HABIB PUBLIC SCHOOL

Habib Public School Issue # 3

NEWSLETTER JUNE 2014

Dear Readers,

Spurred on by your appreciation we are now publishing our third e-newsletter. Based on the feedback of our readers we have tried to cut down the number of articles and focus more on depth and purpose of each of the events. We want to convey to you the learning gained by our young men through the opportunities afforded to them at HPS.

In this issue along with the usual sports day, drama festivals and interschool competitions we have added some other interesting pieces. There are two articles written by our senior students. It gives us a chance to see their perspective of events they attended. There is also an unusual piece about how our students leant Mathematics using art and music. The Math teacher has shared his take on this novel experience.

We hope the newsletter will give you a glimpse of our vibrant and active school life. Have a nice summer, Zehra Gheewala

Junior Section Sports Day 2014 This year’s Sports Day was held on Tuesday, 18th March. Every student of the junior section participated in at least one event. All 900 children were a part of different calisthenics displays as well. It commenced at 9:00 a.m. with the welcoming of the Chief

Guest. After the recitation of the Holy Quran, the National Anthem was sung which was followed by a March Past and an Oath-taking Ceremony. The students displayed their enthusiasm and energy by participating in their very own ‘Sports Day Activities’ which consisted of 12 different items. The skilful 50 m three legged race, 100 m hurdle race, 100 m flat race, 100 m ready for school race, 2x100 m relay race, 50m flat race, 40 m frog race, 80 m daddy shoe race, 80 m reverse race, 50 m ball collection team race, 50m team ball race and the tug of war. The day became more interesting when a teachers race and a parents’ race was announced. The high point of the function was the announcement of the winning house;

which was The Green House. Medals were awarded to all the winners. A huge number of parents attended the program. They were a lively audience and enjoyed the performance of their children with great passion. It was very pleasing to see such a huge turnout of parents on a working day.

Annual Function 2014 The Junior section celebrated its Annual Day function in April. This event was carried over two days i.e. 22nd and 23rd of April. Classes I, III and V participated on the first day and Classes II, III and IV displayed their items on the second day. It was a very important event for everyone as every student of the Junior Section was given a part in the production.

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Parents were invited to watch their children perform and the Managing Trustee Mr. Muslim Habib also attended. On the first day the youngest students of the school presented a comical English play titled ‘The Gingerbread Men’.

The students had been learning about animals, their babies and their homes and these concepts were developed upon in the script. The songs were especially composed by their music teacher to reinforce their learning in an entertaining way. The Urdu play ‘Mujay Jeenay Do’ was performed to remind the students to respect and appreciate nature because of its importance in the circle of life.

The ancient Greek legend ‘King Midas’ was performed by the students of class III. The students learnt about a Styr and understood why material gains are not necessarily as wonderful as they seem.

The Urdu drama performed by class V was ‘Nizam Sakka’. Shoaib Jamal and Sameer Abass performed beautifully as the king and as Nizam Sakka.

‘Peter Pan’ was the English drama presented by class V. Asharib Zafar and Maaz Asif were the best actors of this drama.

On the second day a welcome song was

presented by class IV.

Next the students of Class III enacted a touching song about the value of mothers. The Urdu drama presented by class II was titled ‘Ajj Ka Sabaq’. Umair Rafiq acted beautifully and carried the performance.

Class II also presented a play about the famous puppet ‘Pinnochio’. The story of true love and strong moral character was made entertaining with lots of music and movement.

The students of Class IV presented the English play ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

Ankush played the lead role with great flourish.

The Dolphin Show All the Habibians from Class I - V went for a field trip to the Maritime Museum on the 25th

of April, where a Dolphin show was

organized. The school arranged vans for this trip. All the students were very excited about this journey and they took their lunch and cold drinks in their bags. When they entered the arena, they were thrilled to see the unusual sea animals. It was a fascinating experience for the students as they had an opportunity to see the beautifully

trained animals perform some amazing tricks. First came the whale that made the habibians happy by its performance. Then a dolphin and sea lion entered. The children were greatly amused to see the dolphins dance to the music. After the show the children enjoyed their lunch at the Maritime Picnic spot. However, since it was a very hot day they came back soon.

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Toyota Dream Car Competition 2014 The Toyota Company organized an Art Competition. Seventy two Habibians participated from the Junior Section and were awarded different prizes. Two of the participants were given a special invitation to attend a function at Marriot Hotel Karachi to witness their art work which was displayed at the occasion. They were Habibian Saad Siddiqui of class II-O and Ariz of class III-N. Habibian Huziafa Shafique of class IV-M also received a special prize of a school bag.

Besides certificates of participation, students were also given vouchers of Rs 225 each to buy a juicy burger form KFC. Toyota Dream Car Art Contest invites children from all corners of the globe to share ideas about the future of mobility by drawing their dream cars. The purpose was to nurture the creativity of the next generation of great inventors, thinkers and dreamers.

