PRINCIPAL’S NEWSLETTER March 2018 Dear Parents, Greetings from IIS Pune INDUS DAY (Senior School): Indus Day was, as each year, a much anticipated event. It was a spectacular display of the student creativity, confidence and on-stage charisma. The evening opened on a ceremonious note with the lighting of the lamp, invocation song and dance which welcomed the audience as well as invoked the blessings of God. The principal, Mr. Sandeep Chhabra spoke lucidly on the way ahead for not just Indus International School, Pune but education in the world today. He outlined the several new initiatives that were undertaken at the school in the past year and was immediately followed by the three student reports which elaborated upon the academic achievements, sports progress as well as the environmental initiatives supported by the school in the past 8 months. The school's musicians and singers took to the stage next to weave a melodic spell that comprised of a variety of instrumental performances accompanied by the choir that lifted beautiful strains of harmony into the soft evening light. The 'Lamthai' performed by girls of grades 7, 9 and 11 was a treat to watch as the dancers graceful movements and dresses in a riot of colour brought synchronized beauty to the stage. They also performed at the Thai Film Festival in Mumbai and received accolades on the Thailand news channel on 29th Mar’18. The middle years play titled 'Perspectives' was the first dramatic production that took to the stage that evening. It was a bold take in minimalistic style on the many forms of discrimination that exist in our society and the world today. This was followed closely a speech presented by the CEO of the Indus Trust-Lt. Gen Arjun Ray, who put forth an impassioned speech on the digital revolution and the impact of technology on our lives. Concepts such as design thinking and preparing our students for life were pondered upon through his speech. The 'Taekwonmu' that came onto stage next, was a energized performance which amalgamated the martial arts into musical format and presented the old vs. new culture of Korea. It was received with much appreciation and applause for it innovativeness. The senior school production by grades 9 and 11 explored the value system and its degeneration in the social fabric today. They put forth a thought provoking production titled 'The Beast' that was an adaptation of the Nobel prize winning book 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding. It gave the audience a glimpse of the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human beings and urged each one to cultivate values as the only moral grounding to withstand the vagaries of life. After this, the national and school song brought the wonderful evening to a close. Parents, guests, teachers and students left with another memory of a fantastic evening, discussed over dinner at the picturesque Indus campus. Primary Years Programme (PYP): Leadership Class Summit Week The leadership curriculum at IISP aspires children to feel motivated and confident while simultaneously laying a strong emphasis on the 21st century skills. Leadership is a journey to understand and, go beyond ones potential. At Indus International School- Pune, Leadership is about self - discovery through goal setting, evolving as a persuasive communicator through personal ILED’s and, applying principles of design thinking through real life problems. The students displayed the school motto “In Omnia Paratus” - prepared for all challenges, through various presentations while our parents participated in leadership and team building engagements. Our grade wise leadership summits were held during the week of 5th to 9th March 2018, wherein children got an unique opportunity to present various competencies and skills like; goal – setting, creativity & innovation, stress-management, risk-taking, persuasive communication skills, time – management, shared responsibility, resource management, problem solving, life skills, mindfulness, planning, organizing and team building etc. Here’s a peak into the Leadership Summit of Grade 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, which was a great success. Field Trips in the PYP Prep 2 While children can undoubtedly benefit from learning to care for animals, there are many ways to teach students responsibility and appreciation for animals without putting them at risk. As educators, it’s our responsibility to guide the young minds to understand how every life is valuable. Keeping this in mind, the learners of Prep 2 visited the RESQ, an animal rescue centre and shelter home to demonstrate their responsibility towards the well- being of animals. The young eagles of Indus were engaged in an interactive session where the centre’s volunteers discussed about the 4L’s of treating animals in our community; look, learn about them, leave them alone and love them. It was overwhelming to see the Prep 2 learners’ whole- heartedly listen to the stories of each abandoned or wounded animal at the centre, as they bonded with them. ‘Treat Buckets’ was the favourite engagement of the day at RESQ, where every animal was treated with goodies by our young volunteers. Grade 3 The students of grade 3 are inquiring into the transdisciplinary themes - How the world works under the central idea is -Energy may be converted, transformed and use to support human progress. As a part of the unit of inquiry they visited the Chinchwad Science Park. To extend their understanding about different forms of energy and how they can be converted, transformed and transferred from one form to another to support human progress. The learners first visited the energy room where they were able to see the different working models created to show the whole process of energy change from its form to its function and hence enabling them to make real life connections. The conversion and consumption models also lead the students to think and reflect on their roles as global citizens and how the energy consumption in our day today life is affecting the world and will it impact the future. For better understanding of energy in relation with science and every day examples the learners also explored the other sections of the park as well including the automobile room and the science room. The trip was full of excitement and gaining an understanding of the unit. Grade 5 As a part of the transdisciplinary theme ‘Where we are in place and time’ our Fifth Graders were ecstatic to visit the Jadhavgarh Fort to gain an insight into the history and significant events related to the fort. The culture and traditions of the Maratha community were evident which supported the learners’ inquiry as they made connections. The museum at the fort helped them to get an understanding of the lifestyle and a peek into the festivals, transportation and household articles of that era. They were fascinated by the experience of how we as a society have evolved from 18th century to the 21st century. This was a fabulous learning experience for all our Grade 5 students. End of unit celebration Grade 1, enjoyed delving into the inquiry under the transdisciplinary theme, "How we organise ourselves". Students articulated good thinking and organising skills through various engagements involving food processing. Our students learnt about different origins of food, how it is processed and what changes it goes through before it is consumed. It was wonderful to observe the children at their curios best and to see the enthusiasm on their faces during this joyous learning process. Indus Day Celebrations at the IELC’s The Early Learning Centre in Bhosale Nagar and Koregoan Park, showcased confidence and creative expression through their Indus Day celebrations. It was indeed wonderful to see children perform on stage, with a positive attitude, contagious energy and so much enthusiasm. We are immensely proud of our young Eagles. Middle Years Programme (MYP): END OF UNIT CELEBRATIONS At Indus, end of unit celebrations have opened a portal for the students to showcase their skills and talents along with their learning not only to their peers, but to the parents and the faculty members. On the 23rd of March, MYP celebrated the end of Unit 3. Students and teachers came together to organize this event to make it a successful one. Corridors of the MYP foyer and the classes were full of student’s displays which showcased their learning though the term. Students were confident communicators and effective collaborators. A wall was dedicated to celebrate the ‘Empowerment of women’ which was an initiative taken up by the ‘Individuals and societies’ department. Among the large variety of display, few notables were thought provoking poems, projects related to sparrow conservation as a part of Service as Action, presentations displaying knowledge of the Sciences and a fine display of art work. Students of MYP also discussed various ATL skills and explicitly explained how those skills were developed through the unit. They focused on how they have imbibed IB learner profiles through the course of these units. Students and teachers received positive feedback from those in attendance. IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME (IBDP): Career Cell: ‘THE WORLD’S A STAGE’ FOR OUR STUDENTS This is the best time of year for the counseling staff as we get a chance to help celebrate the admissions our Year 12 students are receiving. Because April 1st was the deadline for US universities to make their offers from regular deadline applications, the offers are flooding into students’ inboxes. As well there is a steady flow of offers from other countries our students have applied to. We have surpassed the 5 million US dollar mark (from all countries) in scholarships for Class of 2018 and we don’t have all the scholarships recorded yet. It seems the US has increased their offers of money since the statistics indicate that international students are also looking elsewhere for good university education options besides the US.