Shiv NadarSchool

Gurgaon

FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S DESKSHIV NADAR SCHOOL, GURUGRAM

DECEMBER 2019, VOL.3

Shiv NadarSchool

Gurgaon

Dear Parents, Grandparents and Students,

The season of cheer is upon us! Have we thought of our ways to contribute to the same in a sustainablemanner? Top 10 ways to Spread Sustainable New Year Cheer : 1.  Volunteer your effort,time and energy towards community outreach programmes that help the needy. 2.   Bake some cakes and cookies or cook for friends and neighbors. 3.   Practise the 4 R's:(i) Reuse your last year's Christmas decorations and trees and pledge to recycle. (ii) Reduce your needs and wants and teach yourself to be content with less. Practise sharing. (iii) Recycle your torn/broken possessions after repairing them instead of throwing them away. (iv) Renew your vow to reduce your carbon footprint by walking or cycling or using public transport. 4.  Carry around a pocketful of spare change to bring a smile to the cashier's face when we pay for ourpurchases. 5.  Sing Christmas carols/or any songs that make you and your friends/family happy. 6.  Make cleaning the house  family priority on the weekends and give away things that you have beenhoarding or haven't used for 12 months so that they may be useful to someone else. 7.   Decorate the house with self made economical decorations. 8.  Give small gifts to those who provide services, esp something new- because they always get castoffs. 9.  Plant some local species of trees in the neighbour or in your garden. Create a small group to help cleanthe plants and their surroundings of weeds, so that they may grow up in a healthy manner. 10. Conserve water and stop purchasing one time use plastics like water bottles or polythene bags. Do add more suggestions for each other and share them with all! Wishing each one of you a happy and healthy vacation and a Merry Christmas. Warm Wishes,Monica Sagar

From thePrincipal's

Desk

‘Halloween’ was celebrated onWednesday, 30th October with anexciting Show and Tell activity. Theyoung ones dressed as  Superheroes,Fairies, Witches, Vampires, Hulk andother interesting characters simplyadorned the classrooms and foyers. Theirenthusiasm knew no bounds as theyspoke about their costume andcharacter. Beaming with excitement,they posed for photographs. The li'l onesmade Halloween cards for their familiesand friends.

The 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhiwas celebrated by promoting the virtues thatdefined him. The corridors resonated with‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ and the students tookpart in discussions highlighting incidents from hislife. The young learners shared facts about his life.They enjoyed themselves in making  Gandhi caps.The students culminated and captured the journeyof their week in their personal reflections.

Remembering Mahatama- Father of our Nation

'Halloween is an opportunity to be really creative"- Judy Gold

To share the glimpses of classroom activitiesin the subject of Maths an interactivesession was organized on Saturday,  23rdNovember. The teachers of grades 1, 2 and 4conducted the session in their respectiveclassrooms. The session aimed to develop adeeper understanding about the wayMathematical concepts are taught andstrengthened. The sessions gave an insighton how the concepts are taught in Mathsthrough different activities. The parentswere familiarised with the strategies thatare taught and reinforced.

Working for a betterunderstanding - Junior

Maths Program

Session on Social Media by

Mr. VaibhavBudhiraja

Mr Vaibhav Budhraja, Head, Brand strategy and

Marketing at Shiv Nadar School held a session on

Social Media for the students of Grade 5 on

Thursday, 17th October.  The session was

extremely interactive and engaging. Mr Vaibhav

urged the students to think and reflect by asking

questions, eliciting opinions and sharing, making

students do role-plays and showing visual clips. The

students thoroughly enjoyed the session.

FROM FARM TO TABLEOn Thursday, 24th of

October a session

anchored by our parent

Mr. Nitin Jindal, Senior

Manager (PepsiCo) was

held with the students of

grade 4.  He explained the

complete process of

making ready to eat

potato chips out of

potatoes. We thank him

for his valuable time and

efforts.

�व�ता ही सेवा- �ला��टक वे�ट �मदान

Inspired by the government’s initiative of ‘Swachchata hi Seva- Plastic Waste Shramdaan’,Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA) hosted a hour-long awareness session with thestudents of Grade 5 on Wednesday, October 16th.  The initiative of relinquishing the single-use plastics is being promoted by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation,Government of India, from September 11 to October 27, 2019, across the Country. Themessage was beautifully conveyed through animated storytelling on plastic wastemanagement.

Ms Shannon Koga conducted asession on Saturday, 14th December 2019 for the parentsof the Primary school to helpthem understand the Reading Ato Z programme. The parentswere guided on how to helptheir children become betterreaders.

Reading A to Z programme workshop

Funkaar @ Grade 1 The experiential event ‘Funkaar’was integrated with the theme‘Communication’. At the end oftheir theme, the curious firstgraders could appreciatecommunication as an importantskill for building meaningfulassociation and relationships.

Students of Grade 5 celebrated Children’s Day in a unique way as they got an opportunityto interact with Ridhima Pandey, India's Greta Thunberg. Shiv Nadar School, Faridabadhad invited the young activist to their school on Monday, 18th November. RidhimaPandey was among the 16 children, including Greta Thunberg, who had filed a complaintto protest the lack of governments’ action on the climate crisis at the United NationsClimate Action Summit. It was inspiring to meet the 12-year-old Ridhima whopassionately shared her thoughts on the Climatic issue.

