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APRIL SCHOOL NEWS

It was an excellent start to the new academic year 2014-15 as children cheerfully resumed school, with renewed vigour. Several new students joined the school this session and they have gradually adapted well in their new environment.

SCHOOL IN ACTION

KG School Tour & Picnic at the Stadium Kindergarten children were taken on a guided school tour to help familiarize them with different areas of the school and were briefed about their functions. They were shown around the Principal’s office, library, art room, stadium, play areas, canteen and also the sick bay. The tour ended with a fun filled picnic to the stadium where they enjoyed their snacks with their fellow peers. Picasa link

Colour Day Colours bring life to the world around us. The colour red is often associated with passion and compassion. Being the colour of the month, class discussions were based on red/maroon coloured fruits, vegetables, flowers, clothes etc. Children were encouraged to wear red/maroon on April 30 to emphasis the significance of this colour. Bangles – Bracelet & Belt Day Our kindergarteners took glitter and glam to a whole new level with the Bangles-bracelet & Belt Day. On April 30, girls adorned themselves with beautiful bangles-bracelets while the boys sported their favourite belts. Facebook Link

CLASSES 1 – 7 Sony Creative Toy Making Competition A toy making competition was organized on April 11 for Classes 1 - 7. The Sony Creative Science Award: Creative Toy Competition (SCSA) is an annual competition jointly organised by Science Centre, Singapore, and Sony Electronics Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. The main objective of this competition was to promote creativity amongst primary students and learn about science beyond classrooms in a fun and enjoyable way. Facebook link

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IMPACTFUL ASSEMBLIES

KG On April 25, K2A (am) children, in the presence of their parents, presented the themes ‘My School’ and ‘Weather & Seasons’, colour - maroon, concepts - hard & soft, in the Audio Visual Room. Children sang songs learnt in Tamil and Hindi to show their talent in the second language subjects. Parents were delighted to see their little ones performing with great confidence. Facebook Link

CLASSES 1 – 3

A Special Assembly on various festivals celebrated in the month of April was presented by children of Class 3D on April 15. In their presentation, children spoke about harvest festivals celebrated in various states of India – Baisakhi in Punjab, Bihu in Assam and Pohela Boishakh - Bengali New Year, Vishu in Kerala and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu. An Assamese song was rendered and some girls danced beautifully to a Bengali song. Facebook link

Class 2B spread awareness on the occasion of Earth Day on April 22, by

encouraging the practice of 3Rs to save our Mother Earth. They sang a beautiful song based on recycling. Some students demonstrated different ways in which plastic bottles and cardboard could be re-used to make decorative and useful creations.

On April 29, Class 2D presented a wonderful skit, song and a lovely dance on the Living Value of the month - ‘Honesty’. Parents were delighted to watch their young ones perform confidently on the stage.

CLASSES 8 – 9 Class 9C (April 18) and Class 8A (April 21) presented special Earth Day themed assemblies - best out of waste creations were demonstrated and shared by students. Facebook link

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REACHING OUT TO PARENTS

KG, CLASSES 1 – 10 Orientation Programme On March 31, a general orientation programme was conducted to brief parents of new students who joined this academic session. Every aspect of life at GIIS-East Coast Campus was dealt with ranging from transport to ECAs, CCAs, multiple curricula etc. with a formal introduction of teachers as well. Picasa link

CBSEi Classes 1 & 6 orientation On March 31, parents of Classes 1 & 6 specifically had an orientation programme. They were briefed about various aspects covered under the CBSEi curriculum by the segment Co-ordinators. They were informed about the school rules and the routine that Class 1 children would undergo in their first year of Primary school. Various activities like ECA, CCA, Yoga, Music, Dance and Tabla, P.E., Art & Craft which are introduced in Class 1 were explained to the enthusiastic parents. The informative sessions ended with a fruitful Q & A session with the Principal, Ms. Melissa Maria. Meet & Greet Class teacher session On April 7, parents were invited to meet class teachers of their ward – this was their first interaction with them which would go a long way in establishing a mutual rapport. Coffee Morning with Principal – Class 1 Parents of Class 1 met up with the Principal on April 26 to share concerns and show appreciation with regard to academics, ECA-CCA, general issues etc. brought up by parents during the session. Information Shared with Parents via mail :

CCE pattern for this academic session

Student of the Month parameters

Grievance Management System and the process for escalation of issues/concerns.

