Principal's Desk
Dear Parent
Three weeks of the New Year are underway, the children are back where they belong, the laughter fills our corridors and the sun shines brighter on Shiv Nadar School. Wishing you a Happy, Engaging, Meaningful and Joyful New Year. May your aspirations be fulfilled and you remain healthy and robust through the year.
We closed the year with some interesting, significant and impactful events.
The students of Grades 7 and 8 stood first in the Regional Round, Northern Region, Robotics Championship. They proceed to Bangalore in the first week of February for the National Round.
Dr. Amrita Dass, the iconic Career Counsellor, Founder Director of International Career Studies organisation, led a session on career counselling for grade 8 parents and students in December.
Middle School students marked C V Raman Day with a day dedicated to STEM presentations, experiments, explorations and gaming stalls.
On their journey of steady independence, grades 3 and 4 spent a night in the school late November and did the many splendoured things they wouldn’t otherwise on a Friday evening at home. I am sure they shared their experiences with you.
Our first time participation in the Carol Singing Competition at the Holy Child Auxilium School, Delhi made us immensely proud. Grades 3, 4, 5 students of AHA Western Music picked up the first prize and left their imprint on the event with aplomb.
We also picked up the second prize at the Inter School Folk Dance Competition. Our dance theme belonged to Sambalpuri folk dance of Odisha.
Basketball girls’ team has trained and played matches, gaining strength and moving notches ahead in stamina, skill and spirit.
In the 3rd week of December, we organised an Art Festival, inviting stalwarts from the Art World. Artists, Manu Parekh, Jayshree Burman, Gogi Saroj Pal, Pradeep Maitra and more took sessions, art workshops with grade 4 to 12 students. Students from Noida and Gurgaon School too participated in the day-long Art immersion program.
We closed the year with a Music and Food carnival as you know. Thank you for joining in the revelry with evocative food, electrifying music and ‘let your hair down moment’. We clocked a footfall of over 3000 or more people from our community.
The New Year brings tidings of gathering momentum in the last tri-semester of this session. The phase 2 of our building is coming up with state of art facilities of squash and badminton courts, swimming and a vast running track. The multi-purpose hall is quite incredible and will be with us by July 2019.
We will soon invite you for its inaugural.
The New Year has begun with our Middle School students Graphics and Robotic teams blazing through 10 teams of Gurgaon Schools at the Techno Fest, at Presidium Gurgaon, winning the trophy for both Robotics and Graphics in Junior and Senior Category.
And now round the bend are few significant events you would like to note:
Republic Day - Flag Hoisting on 26th January at 9 am
Anandam in February for grades 1 to 8
Nursery and Kindergarten Learning Walk Days
Kindergarten Long Fridays in February – Transition to grade 1
Final Examination for Middle School, 15th February commencement.
Start of Coffee Evenings across 1 to 8.
Post Admission Orientation Days in March
Close of Term on 16th March.
These are some of the highlights I share with you. Every day is rewarding to see the growth, movement, and learning curve of each child, perceive the pangs of the young adolescents in our midst, revel in their Eureka moments and be the anchor in their journey to adulthood. We stand fortified each morning with an undeterred eye on our vision, our core values in our mind, and unconditional love for our children in our hearts.
With Best Regards
Anju Wal
Principal
Shiv Nadar School
Faridabad
Christmas fire-free cooking session with Parents
To add to the Christmas celebrations, and as a part of our Parent-Partnership program at Shiv Nadar School, team Grade 2 invited parent volunteers to conduct a Christmas fire-free cooking session with the children of Grade 2, in the week before Christmas.
Mother of Divisha Garg of 2 Corbett volunteered to teach the students to make ‘Snowman Truffle’. Students were very excited to prepare something on their own. She demonstrated each and every step on how to make a snowman truffle. Throughout the session, the children were engaged and had a fun time learning to prepare a new delecious dessert.
Mrs. Garg was also delighted and shared that she would love to come again for any such activity.
Mother of Lareasha Sachdeva of 2 Gir volunteered to teach the students to make snowman cookies.