Children’s Day was celebrated with lot of enthusiasm. Their special day was filled withfun activities, some of them showed their favourite teachers in differentavatars!Theteachers captured the special messages for their students in a personalized card andmade the day a memorable one for all.

Children's Day Celebration

Meeting with Ridhima Pandey, India's Greta Thunberg at Shiv Nadar School, Faridabad

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is allabout.”

- Angela Schwindt

Diwali CelebrationShiv Nadar School wore a festive look to welcome and celebrate the festive cheer. Thecorridors were decorated with paper diyas, lanterns and other wall hangings whichwere made by children. They had carpeted the floor with colourful rangoli designs. Itwas a day filled with fun and joy. Children returned home with happy faces and readyto enjoy their holidays.

“A painter paints pictures on canvas. Butmusicians paint their pictures on silence.”Leopold Stokowski

Resonance 2019

Music fosters a sense of craftsmanship & creativity, and is akey enabler of all-round personality development andcharacter building. In line with this vision, Shiv Nadar SchoolGurgaon's Western Music Choir was conceptualized to bringtogether the best musical talent in school, and to facilitatethem into creating a unified community of performers,irrespective of age, background or musical taste. The school's first ever Western Music ChoirConcert, Resonance 2019, was held on November25.

Children’s Day

Out in the garden

SpecialAssembly by the little children of Nursery

Kanha showed Yoga postures inspiredby different bugs.

Assembliesat a 

glance !

Celebratinga Green Diwali

The tiny tots of Nursery showcased the EnglishAlphabets in an interesting manner. Theenergetic children chose a letter-sound pair. They came dressed to school as differentthings (with its name beginning with thechosen letter).They received a cheerful roundof applause and charmed everyone as theyparaded dressed as a car, mango, superman,panda, dinosaur through the corridors ofKindergarten and Grade 1.

Alphabet ParadeAnimal Parade

In Nursery during the ongoing theme ‘I love animals’, an animal parade wasconducted on the Thursday, 12th of December 2019. Students came dressed astheir favourite animal and paraded around the school singing slogans and playingvarious musical instruments.

The enthusiasm and cheering with which the ‘young parade’ was received in thePrimary corridors was endearing! It was a fun filled learning experience for thetiny tots.

“Animals should not require our permission to live on Earth .Animals were given the right to be here long before we arrived”

Nana-Nani visit my School

Parents and grandparents are the best teachers!Keeping this in mind, we, in Nursery invited a fewgrandparents to our classrooms on Monday, 11thNovember. The Nana-Nani arrived promptly and introduced theHindi akshar ‘न’ to the lil’ones! Each class had theirown pair of ‘नाना–नानी’, who came with a ‘नीला’ bagcontaining some ‘न’ (sound) objects and flashcards. The students did different things, some sang songs,some listened to the stories while others made a ‘नाव’with the nana-nani of their class. Nana– nani had a great time and bid adieu withsmiling faces and warm hugs.

Twinkle in their eyes, leaping through the corridor, thesmiling Kindergarteners admired the decorations adorningthe KG corridor!It was a mesmerising sight for all the teachersto witness the happiness, zeal and curiosity of their studentsas they arrived to school on their 100th day inKindergarten.       To mark the achievement of reaching to the100th day in Kindergarten, various activities were planned. Fun games, loud singing and active dancing was a part ofevery class celebration. The proud Kindergarteners could notwait once they set their eyes on jalebi and samosas tocelebrate! No longer a starter, Children are indeed a 100 dayssmarter!!Here are a few glimpses of the day which went by ina fun way!!!

100 DAYS OF BEING A

SMART 

KINDERGARTENER!

Spread over two days, 26th (Tuesday) and 27th(Wednesday) November and integrated with theirongoing theme of ‘Culture and Festivals’ the students ofgrade 2 went for an educational day trip to Anandgram. Learning comes

Alive!

The Student CouncilElections held in themonth of November sawa whopping 110nominations acrossvarious posts this year. Ina true democratic showof spirits, students votedfor their leaders based oncampaigning and facetime where thecandidateshad to face some toughquestions from theaudience!The biggest achievementof this year's election wasthe use of technology tomake it paper-free. Thenewlyelected students’ councilwill be invested withbadges in a ceremony inJanuary, and we can’twait to see them puttheir best foot forward!

Student council Election -Of the people, By the people,For the people

Colloquium 2019

The annual tech event of the school, Colloquium 2019 saw 7 finalist teamspresent their innovative projects to a jury comprising of Mr Rajiv Makhni,Mr Raj Rishi and Mr Hitesh Oberoi.

Diverse range of project themes and powerful presentations kept boththe audience and the jury glued to their seats. Team ‘Fluid Force’, whichdesigned a solution to conserve water wasted as a result of the RO waterpurification process, emerged the winner and won a trip to CERN facility inGeneva, Switzerland! Team ‘Pawsitivity’, who designed prosthetic paws fordisabled dogs, was the runner-up and team members won an iPad each.

