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From the Principal’s Desk

January 2018

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We are now halfway through the 2017-2018 academic session! The second

term of every academic session brings with it immense excitement where we

encourage our students to build on their achievements and reflect on their

actions from Term 1.

On returning to school after the winter break, students have now settled into a

routine and the month of January has seen a lot of excitement in all spheres of

school life.

THE PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME (Reception to Grade 5): This month saw

students learn not just in the classroom but also through field trips and

Leadership Camps.

Grade 1 students attended a day long Leadership Camp on January 19th. Through challenging yet fun games like water relay and blindfold maze, students were pushed to collaborate, show resilience and confidence as well as build rapport with each other. Likewise, Grade 4 too attended a Leadership Camp but this was over two days and the focus here was to develop key skills and attitudes such as a growth mindset, mindfulness and innovation. These were addressed through group activities and games which encouraged students to collaborate with each other, be risk takers as well as communicate in a persuasive manner.

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Our Prep 2 and Grade 4 students went on separate field trips this month and these were connected to the Unit of Enquiry for each grade. Prep 2 visited Snow City which was connected to the central idea of ‘How the World Works’ and the students gained an understanding of extremely cold weather conditions and were excited to engage in snow-based activities. For some students, it was all the more exciting since this was the first time they witnessed snow.

Grade 4 students visited a small community called Navadarshanam, which is situated in rural Tamil Nadu and is about 50kms from school. This field trip was around what the students are currently exploring, specifically alternative methods of modern ways of living and thinking, seeking both ecological balance and inner peace. Navadarshanam have experimented in the areas of eco-restoration, wilderness preservation, alternative energy, sustainable organic farming, water harvesting, health and healing as well as in promoting healthier and traditional foods.

Within the classroom, the Grade 2 who are pursuing the transdisciplinary theme of How We Organise Ourselves, are part of a community farming project and have also used the ergonomical “Grow Bag” to grow organic vegetables like spinach and potatoes. Grade 3 invited Captain Mohit Tomar from the Indus School of Leadership as a guest speaker for the central idea of inquiry, “Exploration leads to discovery and new understandings.” Captain Tomar has led senior students on ‘Peak to Lead’ expeditions, the most recent being the expedition to Mt Elbrus. Our Grade 3 students enjoyed listening to Captain Tomar and the session also had him demonstrate rappelling, climbing and various tools he used during his expeditions. THE MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAMME AND IGCSE (Grades 6 to 10): The Half Yearly Math examination was administered across all grades. We scheduled Parent Teacher Meetings [PTM] on separate days for Grades 6 to 8 on January 22nd and Grade 9 on January 20th. On both days, parents/guardians/house parents met with teachers and school leaders to discuss the way forward for their children, not just in their academic pursuit but in co-curricular and extra-curricular spheres as well.

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Please join me in congratulating some of our young achievers from the Middle School this month. Khanak Joshi of Grade 7, a talented Sufi singer saw her Youtube music video garner 1 million views and the Dainik Jagran newspaper also ran a feature on Khanak and her achievements. Naren Ramesh of Grade 7 finished 3rd in the 2x2x2 cube event conducted as part of the Shaastra Technical Festival at the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai which was conducted on the 06th and 07th of January. Vidushi Keni of Grade 8 became the second runner up at the South Zone Junior Golf Championship held in Coorg from 12th to 14th January. Anoushka Saraf of Grade 9 has been selected to represent Karnataka, as a striker, in the 23rd Senior Women National Football Championship. Anoushka will be the youngest player on the team. We wish her and her team the very best for the tournament, scheduled between January 27th and February 08th, which will see them competing against 30 other teams. THE DIPLOMA PROGRAMME [Grades 11 and 12]: Grade 11 students too completed their half yearly examinations on their return to school from the winter break. The Parent Teacher Meeting was held on January 20th where parents met with faculty to discuss and gain a better understanding of the way forward for their child not just in their subjects but also in terms of college placements and how to build strong resumes ahead of their university application process. Our Grade 12 students are now in the last leg of submissions in terms of their Internal Assessments. Intensive revision classes began on January 16th and these see detailed and well-designed plans being executed in the classrooms across all subjects. The students of Grade 12 who are looking at applying to colleges/universities within India, Canada and other countries worked closely with their college counsellors to meet the January 15th deadlines. It is indeed heartening to note that students (who had applied ahead of the winter break) have been receiving acceptance letters from universities of their first choice and some have also received scholarships. We are confident that good news will continue to pour in for our batch of 2018 and our DP and Placements team look forward to