(PCA) Pakistan Competition Authority Art & IQ Contest 2014 Art & IQ Contest 2014 was organized by Pakistan Competition Authority (PCA) on 28th February 2014. The theme for the Art Contest was ‘Beauty of Our Country’. Forty seven Habibians from classes 3-5 participated in it. Habibian M. Abdullah Baig of Class 3 was awarded a Gold Medal while Haider Abbas of Class 3 bagged a Bronze Medal in it.

Inter School Mathematics Olympiad 2014 The 9th National Inter Schools Math Olympiad (ISMO) was organized by Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges on 24th November 2013 for classes 5 - 8, in which 20 Habibians of Class 5 from the Junior Section participated.

Habibian Shuhaib Khan of Class V- K secured the 8th position and Habibian M. Bastle of Class V-P got the 16th position in Karachi.

Senior Section

Farewell to Class X “The World is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.” (Ivy Baker Priest) On April 19, 2014 a party was arranged by the students of class IX AKU to bid farewell to the students of class X.

The overall programme was conducted by the students under the guidance of their teachers. The heads of different sections and faculty members were also invited to attend.

The guests were invited for dinner at the swimming pool side. During dinner a video prepared by class X titled ‘Down Memory Lane’ was presented which made the students quite emotional with the thought of leaving the institution which had nurtured them.

Student’s Reflection Goodbyes & farewells are always difficult, especially when you have a treasure of golden memories as Habibians. So yes! The day came when mischievous lads got all dressed up formally as young gentle men, and gathered in the same nest of theirs

where they literally grew up, to take their first flights.

That day was officially the farewell party of the class of 2013-14. Today we saw our Habib with a very different perspective; as a mother who had nurtured her children, and prepared them to step into a new life. The same auditorium, which was a witness to laughter and cheers and break time chit chat, was now decorated beautifully to wish us farewell and all the best for a prosperous future. Every moment was special but even more memorable were the titles our juniors gave us. So many moments preserved in camera clicks are now an asset for every one of us. We felt very special and even gladder when we looked at our mentors smiling, not because some naughty lads were finally leaving but because today they were about to leave as gentlemen who’d carry their teachings ahead (Insha Allah). And of course who can forget our hooting and cheering, loud enough to echo in the entire school. Following all the Habibians’ traditions, the memorable evening came to an end, giving us hope, spirit and best wishes for a new beginning.

Fasih uz Zaman X - AKU

ISMO 2013 9th National Inter-school Math Olympiad (ISMO) for classes V to VIII was held on 24th November 2013at Pak-Turk International School campus. 87 Habibians from classes VI-VIII participated in this contest. The students prepared for the contest under the supervision of Ms. Samina Qureshi and Mr. Abdul Samad in which they were taught different ways for solving Math problems. The experience of the students produced some positive results. The students are now more confident at attempting these types of challenges; they are becoming more independent and are able to engage in a variety of problem solving techniques. Most of them got a clearer picture of their capabilities of where they stand and what they need to do in order to improve their mathematical skills. As a result, two Habibians came in the top 20 category, competing with more than 600 schools all over Pakistan. Habibian Basim Qasim of Class VI-M secured 6th position and received a cash prize of Rs.2000/- whereas, Habibian Taha Abdullah of class VII-M secured the 20th position and received Rs.1000/. The rest of

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the students got certificates during the prize distribution ceremony held at the Pak-Turk International Schools Campus.

Model United Nations The City School - PAF Chapter: A levels. The Habib Public School was represented at this event by a delegation of eight enthusiastic and outspoken Habibians from class X Cambridge.

Our delegates were distributed among different committees; four of them were part of ‘The General Assembly’ and the other half were distributed among the ‘Specialized Agencies’. Each committee was given a topic, and our role was to research these topics from the perspective of the government of the country we were assigned. Since MUN was a relatively new concept to our school, we were on our own. Two of the eight delegates Wajeeh Hassan and Muhammad Hamza Bin Aqeel had attended an MUN conference the previous year. These boys took charge of training our team for this mega event. Modern world problems such as ‘Countering Terrorism’, ‘Unmanned Warfare’ and ‘Freedom of the Media’, were the issues debated upon. We prepared in school, practicing rules and procedures, helping each other with research. At home we made our position papers and discussed them with our teammates the next day.

We often met outside school as well whenever we needed to. Our nervousness was indeed incomprehensible as we were up against students in higher grades and those who had been training with professional trainers for the past few months. Despite the fact that we had been working very hard for this event, sitting in an actual conference and implementing the learnt procedures and knowledge was far more difficult than we expected. By the end of the first committee

session most of us had waved goodbye to victory. But as the sessions moved on, we became more dominant in our committees, pushing aside all sorts of fears, rebutting all points against our stances and leading our committees.