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyondthe into the impossible.”Arthur C. Clarke

Anandam

“Art has the role in education of helping childrenbecome like themselves instead of more like everyoneelse”- Sydney Gurewitz Clemens

Students from the middle and senior school cametogether to celebrate the culmination of theirAHA-arts program at Anandam this year.

While the senior school wowed us with theirperformances and art work on the 9th ofNovember, the middle school students put up anequally brilliant act on the 30th November

CHRISTMASCELEBRATION

The much- awaited festival ofChristmas was celebrated withzeal and fervour by the staff andstudents of early and primaryyears.

EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES“Culture is a window reflecting the history, culture andspiritual world of a nation” -- Hu Jintao

Four students from Kirwan State High School, Townsville, Queensland, Australia,accompanied by two staff members and a parent, travelled to Shiv Nadar School, Gurgaon on10th Nov. 2019, as a part of a cultural exchange program. The program started because of theBridge Program initiated by the Australian High Commission in 2017. During their stay inIndia, Shiv Nadar School students hosted the Australian students. At school, studentscollaboratively engaged in an art and a music project. Day trips were organized for thestudents to places of historical and cultural significance like Humayun’s Tomb and Taj Mahal. The visitors returned home on 16th Nov. 2019. Exchange students from Shiv Nadar School,Gurgaon will travel to Kirwan State High School in March 2020. "The Bridge" in reality haskept its name in building bridges across oceans

The first leg of VidyaGyan Exchange Program commenced on 3rd October, 2019,with the arrival of 81 students and two teachers from VGLA, Bulandshahr at theShiv Nadar School, Gurugram campus. They were welcomed by their buddies andteachers. Over the next two days, the VGLA students were engaged in a variety ofinformative as well as entertaining activities. On the 8th of November, the next phase of the exchange began. Our studentsembarked on a trip to the Vidyagyaan campus where they participated in variouscultural activities together and were hosted by their buddies. The students got aglimpse of each others lives, dreams and aspirations from the enriching process.

Symphony & Expressions is an annual event performed by the students of

Nursery and Kindergarten. This year they presented their creative version of

the popular animation movie ‘Toy Story’ upholding important life lessons of

accepting change, accommodating one another and above all love.

SYMPHONY & EXPRESSIONS TUESDAY, 24TH DECEMBER

Understanding & Exploring ToK

In December, IBDP students got a chance to explore Theory

of Knowledge (TOK) concepts through films during the TOK

film week. Three movies- 21, I am Mother and Coco were

screened over the three day event. TOK concepts

embedded in these films were brought to the fore in

discussions and activities that followed screening of

relevant portions from these films. Students drew parallels

between their lives and the lives of characters in '21'. An

attempt was made to understand the overlaps and blurring

boundaries between 'legal', 'illegal', 'ethical' and

'unethical', while touching upon WOKs (Ways of Knowing)

all along. A visual tracker in the form of a Spider Web

showed how the discussion flowed between students.

Multiple perspectives, all correct, were brought to light

when a situation was looked at from the points of view of

the 3 characters in 'I am Mother', a dystopian sci-fi

film.Profound 'claims' were made by students after

watching parts of 'Coco'. Arguments, for and against these

claims were then put forward. This gave students an idea of

how supporting arguments and counter-claims in TOK are

formulated.

MerakiThe spirit of 'creativity and soulful togetherness'!

IB DP Grade XI held its first annual CAS cultural event, 'Meraki' (leaving a piece of your soul in all that you do!)on Friday, 27th December. CAS is a mandatorycomponent of IBDP, offering opportunities in the strandsof Creativity, Activity and Service to the students,enabling them to  (re)discover self and others, whileparticipating in new engagements! The students trulyupheld the spirit of CAS captivating the audience withcreative performances/presentations in Visual Arts,Vocal and Theatrical Performances.

The students of Grade 4 beautifully presented different cultures of the world on

Friday, November 22nd. Each section chose a country and turned their classroom

into a market as a part of their theme ‘Markets during Festivals’. The countries

chosen by the sections were Japan, Scotland, India and Sri Lanka. They further

integrated the theme with the other academic subjects. For instance, in English they

wrote the summary of chapter 11 and 12 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,

emphasising upon the demand and supply of the chocolate bar whereas in Hindi and

Math, the activity was related to a specific country, for example making a postcard,

narrating a story, calculating the number of shops and footfall in a particular

market and playing a traditional game.

CULMINATION OFTHEME - FOOD AND

NUTRITIONOn Friday 22nd November, students of Grade 3

collaborated to showcase their  learning. They

were seen ardently working together,

brainstorming, rehearsing as well as

presenting their learning at the respective

work-centres. They confidently took the

responsibility of their presentations/activities

and shared it with the  visitors.

APPRECIATING DIVERSITY IN OUR CULTURE

The students of grade 4 along with theirteachers, accompanied by 5 Ed Terra teammembers embarked on their journey toJaipur over the weekend (Saturday 19th -Sunday, 20th October). They experiencedthe rich heritage and culture of Rajasthanduring their visit to the city museum. Theylearnt a few amazing facts about the Pinkcity. Our fourth graders returned from theirOLE, eager to share the beautiful memoriesthey had made and stories they had heardon their first trip from school!