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FIELD TRIPS

CLASS 6 Trip to Malaysia As a part of the SEWA (Social Empowerment through Work and Action) Programme on March 24, students of Classes 6 embarked on an exciting trip to Selangor, Malaysia. The journey commenced with a few traditional Malay games, at Sungai Rambai, a village in Melaka. It was truly an enriching experience. The next morning, the students started off to ‘Help Education Centre’, where they interacted with the Myanmar and Pakistan refugees, through drama and music. Visit to the leading Malaysian bread factory ‘High 5 Bread Factory’ was another new experience. After checking out, they visited the Kuala Lumpur Gallery showcasing the history of its capital. Clicking pictures near the famous landmark – Petronas Towers, wrapped up the visit. It was truly an enriching experience.

CLASS 8 Trip to Phuket As a part of an educational expedition, students of Class 8 visited the beautiful town of Phuket in Thailand. Apart from visiting the popular tourist attraction the purpose of the excursion was to contribute to other communities through social service and get to know about their way of life. On the first day, students visited the famous Phuket Aquarium, where they saw around 1500 species of marine life. They watched a short film based on the importance of marine life and their contribution to the economy. They then visited Phuket’s well known viewing point - The Promthep Cape. The following day, they visited the village of Khao Lak, which unfortunately, had been struck by the tsunami thrice in 2004 from different directions. They met one of the tsunami victims, Mr. Monty, who shared his experience of the tragic disaster. After lunch, they visited the Community Development Centre (CDC), where a few students participated in activities for the young and less privileged children of Phuket. The group donated items that would support their education and help them. On the last day, they enjoyed several adventurous and exciting activities which included elephant trekking, canoeing and relaxing in the fish spa. In addition to these, they watched a show presented by monkeys and elephants, as well as demonstrations that taught them about the process of preparing rubber sheets, preparing the famous Thai papaya salad and watching Thai boxing. They concluded their journey with a trip to one of Phuket’s popular malls, where they explored and purchased souvenirs. It was a unique experience for the students as the excursion provided them an insight into the culture and history of Thailand.

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GREEN EFFORTS

KG Earth Day Celebrations As part of Earth Day celebrations, students of Nursery, K1 and K2 contributed by making leaf bracelets, a human chain around a paper ball representing the globe to display love for Mother Earth and marble painting of Planet Earth respectively. They were taught an Earth Day song to the tune of ‘Happy Birthday’. Facebook Link

CLASSES 1 - 10 Following activities were done throughout the week to commemorate Earth Day and to create awareness amongst students: E-waste Recycling Campaign: E-waste recycling drive was held from April

16 – 22. 33kgs of e-waste was collected and transferred to the e-waste recycling bin at our sister campus at Queenstown.

Special Assemblies : Class 9C (April 18) Class 8A (April21) and 2B (April 22) presented special Earth Day themed assemblies. Best out of waste creations were demonstrated and shared in the assemblies of 8A and 2B.

Art Classes : Classes 3 - 5 did colouring activities and Classes

6 - 9 created posters based on Earth Day themes.

Foyer board decoration : Recycled material was used to decorate the foyer boards related to ‘Save the Earth’ theme.

Competitions : Our students took part in competitions held at Queenstown.

Trees For Life Photography Workshop On April 26, a photography workshop was conducted in partnership with Nparks and NEA. Aaryan Natali, Nagi Teja and Ayush Anan of Classes 9 and 10 attended the one day workshop at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. They learnt key aspects of photography, from an experienced professional photographer. They were given basic information about ISO, aperture etc. and were also taught more advanced and different techniques of photography. The technique which appealed to them most was clicking abstract pictures. After the presentation, they were taken on a nature walk to practice what they learnt. Blending their freshly gained knowledge with their own creativity, they started taking shots of nature and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Planting of a Mango tree by NParks National Parks Board donated and planted a mango tree in our school premises as part of Earth Day celebrations.

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LEADERSHIP LECTURE SERIES

A parenting workshop, ‘Positive Parenting to create future leaders’ ‘was conducted by well-known author and educator, Mr. Shiv Khera. Global Parenting Forum is an initiative of GIIS to build a common platform for knowledge-sharing, where parents connect with each other and the school - the first session of Global Parenting Forum took place at GIIS Whitefield campus, Bangalore. The highlight of the session was that all campuses of India, Singapore and Malaysia were connected through video conference and parents from these campuses joined in with much enthusiasm. He stressed upon values, discipline and the right attitude that parents need to practice in order to inculcate them in their children.

Acclaimed actor, rock star and director Farhan Akhtar visited Queenstown Campus on April 12. Students from Japan, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore got a chance to ask him questions on how he overcame challenges in his career and achieved success in various film genres.

Academy and Grammy Award winner, music maestro, A. R. Rahman, visited our Queenstown Campus on April 29. Selected students from GIIS Campuses in India, Malaysia and Singapore had the opportunity to field questions to him via LIVE Video conference and personally too.

