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Annual Day Celebration

Little ANNIE was the imperfect, yet perfect choice to describe the pain and joy of The Family. Considerable time and thought was placed on selecting a play that would convey a message not just to the viewers, but also the impression it would have on the participants. The entire school from top management to support staff, the little messengers, our wonderful actors and the parents were one big family. All toiled together, an immense personal sacrifice, yet not once was the smile on the faces ever erased.

Annual Day

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Newsletter DBIS

Volume: 4 Issue: 11 February 2018

World read aloud

week

Page 08

Sports News

Page 11

International

Mother Language

Day

Page 09

Green day

Page 13

World Cancer Day

Page 10

Rector Major Fr Angel Artime, the successor of Don Bosco, presented the Strenna (gift of good luck) for 2017, as a journey with a motto “We are family. Every home, a school of Life and Love”.

“The family is fertile soil only if there is welcome, respect and enthusiasm that overcomes the difficulties. It includes people of different ages and varied customs, in faraway countries”.

Upcoming Events

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Fr. Ajoy Fernandes, Director of the meticulously executed successful play “The Wizard of Oz” for the 2016-17 annual programme, he was the best beginning we could imagine for ANNIE. His keen eyes missed nothing, boundless energy placing him in every nook and corner and his multi-tasking mind that was both kind and firm, when handling children with a flair that few are blessed with in this world. In the words of Fr. Ajoy, the play opens our eyes to the plight of children who are less fortunate. The process of putting the play together highlights the need for effort to develop one’s skills. It provides opportunities to work together as a team. It calls for discipline to work in an organized and systematic manner. It highlights the beauty of art and drama.

A tired, beaming Fr. Ajoy summed up for all in a simple statement, “It was challenging, demanding, but enlivening and rewarding experience.”

The teachers and support staff, were a stark reminder that they are the true disciples of Don Bosco, placing the children before them, sacrificing their holidays and extending their work day, to include every little toddler, with gentle persuasion in a soft voice and eyes connecting with love. The chemistry was electrifying. Love, togetherness and family can be heady and contagious – it drew like a magnet, the parents into the circle of performance and service. They sang and danced at the opening into everyone’s heart and in a way fulfilled the Strenna of 2017 – The Family.

The Chief Guest, Rev Fr Ian Doulton, the editor of the largest selling English catholic magazine, “Don Bosco’s Madonna” with a readership of 90,000 worldwide, informed the audience with pride, “Don Bosco group of schools has always stood apart for their commitment to the children. Every child is special and the overall development of the child through a balance of sports, academics and fine arts has been a constant objective”.

Principal

Ms. Meena Saldanha

** This article on our Annual Programme was published in Hindustan Times – Children’s Edition on Wednesday, February 28, 2018

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ANNUAL DAY - PHOTOGALLERY

Welcome song by DBIS parents

Our little voices

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ANNUAL DAY - PHOTOGALLERY

Prelude by Pre-primary section

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ANNUAL DAY - ANNIE

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ANNUAL DAY - PHOTOGALLERY

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ANNUAL DAY - PHOTOGALLERY

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WORLD READ ALOUD WEEK

‘Reading is joy! Reading is thinking! Reading is concentrating!

Reading gives the power of knowledge and is an adventure of the mind. Students, teachers

and staff members had an adventurous week during the celebration of ‘World Read Aloud

Week’ from February 1st to 8th at DBIS. Student were encouraged to read-aloud stories at

home, as well as in the school and share their experiences.

During this literary fest, students at DBIS read stories to their classmates in English, Spanish,

Hindi, Guajarati and other local languages, which was their mother-tongue. Not restricted to

teachers and librarians in school, students wanted to share the joy of reading stories to those

around them and read to their parents, grandparents and house helpers.

At Fr. Steve’s Library, the Librarian conducted read aloud sessions for several grades.

Students from Grade 4 were invited to a poetry reading session of the book ‘Why are you

afraid to hold my hand?’ by Sheila Dhir integrated with their ongoing Inquiry on ‘Poetry’. It

is written in verse with illustrations, describing the attitudes, reactions and misconceptions

of people on children with disabilities. The session concluded with students reflecting on

reworking their perception to include more positivity towards differently abled children and

being more open to accepting them as friends. Students enjoyed listening to a book that was

both different in content and layout, as displayed in the photos.