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sharing details of final College/University Placements in the month of April-May 2018. MANAGEBAC: We have introduced ManageBac, which is the leading planning, assessment and reporting platform for the IB continuum. For this academic session, Grades 6 to 8 & 11 and 12 will use this platform to help in their curriculum planning and delivery. Our Grade 6-8 students received their login ID’s and the MYP team also shared web links and details of a demo account with the parents. All Grade 12 submissions (EE, TOK essays, IA’s, CAS logs) will be done through Managebac for this academic session. WHOLE EDUCATION: Between January 08th and 12th, Track 2 leadership mentors ran Goal Setting and Reading workshops for students in small groups across the middle and senior school. The focus of the Goal Setting workshop was on competency-based SWOT analysis and visualisation for success. The workshop on Reading highlighted the difference between reading (basic reading habits) and deep reading. Students were introduced to various reading strategies and given hands-on experience to practice these techniques. Students of Grades 8 to 10 participated in the regional round of the International Finance Olympiad on January 23rd. A total of 23 students participated and the Olympiad comprised of three rounds; a multiple choice, crossword puzzle and an audio-visual round. We await the results which are likely to be announced in the first week of February. Some of our Grade 8 students participated in the Parikrma festival of science held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research [JNCASR] and the Indian Institute of Science [IISc] between January 04th and 06th. It enabled students to interact with world-leading scientists, learn about the impact of pollution on our environment and the festival concluded with two tasks in which our students competed. The topic for this year’s festival was Air and over the course of three days, students were educated on how air plays a vital role in connecting diverse and various fields such as economics, science and medicine. Indus also hosted Techvriddhi - IIT Robotics, a two day robotics workshop that was attended by 82 students from grades 8, 9 and 11 respectively. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Narendra Bhatt. Students were taken through

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basics of hardware, software along with designing skills required to put together a robot. On the second day, students were also taught the basics of using IR sensors as well, required during the designing process. Based on their overall performance, 25 students have been selected to participate at the National Level Competition at IIT – Khargapur on February 3rd and 04th. We wish the students the very best of luck. Six Grade 11 students participated in Infinity 2018, an interschool Math competition organized by Aditya Birla World Academy in association with BITS Pilani, held in Mumbai between January 16th and 17th respectively. Students participated in various competitions like Poster making, Clash of Mathematicians (individual round) and Math Challengers (team round). Students also interacted with Dr. James Tanton, a guest lecturer from Australia. The objective of these rounds was to promote creativity and collaboration in solving divergent, limited data problems through teamwork.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS: In a run up to Leadership Day scheduled in March, all four houses have been busy in completing their Community Projects. Students and the housekeeping and security wardens who are involved in these projects along with the faculty advisors, have ensured excellent progress was made this month. Pegasus House has seen a significant production of pillow covers and table napkins part of the tailoring course for the housekeeping staff. They have also had students work on candle production. Phoenix House brought in more raw materials for their sanitary napkin production and also continued to work with IICS students on their leadership journals and I-LEADS scripts. Orion House too has made considerable progress in compiling this year’s IICS magazine. Further, their Women Empowerment project focusses on soft skills for security wardens in school. Some of them are working on an I-LEAD speech themselves which they will deliver on Leadership Day. Hercules House added new designs and products to their recycled paper manufacturing unit. They have met the target production for leadership journals for Grades 6-9 & 11 and also introduced new stationery products as well.

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SUSBTANCE ABUSE SENSITIZATION: A workshop on substance abuse was conducted for students of Grades 9-12 on January 23rd. Dr Mala, consultant Paediatrician from Sagar Hospital and who is also attached to Cadabam’s Deaddiction Centre took our students through the ill effects of different forms of substance abuse on the physical, emotional and mental well-being of individuals. BOARDING: Weekends continue to be busy for boarders who see a mix academic support, life skill training, sports and new learning opportunities. Our junior and middle school students participated in another round of Masterchef and their core ingredient was rice. The senior students visited the laundrette at school to understand the basic rules to follow while doing one’s laundry. Zumba and Yoga sessions also continued over the weekend and in addition to this, our boarders competed in a tug-of-war apart from being introduced to a new sport, Kabadi. Boarders celebrated Lohri and Makar Sankranti on campus. For Lohri, a bonfire was lit and students, house parents and campus staff celebrated the end of winter and arrival of longer days with the sun’s journey to the Northern hemisphere. As we celebrated Makar Sankranti/Pongal on January 15th, a kite flying competition was organised. Boarders were placed in groups where they challenged each other in what turned out to be an afternoon thoroughly enjoyed by all. Some of our boarders participated in a Kite Art Festival, a painting competition that was organised by an organisation called Aranyani. Five of our boarders were declared winners and their prize included a day long workshop on different art medium at Aranyani. We congratulate Chisam Marak, Ashee Marvaniya, Angel D’Souza, Yeji Cho and Avani Jaiswal on their win.