OUTREACH

ISA Partnership – Kindergarten

GIIS-East Coast Campus has entered into a partnership with Baug-e-Jamsheed School, Jamshedpur, to share best practices at the Kindergarten level. For their current thematic topic of ‘Fruits & Vegetables’, they were keen to know the fruits and vegetables that were introduced to our kindergarteners as part of our ‘Fruit and Vegetable of the Week’ initiative. Pictures were shared between both the schools for a better understanding of how the programme was conducted at our campus.

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WINNING MOMENTS

SOF - 4th International English Olympiad, 2013 The list of medal winners are as follows: -

S.NO. CLASS STUDENTS SCHOOL RANK MEDAL

1. 2 Rachana Mukhund 1 Gold

2. 2 Avaneesh Bansal 2 Silver

3. 2 Anshi Nanavati 3 Bronze

4. 3 Jhanvi Shubashree K 1 Gold

5. 3 Akshara Anand 2 Silver

6. 3 Ananjan Pillai 3 Bronze

Earth Day Celebrations @ GIIS, Queenstown In line with the Earth Day celebrations, several competitions for Primary students were held at GIIS - Queenstown on April 23 with the following students winning medals as below:

Sr. No.

COMPETITIONS PARTICIPANTS POSITION

1. Forum Competition Aditya Venkatesh Aanoushka Ahuja Tushaar Jagannathan

3rd

2. Puppet Show Abhinav Sridhar Jeevika Nagpal Ritika Awasthi

3rd

3. Animated Message Pranav Sudarshan Aditya Deshmukh

2nd

4. Postcard Making (Div - 1) Post card making (Div - 2)

Rajvee Saraf Arushi Phulre

3rd

1st

5. Trash to Treasure (Div - 2) Bhavika Jain

3rd

6. Mascot Parade Maithili Kini 3rd

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Silverzone Foundation International Olympiad of English Language, 2014 The medal winners are as follows:-

Sr. No. CLASS PARTICIPANTS CLASS RANK MEDAL WON

1. 2 Nishant Patil 1 Gold

2. 2 Rishil Tatavarthi 2 Silver

3. 3 V S Jitesh (left) 1 Gold

4. 3 Akshara Anand 2 Silver

5. 3 Ananya Dani 3 Bronze

6. 3 Ananjan Pillai 3 Bronze

International Olympiad of English Language (iOEL) Result 2014

Sr. No. PARTICIPANT CLASS OLYMPIAD

RANK PRIZE

1. Nishant Patil 2 4 Watch

International Olympiad of Mathematics (iOM) II Level Result 2014

Sr. No.

PARTICIPANT CLASS OLYMPIAD RANK

PRIZE

1 Nishant Patil 2 4 Watch

2 Rohan Uppal 3 4 Watch

International Olympiad of Science (iOS) II Level Result 2014

Sr. No. PARTICIPANT CLASS OLYMPIAD RANK

PRIZE

1 Siddhanth Balaji Srinivasan 3 4 Watch

Knowing Russia – Art Competition by Siglap South CC Following are the winners of the Art Competition held on the occasion of Easter.

PARTICIPANTS CLASS PRIZE

Likhith Raghunath 8A Grand Prize

Pujitha Raghunath 1D Grand Prize

Siddharth Ramkumar 3B 3rd

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NEW SCHOOL INITIATIVES

From this academic session, teachers have started using purple coloured

pens for marking / corrections.

Every Wednesday, a mass drill is being conducted for Kindergarten students

as part of their structured PE classes.

Kindergarten assembly is now being conducted every Friday in the AV

Room.

GK module – Brain Blitz - has been introduced for students from

Kindergarten 2 - Class 8.

Staggered lunch break timings have been introduced for Classes 3 - 10 in the

canteen.

ECA for Classes 1 – 10 is being conducted on Fridays.

GIIS Open Badminton 2014 GIIS Queenstown had organized Open Badminton matches for U-9 to U-16 boys and girls and mixed double games for parents. The following were the winners:-

1. U-11 boys singles – Ajay Arvind - Winner 2. U-11 girls singles – Anjani Banerjee - Runner-up 3. U-16 girls Doubles – Parinaz Bavadam - Runner-up

Richa Rajadhyax - Runner-up Akira Swift 61st Annual Track & Field Championships 2014 Akira had organized the Open Athletic meet for juniors and our athletes won the following medals :- Anna Mary Sruthi Class 4 - 3rd place in 100 metres - U10 Girls category and won the 9th place 1 km Cross Country.