The annualInternational Herald Tribune Writing Competition, was held at British School (New Delhi) on the 17^th of September 2011. The objective behind holding this competition was to provide High School students in the age group of 14 – 18 years with an opportunity to express their views on the most pressing global issues. The given topic was a ‘Letter to a Leader addressing an issue of National/International Importance.’ Four students from Grades XI & XII – Partha Sharma, Srishti Mehrotra, Ammarah Khalid and Aakanksha Gupta from Pathways School Noida participated in the competition.

The results were declared on the 1^st of December 2011 and Aakanksha Gupta, Grade XI of Pathways School Noida secured the first position. She had chosen to write the letter to Nikolas Sarkozy, the French President, about the burqa ban in his country. Her power of persuasion and flow of language must have impressed the judges to award her this prestigious position. Aakanksha and the other students were felicitated in a function held on 2^nd of December 2011 at the British School. Pathways School Noida feels proud to be home to such strong personalities.

Pathways, Gurgaon celebrated its first Founders Day on November 26, 2011 with an original production of the Old Turtle.  Many times in our lives we come upon a film, a book or a performance that changes our world view forever. Old Turtle is such a story, written by Douglas Wood and illustrated with exquisitely sensitive water colours by Cheng-Khee Chee.  The book was brought to Pathways by our librarian, Bandana Sen and quickly became a favourite amongst students and teachers. It was not long before this timeless tale of wisdom and hope captured our imagination and became the source and inspiration of our first Founders Day production.

This new production included every student of Pathways Gurgaon from the tiniest toddler in Daycare to the tallest of our Grade 12’s. Involving each and every student in a befitting manner posed a great challenge to the creative team but as the days progressed all were drawn in by the urgency of the message in this simple story and all felt the need to contribute to its telling.

What is that message and who is Old Turtle?  There comes a time in the journey of every civilization to pause, reflect and consider whether it is moving in the right direction, or whether the collective needs to scrutinize its choices.  The story of the Old Turtle is an allegory for that moment of pause.  His ancient voice, older than the earth itself, echoes in our hearts and serves as a gentle reminder that this is our moment to pause and reflect on our journey as a people.  Are we headed for destruction with our greed, intolerance and hunger for power… or will we find a way to survive?

In simple clear language Old Turtle tells us that we have forgotten our true selves; that beneath the surface of apparent differences we are all one; part of a single divine creation, from every rock and tree to the far distant stars.  How marvelous then, that this echoes the vision of Pathways ‘to build and nurture a community of thinking, compassionate world citizens’.  The Old Turtle tells us that the tiny ants and the mighty mountain; the soft breeze and the roaring lion are all equal in this citizenship.

We were indeed honoured and fortunate to have the blessings and wisdom of another voice on this joyous occasion, our chief guest, Padma Vibhushan Shree Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney General of India.  He began the evening by imploring our youth to actively take up the responsibilities of citizenship by developing compassion and tolerance, little knowing that this message would soon be illustrated by the entire student body through the production itself.

The children of Primary School stole our hearts with their ingenuous portrayal of the glory of nature.  The Middle and Senior School worked together to produce scenes of thought provoking horror holding up a mirror to our darkest natures. But in the end, it was the innocence of the little children, our true future, which brought us through the darkness to a new vision of tomorrow. The glorious hour long dance and drama production was a visual delight with costumes, stage properties and stage design all created in-house by the diversely talented faculty of Pathways Gurgaon.  Every staff member including faculty, administration and support staff was caught up in the whirlwind of creativity and demonstrated what a team can achieve when each person takes ownership of a project.  There is no doubt that each one of us felt personal  pride in the success of this important event.  And in my heart there is no doubt that we have all been transformed by this process.  Old Turtle did not only give us a message. The entire process of creation and the final production itself was a practical guide on how to survive together and create beauty together:  a beautiful play, a beautiful school and a wonderful world.  As the song said:

I see birds of many colours, and skies of blue

Lush fields of green, and farmers too

And I think to myself,

What a wonderful world.

I see the Aravali hills, from my classroom window,

Crisscrossing pathways, amidst green and yellow

And I think to myself,

What a wonderful world.

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by

I see friends shaking hands, saying “How do you do?”

They’re really saying, “I love you.”

I hear babies in Daycare, I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more, than I’ll ever know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world.

Congratulations Pathways Gurgaon!! We are one!

The Yuvraj Singh Centre of Excellence (YSCE) will provide both outdoor and indoor training facilities to budding cricketers and will also appoint highly skilled coaches to train students to become world class cricketers. The three centres will be the NCR’s first ever cricketing training ground to offer indoor facilities like bowling machines, swimming pool and gym, for students to practice cricketing techniques and to also build mental and physical stamina. These centres will be open to the students as well as, the general public.

Speaking at the event, Yuvraj Singh said, “I am very excited to see my dream project Yuvraj Singh Centre of Excellence finally becoming a reality with the support of PATHWAYS SCHOOLS and THE FINAL SCORE. We at YSCE assure to provide world class facilities to groom talent in the right direction to even the grass root level. I promise my commitment to this project and to monitor the progress of the kids myself.”