Taking Learning beyond the Classrooms (OLE)

Trip toMogly’s Farm

onWednesday,

27thNovember

A day spent on an petting farm is the best way of giving children anopportunity to develop a sense of wonder and joy for their natural world.Children of Nursery took a trip to the Mogly Farm during the theme - ‘I LoveAnimals’.  Their joy knew no bounds as they walked  into the farm. After ahealthy breakfast, they moved into the animal area. THey were simply amazedand excited as they looked all around! They had numerous questions to ask.The children enjoyed some free time in the play area and very reluctantlyboarded their buses to head back to school after a day well spent!

Our little kindergartners recently went on a field tripto ‘Keggs Farm’ as a part of their ongoing theme‘Birds’. Our children were overjoyed to see variousfarm animals and  birds in their natural habitat. Theymade interesting observations about how birds havesome unique features which are different from eachother. Later, they were encouraged to reflect.

Our Visit to aFarm!

Field trip toAnandgram Maria Montessori has rightly said a child,

more than anyone else is a spontaneousobserver of nature. Students of Grade 1 trulydisplayed this on their field trip to SanskritiKendra, Anandagram on M.G. Road Gurgaonon Thursday and Friday, 10th& 11th October.The day trip was planned as a part of  theirongoing theme –Shelter. The five acres ofgreen oasis gave the students anopportunity to look at the changes in humanlifestyle. The inquisitive young learnerspenned down notes and recorded their reflections as they headed back to school

OLE

The students of Grade 5 visited the North Indiancities, Amritsar and Jalandhar from Saturday19th to Tuesday, 22nd October. Their visit toAmritsar helped the students appreciate thepartition-era and opened their eyes and heartsto new ways of understanding society. ThePushpa Gujral Science City in Jalandhar gave thestudents an opportunity to review the history ofmankind. The students enjoyed the variousshows and the galleries they visited.    Their tripwas filled with diverse fun-filled, interesting andeducational activities.

Students of our school embarked on adventurousjourneys together to learn valuable lessonsoutside the four walls of the classroom. After all,the best lessons are the ones that students learnfrom one another!

Education is a lifelong journeywhose destination expands asyou travel- Jim Stovall

OLEGrade 7 students having the

time of their lives in UroliGrade 6 forming unforgettable

bonds with their peers in Orchha

OLE

Grade 12 making the most of their last year together in Pondicherry !

Career Guidance Cell (CGC)

Ms. Tanushree Sinha, Head,Career Guidance Cell, interactedwith the parents and students ofgrade XII who are planning toapply to international universitiesto discuss their preferred choiceof colleges. The parents were alsomade aware about the applicationand admission process.

On 10th October, Mr. ApratimMukhopadhyay was invited toaddress the students of grades XIand XII about various programs,eligibility criteria and admissionprocess at the University of Toronto.He also informed them  about theapplication/admission deadlines. Heinformed the students about thescholarships offered to internationalstudents..

On 12th October, Ms. KanchiKhanna from Krea Universityexplained the ideology and thevarious combinations availableat the University for theundergraduate Course. Sheemphasized on the upcomingcareer options with respect toLiberal Arts. The session wasattended by the students ofgrade XI and XII

On 4th October, Mr. Shubrat Kar,faculty at Indian Institute ofTechnology Delhi was invited toinform the students of seniorschool about the different careerchoices and available subjectcombinations in sciences. Headded that IIT is a processorientated and not resultoriented institute as it focusesmore on thinking and problemsolving ability of the student thanthe result.

Career Guidance Cell (CGC)

On 12th October, Ms. Kanchi Khannafrom Krea University explained theideology and the various combinationsavailable at the University for theundergraduate Course. She emphasizedon the upcoming career options withrespect to Liberal Arts. The session wasattended by the students of grade XI andXII

On Tuesday, 19th November, Ms.Karishma Batra (Ashoka University)was invited to talk about theapplication and admission processat Ashoka University  to the students of grades XI and XII.Sheinformed them about the financialaids offered by the University.

Career Guidance Cell (CGC)

Career GuidanceCell (CGC)

Mr. Abhimanyu Rajpurohit was invited as aguest speaker on Thursday, 21st November toaddress the students of Grade XI and XII aboutfundamentals of law and how law can bepursued as a career choice. He conducted mockCLAT exam to understand theirpreparedness.He has completed his B.A. LLBfrom Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law,Patiala and is teaching legal reasoning andgeneral awareness since 2010.

Dr. Krishna Menon, Dean of School of HumanStudies at Ambedkar University, Delhi wasinvited on Friday, 22nd November.Dr KrishnaMenon explained the ideology of AmbedkarUniversity and informed about the variouscombinations available at the University forthe undergraduate course. Her session wasattended by the senior students.

Mr. Vikram Anand, Member-InternationalAssociation for College Admission Counselling(IACAC), Member - Management Committee, theInternational Club of Tennis (IC, India Chapter) wasinvited to address the students of senior school onTuesday, 26th November. Mr. Anand informed aboutthe admission process and scholarship opportunitiesavailable under the sports quota in UK, US, Europe,Australia.