To our delight at the end, Habibians Wajeeh Hassan, Areeb Zafer and Hadi Askari were awarded Best Delegate awards in their committees. Habibians Hamza Bin Aqeel and Hamza Ali Sayyed were awarded Honorable Mentions, and Habibian Muhammad Hunain Hirji was awarded Best Position Paper. We scored 75 points, and earned the title of Best Delegation. The feeling of receiving that Gavel in front of 800 delegates would take a thick register rather than just a few lines to elaborate. We were what most would consider ‘newbie’s’ yet had won against some of the best known schools in Karachi. This victory signified the fact that age does not matter as long as one is well researched. MUN, apart from giving knowledge about current affairs and its solutions, also helps improving teamwork and social skills. Committees like the Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC) and the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL) had more than 120 delegates each, in spite of which we were able to get ourselves recognized and win. By this we learnt numbers do not matter, what matters is the level of debate and how one learns to counter such a big committee. Finally, after we won, we realized we were now a group of well versed debaters, but that did not necessarily imply that we were the best. This victory was an excellent confidence boost to us all in starting our MUN journey from the top! Hamza Aqeel Class X

VASL 2014 Mathematics is not only a subject it is a part of

our daily lives. Some of the young students

consider Mathematics a boring and dry subject,

even though they unconsciously apply many

laws of Mathematics every day in many aspects

of their regular routines. Keeping this problem

in mind the management of HPS invited VASL

Artists’ Collection through CCE (Creativity,

Culture and Education) and discussed some

problems which the students of class 6 faced in

solving mathematical problems.

VASL provided an artist Fazal Rizvi, who was

skilled with kinesthetic and innovative ideas to

teach Mathematics. This workshop was of a

duration of 13 hours which was divided into 2

sessions per week.

As per requirement HPS arranged a group of 24

students (of which 80% were disheartened and

had lost interest in Mathematics) along with

their teachers.

Fazal started his sessions by clarifying basic

concepts through activities and games. Later

students solved equations in groups where they

helped each other and learnt together. After each

session they all did some physical exercises for

relaxation which was enjoyed by the students.

The outcome of this workshop can be seen

clearly in those students. They have become

more confident, motivated and independent

towards solving mathematical problems.

In the last few sessions the students shot a rap

song on the hierarchy of Mathematical functions

titled ‘BODMAS’. This was written by the

students and with the help of Fazal they put it

together to a beat and performed it themselves.

The activity allowed the students to display their

creativity and to learn this necessary formula.

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This project didn’t just help the students to

grasp the concepts but it also helped the teachers

to get new ideas for teaching the topics and to

improve their teaching skills.

Annual Sports Day The Annual Inter House Athletics competition was arranged for classes VI, VII and VIII. All the houses performed a smart walk past before the opening ceremony.

Next the competing houses displayed a color full and disciplined calisthenics show. Each and every child was a competitor for at least one track event.

A variety of races like sprint, middle distance races and fun races were competed for.

Tug of war was as usual the highlight and was enjoyed by all the all students. The sense of competition between the houses was a strong motivation for the boys.

This was most clearly voiced by the cheers when the winning house was announced.

Annual Picnic Habib Public High School arranged an annual picnic for its students on 8th March, 2014. The boys went to a farm house called ‘Palm Village’.

Here they had a chance to enjoy boating, playing games in the gaming zone and swimming. They were supplied with Nimco and chips with tea as a snack.

For lunch they had their favorite biryani and zarda with cold drinks. Watching a movie in the cinema was just icing on the cake. Students also took photographs on this occasion to capture all those unforgettable moments which they enjoyed with their class fellows and teachers. Talent Extravaganza This year the talent show was presented on March 15th, 2014 with great festivity. The students had an opportunity to display their talents and develop their presentation skills. They made the audience laugh and be entertained with their hilarious performances.

The show consisted of an English play titled ‘The Marriage’ which was a comedy about a young bachelor who was reluctant to get married.

Next was an Urdu comedy ‘Aram o Sukun’ which took the audience back in time.

The boys also displayed different dance forms. One was a folk dance known as Zebek, portraying the Turkish Culture. Another was a tribute to Michael Jackson. This was a combination of thriller and hip hop called B-buoying. A Tableau performed by 45 students was done in pantomime. The boys enacted the problems students face and the stresses of school life. The audience seemed greatly moved by this performance as it depicted the undue pressures on children during the early years of their childhood. Some of the filler items were solo songs performed by our gifted students.

Arafat Abdul Karim of the College Section and Humza Sanjarani class 7 deserve special mention for their outstanding singing.