Keeping in sync with the spirit of Christmas, the children were very excited to make the snowman cookies. The ingredients gems and choco chips set their mouth watering.
An interactive session, Mrs Sachdeva demonstrated how a snowman cookie is made. She further shared the recipe with the students. Few students took notes and excitedly shared that they are going to make the cookies again during the holidays for their friends and family.
Mr. Narwat, father of Priansh Narwat of grade two Kanha volunteered for fire free cooking. It was a very engaging session where he taught children to make vegetable sandwiches. Mr. Narwat created a very comfortable environment in the class right from the moment he entered, which surely added to the richness of everyone's experience in the classroom. While he started with modeling it for children, he gave a full opportunity to children to make their sandwiches independently. As he was teaching them he also talked about the nutritional value of vegetables and cheese for children. It definitely motivated them to finish off each and every bit of the sandwich. Mr. Narwat set a great example for children as well as other parents by volunteering and breaking the gender stereotypes related with cooking. It will surely inspire other fathers to engage themselves with the children in non-normative ways.
It was a great session full of fun, warm bondings and of course delicious sandwiches.
Dr Rohini Khattar parent of Myra Khattar from 2 Sariska to volunteer for a fire free cooking program in 2 Ranthambore.
Dr Khattar with her great cooking skills and her natural knack for creativity helped the children prepare a reindeer sandwich which the children absolutely enjoyed.
It was a great pleasure to see the little hands joyfully apply the spread and fillings and assemble the olives and the gems and prepare cute little rudolphs in their plates with Rudolph the red nose reindeer playing in the background.
Mrs. Mahani, the mother of Aneesha Mahani lifted everyone's spirit by teaching 2 Sariska how to prepare Chocolate balls. The children loved the process of crushing the biscuits into a fine powder. They then carefully added Milk maid to it and rolled the mixture into chocolate balls, chocolate snow man and much more! The children relished what they had made and shared their chocolate balls with each other.
Mrs. Mahani beautifully engaged with the children, helping them in each step. The children affectionately thanked her and gifted her a plant. The children excitedly shared that they would go home and make it again for their parents.
Book Launch- Constitution of India for children
Ms. Subhadra Sen Gupta launched her new book 'Constitution of India for children' on 7th February 2020 in Shiv Nadar School, Faridabad.
The occasion was extra special since it coincided with the 70th anniversary of India being a republic.
The book was welcomed with open arms by students of all 7 school which were present for the launch. The children loved the book for its easy language and colourful illustrations. Ms. Gupta's discussion made the constitution come alive and the session reached its zenith by deep and detailed questions asked by students.
VISIT TO PRAKASHDEEP SCHOOL, SECTOR 21A FARIDABAD
On Friday the 7th of Feb, some Students of Grade IV and V visited PrakashDeep School in Sector 21 Faridabad.
Prakash Deep School is a non-profit organization for the underprivileged operating from a park in Sector 21-A Faridabad for the past six years. The current strength of the school is 250 children which have been divided into ten groups according to their age and capabilities. There are 15 teachers who impart education to them. Three of these are volunteers. The school imparts free education, a mid day meal and basic health care. Children are exposed to Art and Crafts, Classical and Folk Dances and vocational training apart from academics. In order to inculcate a sense of responsibility towards the society, the children are encouraged to perform Random Acts of Service to the Community" on a regular basis.
Our students very enthusiastically did the Mindful Chants blended with some well-known English inspirational songs which helped in creating an aura for everyone. This session was led by a guest from Australia, Mr. Steve. Our students felt the positive vibes which were strengthening their Mind, Body and Soul in a powerful way. Later we watched few performances presented by the Students of Prakash Deep School which was a feast for the eyes. They also got some snacks provided by the organisers.
At the end our Students danced on some good songs and got some pictures clicked with the Chief Functionary Mrs Savita Datt and with the Guest. Our Students found this visit very fruitful. The memories from this trip will remain with the children and aid their academic learnings in varied ways.