Career Symposium- Indian Universities Perspective

Subject experts and speakers from IndianInstitutes were invited on Wednesday,27th November to address the seniorstudents and parents, giving an insightabout the different subjects and admissioneligibility, requirements and coursesoffered at different Indian Universities.The career symposium was addressed bythe following speakers:

Dr. Pushkar Sharma- National Institute ofImmunology

Ms. Bhumi Gajjar- National Institute ofDesign

Ms. Jyoti Arora- Jawaharlal NehruUniversity Mr. Ramesh Mishra- Narsee Monjee Institute ofManagement StudiesMr. Binit Binod- University of Delhi Mr. Surbhit Ahuja- Actuarial Sciences

Congratulations to Ansh Gupta for being accepted into the New York Academy of Sciences¹ Junior Academy program!

It always fills us with pride when our students receive appreciation from thecommunity. Sharing one such note of appreciation that was addressed to thePrincipal by Mr. Navin Rao on behalf of Waste Management Team (The CloseSouth, Nirvana Country).

We are pleased to share that Ansh Gupta, a student of grade 9, has beenaccepted into the prestigious New York Academy of Sciences¹ JuniorAcademy. The New York Academy of Sciences is one of the country¹s oldestand most widely respected scientific organizations. As a member of TheJunior Academy, Ansh will have the opportunity to collaborate with nearly3,000 students from 94 countries on virtual challenges sponsored byindustry leading companies and hosted on our innovation platform,Launchpad. These challenges are designed by the Academy¹s educationexperts to help students develop 21st-century skills as they prepare for thejobs of the future.

Hope You ShineBright as a Star!

Everyone has the fire, but the champion knows when to ignite the spark”  - Anish Mathur

Shiv Nadar School Gurgaon won the 12th Manav RachnaInter-School Under-14 Cricket Tournament, with RianKapoor bagging Best Bowler with 7 wickets and VibhorGaur winning Player of the tournament. Vibhor managed toscore a whopping 297 runs and take 5 wickets as well!What a performance!

“It is better to debate aquestion withoutsettling it, than to settlea question withoutdebating it.” - Joseph Joubert

Our students: Drisha Dadheech,Shreaya Malhotra and G. S.Charita participated in the 25thJTM Gibson Annual Debatecompetition organized by MayoCollege, Ajmer in the month ofOctober.

“I disapprove of what you say but I will defendto death your right to say it” -Voltaire

Drisha Dadheech and Piya Sharma of grade 10made it to the Indian Schools Debatingciety’s national selection camp; where they receivetraining from internationally acclaimed debatersand participate in debates, quizzes andspeaking exercises. At the end of the camp, Drishawas shortlisted for the Indian debating squad 2020and Piya made it to the top 24, based on herperformance! Our heartiest congratulations to the two youngdebaters!

They went through severalrounds of parliamentary debateand made their way to thefinals against Vasant ValleySchool. Each of our threespeakers bagged multiple bestspeaker awards, and DrishaDadheech won the overall bestspeaker award as well. We areproud of their exceptionalperformance.

My Journey as a Debater!

I have always been a curious, contentious sort of person. That’s a fact all my teachers and friends will attest forwithout a second thought. I was very politically invested and was always up for a discussion on such.When I was ineighth grade, our school started developing a team. I was, unfortunately, unable to be a part of this initial trainingsince I was busy with MUN duties. (Yes ISDS hates MUN for busying their kids.)

A couple of months later when I was a ninth-grader, there was an audition to recruit students for some sessions with anexternal facilitator. A team was being sent to Mayo College’s Gibson Memorial Debate, and it was decided that otherstudents would be trained alongside. That was when I started debating.Over ten days, I was initiated into the wondrousworld of the parliamentary style of debating. I learnt about style and format, but my favourite was first principles. Welearnt the basic construction of an argument, and the three golden questions to ask at each point. We analysed currentaffairs and learnt how to use them as examples to strengthen a case. To top all that off, we also had the best trainer onecould ask for. The team that went for Mayo from here came back with the trophy.The first external debate I went for wasthe Heritage X Debate. I went as a reserved speaker this time.

I then attended a series of after-school sessions with the same organisation which had trained me initially. These were held in school, with an exhibition debate forthe parents and a development report at the end.A couple of months ago, our school sent several teams to a tournament called Behes. My team got to the octo-finals. I ranked 10th best speaker in the city at this tournament.A month later, we started training for Welham Boys’ Oliphant Memorial Debate with Tarang sir. Thisintroduced us to a new format: the British Parliamentary style. This is unique in the sense that there are 4 teams in every round. Two of them are proposition, andthe other two are opposition. Your team does not only have to beat the other side, but the other team on the same side as well. We enjoyed this format immensely.Our team reached the semi-finals but lost out by one point. My friend and teammate Drisha received Best Speaker, and I received Most Promising Debater. We alsolearnt an interesting new way of argument construction from the organiser which we went on to use in future tournaments.