“Today, I am glad to set up such an endeavor for the budding talent pool in India. I wish, as a kid I would have got my training at such a place and it would have been tough to get me out of the nets,” he added.

Speaking of their initiative with the YSCE, Praveen Jain, one of the Founder Director of Pathways Schools said, “Few months back we had a common vision and a collective goal with YSCE to create something unique at the Pathways. We under the guidance of Yuvraj did not leave any stone unturned and now the time has come that YSCE and Pathways roll out together to dig the talent pool of India. We extend them all our support and we assure that just like Pathways Schools, YSCE at Pathways will also be a successful venture in the country.”

Pathways and Yuvraj will work together for the Yuvraj Singh Centres of Excellence at Pathways to provide world class cricket coaching facilities to budding cricketers around the 1484 sq-km NCR region which includes the catchment areas of Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad.

The YSCE will bring to their centres some of the most respected and established names from the Indian and the International cricket for coaching purpose. The trainees will benefit from the ultra-modern training methods and will constantly widen their cricket skills in sync with the demands of the modern game.

RATTING OUT

A production by

PATHWAYS SCHOOL NOIDA 

The students of Pathways School in Noida are engaging with the popular protests against corruption in an unusual way. They are staging a rock musical with a uniquely contemporary twist.

Ratting Out is loosely taken from the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin – but it is set in today’s India.  Underlying the story of the city filled with rats is the theme of corruption, how ordinary people suffer and what they can do to battle it.

The Rat King is a cool villain who sings in rap to establish his leadership and the Piper has the charisma of a rock star.

The musical is special because the script, music and choreography have been composed by the staff of the school.

For everyone who followed the anti-corruption protests, the song of the corrupt city councilors will be a delight:

We’re fat and happy, as happy can be.

That’s the way it’s been through history.

We gladly receive the piles of gold,

All public property is ours to be sold.

Chorus

O it’s fine to be a counselor

To decide and to rule.

The kickbacks are great

Cos I’m not a fool.

We’re all doing it,

So don’t you see

Live well is our motto

In this city

The search for a hero who will clean up the city made absolute sense to the students  of the school who are busy rehearsing for the school’s Founders Day on October 22^nd.

Every age needs a hero, a Batman would do,

Driving his batmobile, giving villains their due.

Superwoman would do fine

Cos we know women can,

They’d get rid of the vermin

That’s plaguing our land.

We need our own hero

The advertisement’s been put

On TV and Radio Mirchi

Someone who’ll clean up for good

We need our own hero

Of corruption we’re tired,

Who’ll get rid of our rats

Yes, that’s what’s desired.

Direction: Kriti Sharma

Music Composition: Ignacio Corral Bermejo & Kamaleshwar Verma

Choreography: Sushant Ummat

Script & Lyrics: Shalini Advani

Over 300 students between the ages of 8 and 17, from 20 Schools participated in this Gala Event. 16 Schools were from Delhi and NCR and 5 Schools were from the rest of India. The Schools that participated in the event are – Mayo Boys, Mayo Girls, Sapphire International, Assam Valley School, Pathways Noida, G.D Goenka, Sri Ram School, Heritage School, Blue bells, Sun city World School, Lancer International School, Scottish High, C B S Palam Vihar, DAV School, Sec-14, Mari Gold High School, Huns Enclave, DPS Sec 45, Shikshanter, Lions Public School and Pathways World School, Aravali.

Overall Champions – Pathways World School Aravali with 715 pointsClick to view slideshow.

What a month April has been, bringing together a lot of exciting, educational and fun activities with it.  The Students continue to blossom and grow in numerous academic and extracurricular activities.  A few of them are listed below.

Graduation Day – 9^th April:  91 Students received their Pathways Graduation Awards on this day, amidst excitement, lot of emotional and even tearful goodbyes!  It was indeed a proud moment for us, as their teachers, mentors and guides and for all the parents of the Graduates.

The Students of Grade 12 are now in the midst of the Board Exams and the Students of Grade 10 are busy preparing for their Exams.

The Delhi Horse Show 2011 – held at the Army Equestrian Centre between the 1^st and 10^th of April.  32 students from the Primary, Middle and Senior School participated in this show with 36 other teams from different States of India.  Every event consisted of a Qualifying round with 8 riders from different schools, clubs, and the NCC Riding Club. The Riders qualified for the finals only if they stood 1^st in the Qualifying Round. It was a tough competition but our Students emerged with a grand total tally of 36 medals – 8 Gold; 7 Silver and 21 Bronze.  Very applaudable considering most of our Riders were between the ages of 7 and 14 years.

Pathways Invitational Inter School Squash Tournament 2011, Under-15 boys - This Tournament was held at our School on the 12^th and 13^th April in which 7 Schools participated.  The Students of Pathways won all the matches and raised the PWS Flag higher by winning the Team Championship!

