March 2015 Dear Parents, Greetings from IIS Pune PYP ... · G9 Boarders and some Day scholars are...

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PRINCIPAL’S NEWSLETTER March 2015 Dear Parents, Greetings from IIS Pune PYP (Primary Years Program): AWARDS AND RECOGNITION: We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Vedika Agarwal of Grade 2. We are immensely proud and delighted to announce that Vedika is one of top 15 candidates in the National Spell Bee Competition. She has made Pune and Indus so very proud! We are also delighted to announce that 3 of our students participated in the Landmark Junior Quiz Championship conducted by Landmark at AFMC on 15th February 2015. This quiz is India’s longest running Open Quiz Championship where students from across school’s participated. Our students not only did well but were up against quizzers much older than them, including students from Grade 10. Please join us in applauding the efforts of: Kaustubh Vasudevan – Grade 5 Aadit Karve – Grade 5 Mihir Raddi – Grade 3 We congratulate them and are sure that they will be the pioneers of a PYP quiz club at IISP. GRADES 5A, 1A, 2 AND PREP 1 - CLASS OF THE WEEK AWARD. The environment plays a huge role in shaping who we are. As a result, we are also responsible towards the upkeep of our surroundings.

Transcript of March 2015 Dear Parents, Greetings from IIS Pune PYP ... · G9 Boarders and some Day scholars are...

Page 1: March 2015 Dear Parents, Greetings from IIS Pune PYP ... · G9 Boarders and some Day scholars are going for a day trip to IUCAA (Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics)

PRINCIPAL’S NEWSLETTER

March 2015

Dear Parents,

Greetings from IIS Pune

PYP (Primary Years Program):

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Vedika Agarwal of Grade 2. We are

immensely proud and delighted to announce that Vedika is one of top 15 candidates in the

National Spell Bee Competition. She has made Pune and Indus so very proud!

We are also delighted to announce that 3 of our students participated in the Landmark

Junior Quiz Championship conducted by Landmark at AFMC on 15th February 2015.

This quiz is India’s longest running Open Quiz Championship where students from across

school’s participated.

Our students not only did well but were up against quizzers much older than them,

including students from Grade 10.

Please join us in applauding the efforts of:

• Kaustubh Vasudevan – Grade 5

• Aadit Karve – Grade 5

• Mihir Raddi – Grade 3

We congratulate them and are sure that they will be the pioneers of a PYP quiz club at IISP.

GRADES 5A, 1A, 2 AND PREP 1 - CLASS OF THE WEEK AWARD.

The environment plays a huge role in shaping who we are. As a result, we are also

responsible towards the upkeep of our surroundings.

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Hence, we have begun the practice of awarding Grades who keep their classrooms neat and

tidy. Each week, the best classes are awarded the: CLASS OF THE WEEK AWARD.

We applaud Grades 5A, 1A, Grade 2 and Prep 1 for winning the awards for last week as well

as this week. CONGRATULATIONS! We would also like to thank our Principal – Mr.

Sandeep Chhabra for this splendid idea.

As part of the reward, we cut a cake in school honoring their achievements

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MUFTI, CLIFFORD & VALENTINES DAY:

On Friday – 13th Feb 2015, the students of the PYP Celebrated Mufti Day on the occasion

of Clifford’s Birthday (The most loved fictional dog) and Valentines Day.

They came dressed in shades of red, pink and white which made the school come alive!

The children even made Valentine’s Day cards and celebrated Clifford’s Birthday with one

of our Grade 2 students who dressed up as Clifford – Rohan Jha.

Clifford was aided by his helper – Julian Nightingale.

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Assemblies:

We are very proud of the PYP students who have done immense research work to present

PYP Assemblies on News, Health and Professions.

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COMPETITIONS

We are very glad to announce that this month, the students of the PYP will be

participating in 2 competitions:

1.BOOKMARK MAKING

As a part of the Learning Centre Activity, we are happy to conduct a Book Mark Making competition for all the students from Prep 1 to Grade 5. The theme of the contest is ' So Much To See, So Much To Do'. We hope that they enjoy creating their bookmarks. 2. ART COMPETITION

As a part of the Leadership Summit which will be held next month, the students of the PYP will be participating in an ART COMPETITION where they will draw/paint/sketch etc. their depiction of LEADERSHIP.