I In between, I went for the Vasant Valley Debate for the India Today Cup, and the Heritage X Debate as part of the school team. I was extremely proud of someof the cases we put out during these rounds.I signed up to try out for the ISDS nationals through a link forwarded to me by Sanchit sir. I did a short quiz and along quiz with questions pertaining to general knowledge and reasoning. Both of these were time-bound. Finally, I was selected for the video round, where I hadto send in a video of a first proposition speech on the motion: This house believes that developing countries should ban members of political dynasties fromstanding for elected office. This was how I got into the nationals.When Drisha and I were invited to the nationals, the school very generously agreed to sponsorus and an accompanying teacher! I feel that this is a good time to thank the school for all their support for what we do. We have been given only the best. Noresources have been held out. We have been provided venues and stay-back trainings and financing at every stage. The school’s love has truly beenoverwhelming and a major propelling force on our debating journey.

Five days and four eliminations later, the national squad was announced. Unfortunately, neither Drisha or I were on it. I had honestly expected to get eliminated the firsttime around, so top 24 for me was beyond my own expectations. The next hour was filled with endless teary hugs and promises to stay in touch with all the amazinglytalented and incredibly nice people we had met over the past 5 days. The trainers recommended some personally tailored activities to each of us who asked.I came outarmed with extensive training, and a realization that I was no longer an underdog.We all came equipped with the tools to set up a larger and sustainable DebSoc in theplace where it had all started: Shiv Nadar School.A day later, Drisha got a call from ISDS inviting her to the squad. We were beyond happy as we cried and hugged andbounced our way to Monica ma’am’s office.At the end of the day, debating is about a lot of things. It’s about the beauty of thought and articulation, of logic and reasoning;a celebration of curiosity. It’s about the family you create out of your team and trainers. There is an astounding amount of love to go around.We’re going to have our firstbatch of Shiv Nadar School debate alumni pass out this session. Shreaya and Charita have been the most amazing big sisters we could’ve asked for. They’ve given mesome very helpful feedback in matters regarding debate, and life in general. They’ve introduced me to books and movies and philosophy and I cannot believe my fortuneto work with them. Sanchit sir literally introduced me to this beautiful art, and was there for us at every stage, including those times when we called him to rant about whywe shouldn’t have lost that last round (when we absolutely should have). Sukanya ma’am’s confidence in me was very encouraging. The moment I let her know I hadapplied for nationals, was the moment she was sure I would get in. There’s Tarang sir, who’s built me up from scratch as a debater, introducing me to so much which hasinfluenced the way I think. His contribution to our journey as debaters is really something that cannot be put down justifiably. Whenever we had staybacks scheduledwith him, we used to look forward to them all through the day. As Drisha and I move on, we have so much to learn still. However, as we go, we will ensure to give backand make others take up debating. Free thought and love is the need of the hour. By debating, you are doing your bit to make this world a much better place. Debating istruly the best thing that has happened to me.

Alright, back to nationals. Immediately after our first pre-boards ended, Drisha and I started with the pre-work ISDS had mailed us, which was watching a couple ofpast WSDC videos (World Schools Debating Championship) and prepping one motion. Since we both hadn’t touched a newspaper for at least two weeks due to ourexams, we rushed to bring ourselves up-to-date with everything going on around the world. We both flew to Chennai in a mix of excitement and trepidation.We wereintroduced to a congregation of some of the most talented young Indians who would be our trainers for the next five days. The group was decorated one, with everyother trainer going to Harvard or Oxford. More importantly, they were all almost ISDS alumni. They started us off by inspiring us with the tale of Team India’s WSDCjourney. Team India had gone from not making it past the preliminary rounds to winning the championship last year.We did some ice-breaker activities to get to knoweach other, and then sat down for a quiz on general affairs and reasoning. Following this, we went off in groups to attend training sessions. Over the next five days,we attended training sessions on every single, microscopic aspect of debating. In between, we were assigned groups and speaker positions, and we put our traininginto practice during debates. We were given feedback at the end of every round.

My Journey as a Debater....

Students of grade 9 visited the Shiv NadarUniversity campus on Saturday, 16th November fora seminar on science. The children explored thevarious labs and spoke to teachers as well as studentsto gain more insights.

They witnessed some fascinating experiments oncore principles of quantum mechanics, Newtonianprinciples and much more, and we are certain thatour young scientists have come back inspired

“One small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind” - Neil Armstrong

We the people of India…

The Ansal University organized a quiz on the occasion of the 70th Constitution day on November 26th, 2019. More than twelve schoolsparticipated and competed over three rounds. Our students Aaryan Sridharan and Shalv Srivastav of grade 11 won the first prize. They were awarded a trophy and a cheque of Rs.5100.

Parle vous francais? Our French students have passed their state levelFrench Olympiads with panache bagging 5 gold, 5 silverand 5 bronze medals!Congratulations to all the winners, and our warmestwishes for the Nationals!

“Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason”- Novalis Shivranjini Rathore and Aishwarya Pande of grade 8floored the audience with their slam poetry pieces atHeritage School Gurgaon and took home the 1st prizefor their stellar performance. Congratulations!

Twisha Nahar performed a powerfulrendition of the song ‘You Say’ by LauraDiagle, for which she secured the 1st Position. Diya Bhagwat and Adwita Yalla Virmani,participated in the duet singing competitionand won the 1st prize for their remarkableperformance of ‘A Million Dreams’ from themovie The Greatest Showman. They wereaccompanied on the pianoby Sparsh Jha of grade 9.