Students from grade 5 were delighted with the experience of Reader’s Theatre on the occasion of

World Read Aloud Week with the book ‘Bad Case of Stripes’ by David Shannon. Reader’s Theatre is

great way to involve students in the process of learning language as students ‘perform’ by reading

out lines from grade-level books. It was integrated with their Inquiry on ‘Changes’. To conclude,

students discussed the amazing changes they read about that took place with the character Camilla

Cream. It was a new way to experience a story for most students and it left them fascinated,

intrigued and certainly more receptive to ‘reading’ more books.

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INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

To know a language is to know the culture, traditions and unique ways of expressing with the words that are a part of the language. Without the language, a certain amount of its cultural identity is lost as well. UNESCO recognises February 21st as ‘International Mother Language Day’. DBIS would like to encourage linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism, so that students may embrace Indian as well as International Languages. Languages are one of the most powerful tools to preserve and develop our tangible heritage like traditional clothing, tools, buildings, artwork, monuments and modes of transportation, as also our intangible cultural heritage that does not exist as objects but exists intellectually.

With that in mind – parents and grandparents participated in the celebration of culture and language through interactive puppet shows, dances, poems, skits, stories, songs and rhymes. The parents from Jr Kg and Grade 2 obliged most willingly with the maximum turnout in the entire school! Teachers too participated with great enthusiasm while encouraging students to share their language and through that their culture, with their peers. Languages celebrated on International Mother Language Day were Indian Regional Languages displayed in the picture below, as well as International Languages like French and German, and the foreign language being learnt by our students - Spanish.

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WORLD CANCER DAY

February 4th is marked as World Cancer Day internationally in order to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. This day explores how everyone – as a collective or as individuals – can do their part to reduce the global burden of cancer. It is the one singular initiative under which the entire world can unite together in the fight against the global cancer epidemic. It aims to save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising awareness and education about cancer, and pressing governments and individuals across the world to take action against the disease.

To spread the special messages about cancer awareness and its prevention, the leading health organizations as well as non-governmental organizations takes part by organizing the camps, awareness programs, rallies, lectures, seminars and etc. Variety of control measures policies gets implemented and people are promoted to join in masses.

Keeping in mind the vision, mission and core values of our school the students of grade 7A conducted an assembly to portray how we can show care and compassion to the ones who are not as fortunate as us. It aimed to spread awareness on cancer which like any other disease is curable.

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NEWS FROM THE SPORTS ROOM

“Don’t think about the start of the race, think about the ending.” – USAIN BOLT

Here at DBIS, sports is slowly becoming a culture and is currently on the winning forefront. 2018 has begun on a good note and we will try our level best to keep our flag flying high.

Our Under-11 girls Basketball team emerged champions at the MSSA Inter-School Basketball Tournament securing the gold medal. We faced many challenging teams and knocked them out with blazing score lines. Our semi-final was one of the best fought matches beating Bombay Scottish 9 point to 7. The finals went off to an easy walk, winning the match 17-4 defeating VIBGYOR High School. Our girls not only dazzled the court but completely stole the show.

At the MSSA Inter-School Hockey Knockout Tournament, the Under-14 boys team stood in 4th position. Ronak Tiwari was awarded the Best Upcoming Player for his sizzling performance and display of skills.

A few of our students participated in the Roll-O-Fit Skating Championship 2018 and won laurels for the school. Vihaan Maru, Megh Mehta of grade 1 won the Silver and Bronze medal respectively in the Short race category for boys. Khiah Jain also from grade 1 won the Bronze medal in the Short race category for girls. Shireen Atai of grade 8 grabbed 2 Gold medals in the Short and Long Races. Dhiaan Sheth and Hridhaan Ratanghayra of grade 2 won the district level Skating Competition and have been selected for the Mini-State Championship.

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The Under-10 boys Football team qualified for the knockout stages in the MSSA Inter-School Football Tournament. They were knocked out on penalties after displaying a stunning performance against Navy Children School, Colaba.

At the Catholic Gymkhana Ltd. Annual Athletic Meet, Shalom Mendes of grade 6 won Gold in 200m, Silver in 100m and Long Jump. She also went on to win the Overall Individual Championship. Seona D’souza and Shaina Carrasco won the Silver and Bronze medals respectively in the 50m and 80m Dash races for girls under-8.

We are proud of our students for their glorious achievements and look forward to many more honours in the years to come.

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Green Day Photo Gallery

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Upcoming Events

9th March: Pre-primary picnic

10th March: 3rd Open house (Middle school) / Coffee with me (PYP)

16th – 17th March: Primary picnic (Gr. 1-4)

28th March: Purple day