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UNIFORMS FOR OUR EARLY YEARS:

We are very glad to announce that our little babies of Prep 1 and Prep 2 have been given

uniforms.

They have been sorted into the 4 houses and will be wearing their PE uniforms on all days

of the week.

Formal uniforms for them will begin from Grade 1 upwards.

This is to ensure uniformity among all the children of the PYP.

ACER EXAMS: On Friday – 13th Feb 2015, the students of Grades 3-5 wrote the ACER ISA

Exam for Language and Math.

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MSP (Middle School Program):

The month began with Grade 8 students leaving for Yellagiri on the 2nd February for the

Leadership Camp. They returned on the 6th of February. The students had a lot to take

back from each activity. The trainers were all very well informed and knowledgeable.

They took extra initiative to analyze and reflect each activity and allowed children to have

a second attempt to see for themselves, the change in results/attitude. All reflections

were beautifully linked to real life situations and relevant examples were given”.

Besides being a great learning experience, the trip was an enjoyable one for all the

students.

Midterm 2 Tests have just finished and students are getting to know their marks. It is

encouraging to know that a lot of students have made progress over their own

performance. Reports will go online during the 1st week of March.

The 14th leadership Retreat for teachers of IISP was held on the 21st of February. It was

a day spent meaningfully. Our chief guest was Sr. Lucy, the founder of ‘Maher’ a shelter

for orphan children destitute women. Her simplicity and humility struck a chord in our

hearts. Her crucible experiences set us pondering and reflecting.

Persuasive communication: Our students are getting ready for the Leadership Summit

which is scheduled to take place on the 20th of March 2015. As part of the preparation,

shortlisted candidates from each grade are undergoing a public speaking training course

with Toast Master Mr. Sovani during the WE period. The training dates are Feb 24, 2015

to March 13, 2015.

Shooting competition results: Five of our students have qualified in the top 50 scorers in the 'Shooting Star' Talent Search Campaign conducted on the 19th of January 2015, by the prestigious Gagan Narang Academy. This was a part of the 4th Guns for Glory Championship 2014-15. These students by virtue of qualifying in the top 50 are now eligible for the scholarship programme as announced by the Gun for Glory Shooting Academy.

NAME ID NUMBER SCORE RANK

Saachi Tapse 510 46 14

Do Kyeong Kim 495 44.7 27

Ahana Shetty 486 43.8 31

Sabrina Schmid 543 43.2 39

Shanaya Vora 575 42.2 47

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IGCSE:

The month of February was marked by exams. G9 had their Mid Term 2 exams and G10

began with their mock exams.

The students of G10 were made aware of all the necessary rules and regulations required

to be followed for the exams as well as the seriousness of the conduct. The exams are

being held in exactly the same way the Final IGCSE exams will be held. This is to enable

the exams to be conducted in a smooth manner.

The G9 examinations were held amidst serious intent as the students are now realizing

that they face the forthcoming Final exams in a short duration with nearly completed

syllabus in 6 subjects.

IUCAA:

G9 Boarders and some Day scholars are going for a day trip to IUCAA (Inter University

Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics) situated in the University of Pune campus. It's

an autonomous institute to promote interest in astronomy and astrophysics in students.

IUCAA celebrates science day on 28th Feb and it is an open day for all. On this day, the

institute puts up science posters, videos/short films, lectures by eminent scientists,

scientific toys in their campus along with the science park visit.

IBDP:

Students are born with a powerful desire to learn. Everything we do as parents and teachers

must ensure that this powerful desire is kept alive. As Rudyard Kipling in one of his

celebrated and famed poems, ‘If’ says:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; if you can think - and not make

thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss;

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Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it and - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

The month of January witnessed quite a few important academic landmarks. The students

were well into academics after returning back from a restful vacation. Grade 12 students

appeared for a pre mock test to provide them a timed practice for the Mock examination.

They also gave final touches to the extended essay and TOK essays which are being sent to

IB for evaluation in 1st week of March. Grade 11 students have appeared for the second mid

-term examination.