Hitting the right notes at the 7thLancer’s Inter-school Festival

Twenty students from the SNS Choir,across Grades 6-8, participated in theGroup Singing Competition held at thisfestival. With a perfectly executedperformance of the original composition‘Rise, the students bagged the 1stPosition.

There is no losing in Jiu Jitsu. You either win or you learn. - Carlos Gracie Jr.

Raajus Dewan from grade 11 won Two Gold medals in Brazilian Jiujitsu (a form of mixedmartial arts MMA) at the National level championshipbout held in Bangalore this November. Earlier thisyear, he had bagged another two golds, a silver and abronze in international level matches. He sure knows how to pack a punch!

Aarav Verma, a student of grade 8 wasthe youngest to receive the REXKarmaveer Global Fellowship andKarmaveer Chakra Award for hiscontribution in the field of Art. He hascreated over 400 artworks spanningover nine years. We are so very proudof you!

Arohi Kataria, a student of 10 Corbetthas been invited to compete in the"2020 Flogas Champion of Champions"Golf tournament to be held in Irelandin April 2020.

Tournament of ChampionsAgastya and Abhimanyu, students of grade 8and Seeya Kapur and Jiya Kochhar, studentsof IBDP 11 competed in the World ScholarsCup, ‘Tournament of Champions’, hosted bythe Yale International Relations Associationat Yale University. The competitioncurriculum for the year was "A world on themargins" and had 6 major subjects ofresearch - Science, Art & Music, Literature,Social Studies, Science and UnsolvedMysteries. Based on these, the studentsparticipated in 3 rounds of debates, a writtenquiz, a buzzer round quiz and collaborativewriting.

Making a Differencethrough Art

They had a great experience competing andwinning in different categories!

We wish you all the best Arohi!

The ‘International Day for the Differently-Abled’is annually celebrated on 3rd December. TheSpecial Education Needs (SEN) department ofour school had planned a week-longcelebration to commemorate the day. Thedifferent activities enabled the staff andstudents to recognise and respect ‘inclusion’.

International Day for the Differently Abled

Teachers and students shared their candidthoughts in the ‘Reflection Corner’, created oneach floor. The (special) National Anthemplayed in the sign language in the culminationassemblies across the primary, middle andsenior wing made each one appreciate‘diversity’ that defines each one of us as whowe are!

It is delightful to see our students spreading happiness aroundthem. Parents of Mira Dayal Mathur from 1 Sariska have sharedsome thoughts penned by her and a few pictures.“In school, we learnt the importance of being helpful and kind topoor people. For Diwali, I wanted to do something nice for them,so that they could have a happy Diwali too. My parents got 208pizzas and khichdi, which I gave to children of poor constructionworkers. They were very happy and showed me their dance. Ienjoyed meeting them. I also saw their kutcha shelters, withoutany TV or AC. I’m lucky that God gave me an easy life. I will tryto help others who are not so lucky.Happy Diwali!”

In the present time, when children are getting addicted togadgets and are constantly stimulated to look outside forhappiness, it is essential to give them a curricularframework that builds a strong value system and art ofmindfulness. It is with this intent that, we, in early yearshave integrated activities related to ‘Social, Emotional &Ethical’ (SEE) Learning in the curriculum. The SEELearning focuses on teaching the young ones about howbest to take care -of ourselves and each other;compassion - for self and each other.

SEE Learning - Building the desired Social, Emotional & Ethical Attitude

VOICES -A Platform forParents to Share and Discuss

Book Lovers Collective

Getting to know each other better promotes anunderstanding, builds trust and takes theschool and parents partnership to the nextlevel. In our endeavour to do this, we startedan informal chat mornings “Voices”. Parentsof Grades 3 and 9 were invited in October2019. We will be scheduling these with other gradestoo.

PRG

Annual PRG Picnic - Saturday, 14th DecemberA scrumptious breakfast was laid out in the lawns of the school by the PRGmembers. A PRG potluck picnic was held on a beautiful sunny day at school.Everyone enjoyed the delicacies- Sandwiches, Cakes, Muffins, Dhokla, SugarCinnamon Rolls etc. The members joined in the fun of the sports carnival andenjoyed playing various games.

Book Lovers Collective meets every month. On Saturday, 14th Dec, they had a Secret Santabook exchange as well as a student author to bring in the festive cheer. Ms. TarishaKaushik, a student of IBDP 11 read excerpts from her book.

The author's visit was facilitated by theBooklovers parents. She was welcomed byour own IB student author Tarisha Kaushik.As a lead up to the session, the students ofgrades nursery to two had book readings intheir classes and activities based around thebook. They created a buzz that had thechildren excited.  Ms. Gandhi invited all thestudents to sit in front. She started thesession with children talking about theirfears and addressing their queries. A shortvideo was played about the book. She readout her favourite pages from the book - fearof lizards! The 300 odd parents and childrenwere excited and many waited patiently toget their book signed. Ms. Gandhi signedeach book patiently.