SPORTS: Six of our primary and middle school students attended the 12th ISAFF

India National Sports Aerobics, Fitness and Hip Hop Championship - 2017 – 18 held at HRIT Group of Institutions, Delhi-Meerut Road, Morta, Ghaziabad (UP).

Our team did extremely well at the competition by winning Gold in the Grand

(group of 6 girls) and Silver in the Petite (group of 5 girls) rounds of the

competition. Please refer to Appendix A for names of our winners.

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The competition at the Championship was intense and saw more than 600

students representing teams from 16 States across the country compete. We

congratulate our students on their win.

The Senior School Sports Day was held on January 19th. We had the honour of

having Mr Srinath Prahlad as the Chief Guest for the event. He along with Lt.

Gen. Arjun Ray , our CEO graced the occasion. Mr. Prahlad represented India in

Tennis at the 1998 Asian Games where he won two bronze medals and also

played in the Davis Cup.

Our students exhuded a strong spirit of sportsmanship and enthusiasm as they

competed in individual and team events. The heats which led up to the Sports

Day were conducted from 15th to 18th January. The level of competition and

house spirit was intense as the students put up their best performance in the

track and field events like sprints, long jump, shot put, discus throw and relays

for boys and girls.Our equestrian and karate teams also showcased their talent

in a fantastic performance thanks to their commitment and hours spent in

training.

Below are some glimpses from the senior school Sports Day.

Please refer to Appendix B for the results of the competition.

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In closing, I want to thank you and your family for all that you do in supporting

our students and teachers as we look forward to an outstanding second term

here at Indus International School Bangalore. We are making great strides in

student achievement and want to keep that momentum going. For this, we are

counting on you, our parents to partner with us. We hope you continue to be a

part of our school community in an individual capacity or through the Parent

Advisory Committee [PAC], since we believe that a well-rounded education

requires everyone who is part of a child’s life getting involved and working

together.

Thanks and warm regards,

Mrs Sarojini Rao

Principal

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Dates For Your Diary- February 2018 DATE EVENT

February 07th Parent Advisory Committee [PAC] Meeting February 10th PYP 3 Way Conference

PYP New Parent Orientation

Grade 10 Parent Teacher Meeting

IBDP and Placements Orientation for Grade 10

Practices for Evening of the Performing Arts

February 13th and 14th PYP Sports Heats February 16th PYP Sports Day

February 24th Evening of the Performing Arts

APPENDIX A: 12th ISAFF India National Sports Aerobics, Fitness and Hip Hop

Championship

Gold medal winners:

Sl. No. Name Grade

1. Zainab Merchant 6

2. Dia Doshi 6 3. Padmasri Shreedar 6

4. Ana Sofia Wyatt Cascavita 6 5. Ghana Kshyani 6

6. Sadiya Fathima 4

Silver medal winners:

Sl. No. Name Grade

1. Zainab Merchant 6

2. Dia Doshi 6 3. Padmasri Shreedar 6

4. Ana Sofia Wyatt Cascavita 6 5. Sadiya Fathima 4

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APPENDIX B: Senior School Sports Day Results

TOTAL HOUSE POINTS (OVERALL TROPHY)

POSITION HOUSE POINTS I Phoenix 780

II Hercules 775

III Orion 620 IV Pegasus 600

MARCH PAST RESULT

POSITION HOUSE I Phoenix

II Orion III Hercules

IV Pegasus

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP AWARD

CATEGORY NAME HOUSE

Boys U-12 Krish Varma Pegasus

Girls U-12 Maya De Laet Phoenix Boys U-14 Rishabh Krishnan Pegasus

Girls U-14 Pratibha Pradeep Phoenix Boys U-16 Dharmil Budheliya Hercules

Boys U-16 Braham Kapoor Orion

Girls U-16 Ines Maria Huret Phoenix Senior Boys Ritvik Singh Phoenix

Senior Boys Adrien Lee Phoenix Senior Girls Hrutika Bhaasker Hercules