Report On Hindi Guest Lecture

The media, both traditional and digital, play a vital role in society. In its truest form, the

role of the media is to inform the general public about events and issues that affect them.

On 5th of February 2015, we had a guest lecture on the role of the media. This lecture was

taken by the Head of School of Indus International School, Mrs. Naaz Kirmani. Our grade

11 class currently is studying the unit media and communication. The guest lecture

explained the role of the media in our day to day life. The session focused on the role of

media in the society and how media biases influence the gaining of correct information.

The students were presented with real – life situations and were asked to identify the

media biases.

Overall, the session was very informative and interesting as we understood many aspects

which helped us in making connections to lot of real life situations. We also could draw

connections with our TOK class where we are always made to question the reliability and

validity of the information. This session gave the DP students a good opportunity to

relook at their unit on Media and communication differently. It also gave them different

perspectives and ideas to deal with the current issues.

By -

Aryan Chauhan & Heloise Vyas,

Head Boy and Head Girl

GRADE 12 APPLICATIONS

23 students from Grade 12 have already received their admission offers from USA, UK,

Asian and German universities. 15 of them have received admissions with

scholarship.

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We have already received offers from the most reputed universities like Warwick

University (Ranked No 1 in world for Economics), University of Illinois at Urbana

Champagne (Ranked No 1 in world for Civil Engineering), PURDUE University

(Ranked 6th for Engineering), University of Maryland College Park (22nd rank), Ohio

State University (Top 30 in US), University of Toronto (Ranked No 1 in Canada),

Kings College London, University College London, University of Exeter, Univ of

Glasgow, and many more.

So far, the third IBDP Batch has received a staggering total

Scholarship Amount of $ 3, 00, 560 USD (Three hundred thousand dollars) compared to $1,57,000 USD last year. We have achieved admits in the top 10 rankings this

year. We congratulate our students for putting up phenomenal effort in the application

process and the entire teacher fraternity for writing excellent recommendation letters and

overall support.

Grade 11 Students & Parent Meetings

The Academic Guidance and Placement Department plans to continue Grade 11 student

and parent meetings this month. These meetings are scheduled in view of planning their

undergraduate applications for the next academic year. These meetings will be the stepping

stone for the current Grade 11 students’ personalized applications.

In these interviews we plan to discuss

Academic Performance,

SAT & TOEFL Scores,

Choice of Program,

Country Preference,

Cost

Parents are requested to call the Placement Cell to fix up their meeting.

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University Visits in February

1. University of St. Andrews, UK

2. University of Sussex, UK

Senior Professor of Accounting, Prof. Mark Fisher gave a prolific presentation on

university education and things to look forward at their School of Business.

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CAS (Community Service):

To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.

Douglas Adams

Indus International School, Pune has started new programs in CAS. IBDP students have

taken on a new project on Computer literacy for the Angrewadi students. This initiative is

by the students of IBDP, as they have decided on the topics, syllabus, and methodology of

teaching the Angrewadi students.

Students of IBDP, have done weekly planning and are teaching topics on hardware to the

Angrewadi students currently.

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The sessions are designed in a way that they are not only educational but also informative

and activity based. Every group of students are allotted some students from Angrewadi

school, and they are teaching the same students in every session. Sessions comprise of

one to one interaction with the students, hands on activities on laptops and computers,

learning activities based on the sessions and after session exercises to access the progress.

IBDP students have taken an initiative to teach Basket Ball to Angrewadi students. During

the initial sessions they were made about the rules and regulations of the game. Students

are working on hand and eye coordination and also the skills of scoring baskets.

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MSP students are actively involved in the community service activities. Students are

continuing on their teaching sessions for Bhukum School students. Students are taking

initiative of designing their own activities for teaching Grade 2 till Grade 4, mathematics

and English. Students of IISP are teaching English Language and spoken English to the

students at the Bhukum School.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS AT IISP

Holiday - Holi - 6th March 2015

Leadership Summit & Shankar Mahadevan Evening - 20th March 2015

Table Tennis & Badminton Matches - MSP - 22nd to 28th March 2015

SANDEEP CHHABRA

PRINCIPAL

March 2015