Project Report

iEarn Photojournalism

Habib Public School is participating in an international photojournalism project called ‘Heritage Hunger & Food Security’ organized by iEarn Pakistan in collaboration with U.S.A, Tajikistan and Kuwait. 15 students are participating under the supervision of three teachers. The project’s objective is for us to understand the importance of our food heritage. It brings awareness of the issue of

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hunger in the world and of food security which includes growing food to ensure its availability in future.

A kitchen garden is being managed in school in which ladyfinger, tomatoes, chilies, luffa, sponge gourd and bitter gourd were planted by the students and have now given fruit. Students have learned gardening techniques and the value of kitchen gardening.

They also learned about the life cycles of these different vegetables and fruits from sowing to harvesting and their nutrition facts. All the project work and activities can be observed at iEarn Collaboration Centre. (http://collaborate.iearn.org/space-2/group-251)

Field Visit A field trip was arranged to provide an opportunity for learning by experience to the participating students of iEarn Photojournalism 2.014 on 18th March 2014. Fifteen students were taken to Mr. Tofiq Pasha’s Farm House who is also an Ex Habibian.

Mr. Tofiq Pasha himself demonstrated gardening techniques to the students. One student remarked that it’s a joy for him to see things grow, to see buds forming and blossoming into flowers, and flowers bearing succulent fruits. The trip was very interesting and was also enjoyed as an outing. Mr. Tofiq Pasha was awarded with souvenirs on behalf of Habib Public School.

Sports at HPS Inter School Football The Reflection School organized an Inter School Football tournament for O level students and for the junior students as well.

Habibians participated in the said tournament and made their presence felt till the semifinal stage but could not go beyond that.

Amman Foundation Inter School Cricket Tournament The Habibians Under15 boys’ cricket team participated in this Cricket tournament at PNS Karsaz.

Our younger boys remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and lifted the district south champion’s trophy and qualified for the Karachi Inter District knock out 20twenty tournament. However they could not keep the same tempo at knock out stage and got eliminated in the Quarter final. Amman Foundation Inter School Athletics Championship Habibians under 15 boys’ Athletics team participated in this Championship at National Coaching center.

Our younger boys put up a very good show at this big event and managed to bag many medals i.e Habibians Hasham Lakhani was declared best Athletes of the meet and won

the 100 M Gold, & 200 M Silver. 4 x 100 M Habibians team bagged the Silver Medal. Asad Ali won a gold medal for Short Put. Asad Raza brought home a gold medal for High Jump and Asad Ali bagged the silver medal.

Sindh Olympics Hockey. Habib Olympians club secured the third position in SOA Hockey championship.

Children were given district color kits and bronze medals.

Inter School Gymnastics by Reflection School

HPS secured third position.

Senior section students’ Tug of War.

Junior boys’ 80 meter sac race.

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The National Anthem.

Interschool Swimming.

School Development Centre

Summer Programme – June’14 As the academic year draws to an end the SDC becomes more active. This year we organized a one week training program for our teachers. The participants had an option to pick from at least ten different sessions to attend and learn from.

Some of the section heads offered their expertise in conducting workshops on conflict resolution, classroom management, learning styles, story writing and lesson planning.

The IT department participated by giving lessons to teachers on Word, Excel and In Page. We also had some outside speakers who talked to us about 21st century

communication and about introducing the Charter for Compassion to the HPS.

It was heartening to see the teachers avail of these opportunities enthusiastically and with diligence (in spite of the extreme weather). Teachers from our sister schools also made the long trek from Ghulaman-e-Abbas and Green Shield to benefit from these sessions.

The group discussions brought up common issues that teachers face and sparked some interesting debates on how these can be resolved. We expect the new learning and the refreshers will be transferred to the classrooms for the benefit of both the students and the teachers.

The Reading Group The benefits of reading must be obvious to everyone especially those in an educational institution.

Apart from health benefits like reducing stress and helping us sleep better it is also very valuable to us professionally. According to Lana Herbert “Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, and knowing that you can speak to higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid in your career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of

literature, scientific breakthroughs, and global events.” A reading group has been formed at HPS. It consists of teachers who are keen to improve their English language proficiency. The group meets monthly to discuss the book they have read. The books are chosen earlier and an e-copy is sent out to each participant. The discussions revolve on the personal connections to the reading and to the members’ responses to the literature. These discussions have become very interesting and enjoyable as members often share intimate thoughts, feelings and personal stories. In doing so the teachers are becoming more articulate and expressive and are also developing their public speaking skills in a secure environment. The books range from self help books like The One Minute Manager to the classic Jonathan Livingstone Seagull to real life stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul. The reading assigned for the summer is Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea.

This book will be of academic interest to the teachers as well as being relevant to all of us as Pakistanis. Looking forward to the engaging conversation this will evoke after the holidays.

Layout & formatting by: Saima Haider