Funkaar - Pre-Primary
At Shiv Nadar School, we firmly believe in ‘Learning by Doing’. Experiences play an important role in a child's life by enhancing their social skills, intellectual skills, personality progress, and character appeal. With an envision of holistic development, the Pre-primary children thoroughly enjoyed their parts in Funkaar held at Shiv Nadar School on 23rd November 2019. The presentation was a colourful display in the WCH showcasing the rich and divergent acts through art, music, dance forms, theatre and their integration with the scholastic domains of Language, Math and My World. Each child was a ‘STAR’ and captivated the audience with their stellar performance. It was an event that made everyone nostalgic.
Author on Campus - Ms. Tanu Shree Singh
It was an honour to felicitate our homespun author Ms. Tanu Shree Singh at Shiv Nadar School, Faridabad. With her dainty demeanour she was able to deliberate a cogent issue, whose undercurrents are fast rising and reaching our homes. The book named ‘Darkless’ was an introspection on to how our children deal with the darkness of their fears and how it clouds their whole persona. The book simply reminds us, that all our little bearing need-is our bare hands and ears to brave such an engulfed emotion. The book was a nudge, well taken by our faculty and parents.
The author, Ms. Tanu Shree had encapsulated a 30min session with vivid articulation and humble humour for the children of Grade2 and 3 separately. They were delighted to have themselves clicked with the author and the prize was a duly signed copy of the said book. The event was significantly applauded by all.
Hands-on Science Workshop
A two hour long strong ‘Hands-on Science Workshop’ by Think Tac was conducted for the students of grades 3 to 5 within our school campus on 2nd March.
ThinkTac is pioneering hands-on experiential Science activities. This workshop was an initiative to help our students learn 'Science by doing', using simple material, followed with guided discovery through observation sheets leading to a discussion and a clear understanding of the topic.
This workshop was an initiative to help the students develop scientific thought and STEM skills required in line with 21st century skills.
The topic that got covered in the workshop was “Our Senses - Touch, Smell, Hearing"
The activities included:
·Sensitivity of skin: In the dry air of Indian winter, our lips dry quicker than skin in other body parts. Students created their own Lip Balm and explored the sensitivity of skin on different body parts.
·Smell Ammonia: Students experienced the smell of the gas liberated through an extremely diluted chemical reaction. They also experienced the temperature change using their sense of touch.
·Sound Vibrating Membrane: Students used a balloon as the vibrating membrane and made variations in the length of pipe to explore the impact of length on quality of sound.
All three activities kept the students excited, highly amused and engaged for two hours. The workshop sparked interest for science in the kids and provoked lots of understanding and thinking
Origami Session
Two artists from Chennai regaled the students of Shiv Nadar School, Faridabad with the beauty of Origami.
The students were impressed with the economy of movement and the beauty of creation.
They kept the students engaged through various paper crafts. The innocence of the artists were appreciated by all.
Cheer up and keep the optimism surging!
Enjoy reading our Principal, Mrs. Anju Wal's article in India Today that talks about the journey of dealing with the upheavals that came alongside the Covid-19 lockdown.
Here’s the personal account of a school principal’s journey of dealing with the upheavals that came alongside the Covid-19 lockdown.
The Hindu English Olympiad Results- Session 2019-20
Total 8 Regional Rank Holders (in the Northern region)- 3 from Grade 3: Rishabh Burman, Arnav Modi and Samiddha Bhatia; 2 from Grade 5: Sana Bose and Nishka; 2 from grade 7: Rayirth Kundu and Agastya Iyer; 1 from grade 9 : Arvik Anand; Number of children who scored 90% and above in the test 7 students from grade 3- Rishabh, Arnav, Samiddha, Rishaan, Suryaveer, Aadhya, Aaditya; 5 students from grade 4- Aarav Balyan, Nitika, Kimayra, Abeer, Shiven; 2 students from grade 5- Sana and Nishka; 1 student from grade 7- Rayirth Kundu; 2 students from grade 8- Rashmita and Rehat; 1 student from grade 9- Arvik Anand. Warmest Congratulations on the spectacular performance and achievement of our young scholars. Kudos to the their mentors as well.