PYP Exhibition – held on 21^st and 22^nd April – The students of Grade 5 diligently pursued the spirit of inquiry, in their quest to understand deeper the issues of human struggle to share resources for their PYP Exhibition. They worked collaboratively and independently, inquiring and planning all the intricacies of their work from scratch. This greatly heightened their understanding of the inquiry cycle, as well as honed their self management, research, thinking, social and communication skills. Their findings were showcased in the PYP Exhibition on Thursday, 21^st April for the school community and Friday, 22^nd April for parents and other guests, thereby, marking the Earth Day.

Middle School – Grade 8 Personal Project and Grades 6 & 7 Science Fair Exhibition – 28^th April – The entire Middle School Student Community was involved in two major events of showcasing their academic work.  Grades 6 and 7 had their Science Fair where they shared their exhibits which had evolved over the term on the learning and discoveries of their journey through the world of Science. Grade 8 had their Personal Projects to bring to the community, an area they had worked during the entire Semester to bring to fruition.

Both the journeys had emphasised the approach of ‘enquiry’ and had fostered an even more enriching bonding between the learner, the facilitator or guide and the academic subject. The exhibitions contained models, displays, hypotheses and live examples of student work, eagerly explained by the young learners.

The attached photos will give you a glimpse of each of the events listed above.

Council of International Schools (CIS) Accreditation – Finally, we are delighted to share with you that Pathways has been granted the CIS Accreditation. We have now come into a very exclusive League of a handful of International Schools in India and a very elite Education Group, internationally.  This is indeed a glorious achievement for the School and its entire community and is the result of the efforts of a very committed and dedicated staff, the support of the parents and the ever growing successes of our Students.   The news of our Accreditation, which came to us on the 28^th, coincided perfectly with the School’s eight birthday!

The CIS Website link is http://www.cois.org

Article By: Dr. Sarvesh Naidu
School Director

http://pathways.in/

Pathways World School, Aravali recently conducted a workshop on ‘Effective Teaching Learning Strategies’ for teachers in the nearby village schools. The aim of the workshop was to share good classroom practices and strategies with teachers who do not have access to quality training options. The training program was held on the school campus on 2^nd April 2011, facilitated by four Primary School members- Ms. Rima Singh, Ms. Monica Bhimwal, Ms Komal Dua and Ms. Gunjan Tomar. There were 23 enthusiastic participants from five different government schools located in the vicinity. The engagements planned were very interactive and focussed on the importance of collaborative and play way method of learning. The day commenced with a self reflection by the participants on the most satisfying teaching experience in their teaching career and the most challenging, which was shared and analysed to arrive at the understanding that what students learn is important but what holds more significance is how they learn. The participants were familiarised with many learning strategies and games which were practical, engaging for students and most importantly student centred. The engagements were followed by a reflection on how their students can benefit from these and how these can be used in their classrooms. In spite of the many limitations and the disadvantaged circumstances faced by these teachers, they were quite receptive to new ideas and contributed actively to all engagements. The positive responses received were worth the time and effort invested by the facilitators in planning, to make this workshop relevant, significant and accessible for all teachers. We are confident that such continued service initiatives in the future will benefit these less privileged students in their learning journey and will help develop enthusiastic and self-motivated learners.

Article By: Monica Bhimwal
Early Years Coordinator

http://pathways.in/

Pathways World School, Aravali won the 2^nd Pathways World School, Aravali Invitational Inter School Squash Tournament 2011, Under-15 boys. This was held from 12th to 13th April, 2011 at Pathways World School, Aravali.

In the above mentioned tournament there were total seven teams from Delhi and NCR including two teams from outside Delhi. The teams were as follows:

• Pathways World School –Blue
• Pathways World School –Red
• Mayo College, Ajmer
• Rashtrya Indian Military College, Dehardun
• DPS R K Puram, New Delhi
• Ahlcon International School, New Delhi
• Modern School, Barakhamba

Following was the results of the matches we played with different schools in under- 15 (Boys) category.

League Match                     PWS Vs RIMCA                               PWS won by 5-0

Quarter final                         PWS Vs Modern School                 PWS won by 5-0

Semifinal                               PWSB Vs PWSR                             PWS won by 3-0

Final                                       PWS Vs Mayo School                     PWS won by 3-0

Winner’s (PWS) Under – 15 Team Event

Following budding players represented PWS team in Under-15 (Boys) and raised the PWS flag.

In individual competition we had 32 participants from seven different schools. Finals was played between Harsh Jain PWS, Aravali and Siddharth Singh Mayo College, Ajmer.

 Runner-up (Under-15 Individual event)    Winner (Under-15 Individual event)

Harsh Jain (PWS, Aravali)                           Siddharth Singh (Mayo College,)

 Team Event Ranking

1)    Pathways World School –Blue

2)    Mayo College, Ajmer

3)    Modern School, Barakhamba

4)    Pathways World School –Red

5)    Ahlcon International School, New Delhi

6)    Rashtrya Indian Military College, Dehardun

7)    DPS R K Puram, New Delhi

http://pathways.in/aravali/