A day of masti, mazaa and celebrations was the carnival on23rd Nov. 2019 at the Gurgaon School lawns. The theme ofthis year’s milieu was a colourful ensemble of “The festivalsof India”; Lohri and Pongal, Holi, Eid, Diwali and Christmas.The set-up for the festivals was at various stalls createdwith five elements, namely, festive décor, a game, craftscorner, food of the festival and performances/storytellingabout the festival. Children enjoyed the various creativelydesigned games, indulged in the craft activities, sat in raptattention through the storytelling, and participated alongin the performances, all the while enjoying theyummylicious food prepared for them by the parents. Theaccompanying parents and grandparents, too, participatedin all the fun and activities with great zeal and enthusiasmbasking in the glorious autumn sun.

PRG Authors’ Visit - Ms. Maneka Gandhi

Pre Primary Carnival

Sports Carnival - Khel KhelMein on Saturday, 14th December

A sports carnival was organised by the PRG ofGrade 1 to Grade 5 “Khel Khel Mein”.Grandparents, parents and children participatedin the games enthusiastically. The childhoodmemories were re-lived through the manygames, playing hula-hoop, pithu, tug of war,langdi tang etc. It was delightful to watchgrandparents also skipping their way throughthe track along with the grandchildren. KhelKhel Mein- created happiness and broughtsmiles to everyone.

PRG

Design for ChangeBoot Camp

The 2 days ‘I CAN Boot Camp’conducted at Shiv Nadar School on

Thursday, 12th and Friday, 13thDec'19 introduced the students toDFC Design Thinking Process and

equipped them with the crucial 21stcentury skills of creativity, critical

thinking, collaboration,communication and leadership. This

intensive two days Boot Campfocused on building the ‘I CAN Mind-

set’. The facilitators guided theparticipants to address, attemptand resolve the challenges that

bother them personally.They wereshown some DFC projects of changefrom India and discussed how FIDS

had been used by the youngstudents in the videos to resolve the

challenge they picked up.

Learning beyond the Classrooms 

The field trip to “Nehru Planetarium”on Tuesday, 10th December, 2019 wasindeed a flight through the universe.The field trip served to enrich learningin students of Grade 3 who went tothe museum on an excursion. A majorattraction was India’s first cosmonautRakesh Sharma’s space suit ondisplay, which was a source of greatexcitement!

No doubt, in this modern age withgood exposure to technology, onedoesn’t really find it difficult tolearn topics related to astronomy,but the show gave the children aglimpse of the space.The visit wasfulfilling in all aspects and thestudents were glad that they hadan opportunity to visit such afascinating place.

"FICCI Road Safety Award"

Staff STAR awards ceremony

We are delighted to share that Shiv Nadar School, Gurugram was conferred with the "FICCIRoad Safety Award" for itsexcellence in road safetyinitiatives.

Support staff STAR awardsceremony for Technical &Driver/ Helper category washeld on Thursday, 28November.

School presented metalwater bottles to thesupport staff  to help inrelinquishing the use ofsingle-use plastic.

Celebrating life at Shiv NadarSchool, Gurgaon

Celebrating life at Shiv Nadar School,

Gurgaon

Sshakt, Community Outreach program,Shiv Nadar School, Gurgaon continues toengage and upskill the children ofNathupur Pahadi Basti (NB Children) andsupport financial independence of themothers of these children.

SS….Sharing Resources SpreadingHappiness!

Let’s create a ripple of change……Our Community Shop

“One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us towelcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals.”– Jean Vanier

Our Community Shop was inaugurated by Ms. Shashi Banerjee on Wednesday, 4thDecember in the grandparents’ area. The aim of the shop is to promote sustainabilityof resources through recycle and reuse of materials used in our everyday lives. It alsogave an opportunity to the students to discuss similar/scope of such practices indeveloped, developing and under-developed countries. This project was undertaken bythe senior school community club, ‘Sourcing Resources’.

Katha Utsav

The Grand Finale of ‘Katha Utsav’, annual eventorganised by Katha was held at Shiv Nadar School,Gurugram from Thursday, 26th December to Saturday,28th December. The three day event witnessedparticipation of shortlisted students from all over thecountry in diverse ‘writers’ workshops’.

The Katha National Writers' Workshop, culminating in thegrand Katha Utsav is designed to draw out the creative sparkin every child, and give them opportunities to develop theirwriting skills.  Other than being a search for Excellence inCreative Writing, it brings out the storyteller in every childand cultivates a culture of writing among young people.Katha looks for original, engaging stories, translations,poems that show sensitivity towards other beings, writingthat delves deep into personal experiences, memories,feelings, pleasures, worries, writing that makes you situp,think and take notice.The annual event was held at ShivNadar School, Gurugram from Thursday, 26th December toSaturday, 28th December. The three day event offered anopportunity to the shortlisted students from all over thecountry in diverse ‘writers’ workshops’ anchored byrenowned poets and writers, learning about various writingstyles, meeting with publishers and literary agents exploringscope to publish their work online. This year 51 students ofShiv Nadar School, Gurgaon were shortlisted attend thisworkshop to enhance their scripting style. The culminationof this mega event took place at Thyagraj Stadium, NewDelhi on Sunday, 29th December.