The British School Alumni Magazine | Issue 12, Summer 2018 What’s Inside TBS Pride Dear Alumni Reunion 2018 2 Alumni Cricket Match 4 Top British School! 3 Give Peace a Chance 6 From Poland, with Love #beautifullyme What’s Inside 5 My Vote My Voice 7th Period International University 9 Collaborations 10 Decoding Architecture Alumni News 11 12 Dear Alumni It has been a year of awards for us! Indeed, none of this would have been possible without the continued support We are thrilled to have been conferred of our community, commitment of our the top British International School at staff and the vision of the leadership the British International School Awards team for TBS to achieve excellence. We in London earlier this year. We were would like to thank and congratulate also awarded Outstanding Initiative each one of you for being our pillars of for Supporting Student Safeguarding. strength and a part of our journey. The awards recognise excellence in initiatives spearheaded by British I want to make a special mention schools and educators overseas who of our alumna, Alisar Awwad from help to strengthen the British education the class of 2015, who has started brand globally. a photo campaign to change the hegemonic ideals of beauty. An We were also recognised in Fortune undergraduate student of theatre India's Future 50 Schools Shaping and communications, Alisar questions Success. Schools were evaluated the socially constructed standards of by a select jury of distinguished beauty that ask people to conform to educationalists against parameters a set of, often unattainable, physical that included efforts put in by schools attributes. She aims for people to be to shape careers and their subsequent open and accepting of beauty in all effect on the success of their students. its forms instead of striving to achieve The certification is a unique, one of its its cultural ideal. Please do read more kind recognition to honour schools that about it inside. prepare students for the 21st century and have a vision to craft student Have a great summer. success. Yet another award we received was the Navneet Kaur GRIHA award for Passive Architectural Alumni and Marketing Officer Design for our building. We were also named first runners up in Energy Management. The awards were issued by GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment), India's national rating system for green buildings. @bs is the magazine for friends and alumni of The British School. It is published twice a year by the Alumni Office. The opinions expressed in @bs are those of individual contributors and may not necessarily reflect the views of The British School. Inside front cover: Fragments of My Childhood by Aanavi Sinha, class of 2017 Media: Photo collage Photographs: Staff, students and alumni of the school, and Sahil Fotos ([email protected]) Editor: Navneet Kaur ([email protected]) Design: www.crocusdesign.in Print: Solar Print Process Pvt Ltd, New Delhi ([email protected]) The magazine is available in a downloadable format at www.british-school.org. The Alumni Office can be contacted at [email protected] and +91 11 40664168. 2 BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL AWARDS We are the top British International School of the Year! We are proud to announce that TBS won two prestigious awards presented by the British International School Awards (BISA) in London in January 2018. The first award was the Outstanding Initiative to Support Student Safeguarding award which recognises the school's stellar work in digital citizenship and child protection. Our digital citizenship outreach supports web-based safeguarding for both students and parents. It has been independently accredited by the Common Sense Education Accreditation Team which describes our dedication to teaching young people how to be safe and responsible digital citizens as inspirational. The second award, and the biggest one of the evening, was the Top British International School of the Year 2018 award. Vanita Uppal OBE, Director, received the award and called it a recognition of our commitment to providing student- centred, high quality education. Senior leaders and educators from well established international schools around the world attended the award ceremony. The jury comprised an esteemed panel of distinguished educators from across the globe. BISA celebrates innovation in strategic, financial and educational projects in qualifying schools. The awards recognised the many truly astounding and inspirational achievements of British schools overseas. They are organised by the British International Schools magazine with the support of ISC Research. Nominations were received from top schools from 38 countries. 3 TBS Pride Meet our alumni who have done a full circle of the journey from graduating as students and then returning to pursue their careers at their alma mater. From left: Sean Adams (class of 2003), Assistant Head of Enrichment Programme | Narjis Abedi (class of 1997), Art teacher | Monisha Nathani Singh (class of 1989), Curriculum Leader–Human & Social/ Business Studies teacher | Neha Grewal (class of 2007), Art teacher | Naila Grewal (class of 2013), Drama teacher 2018 Alumni vs Parents – Raising Funds for a Cause Reunion Save the Date The next Alumni Reunion will take place on Friday, 21 December 2018 at the school. Details will follow closer to the date of the event. From Poland, with Love It was the summer of 1976 when school ended for me. I vividly remember the moment l put my A level history exam paper on the desk in front of Madame Sen and exited the room. I knew then that the most wonderful part of my life, my childhood, had come to an end. The political turbulence of the 70s touched us all in some way as many of us were affected by it. Unlike today, political debate was our favourite pass time in school. We spent a lot of time with friends, both in and outside school, discussing #beautifullyme current affairs, politics and international relations. ‘Growing up, I always believed my curly hair, body type Our teachers inspired us to work hard and pursue and thick eyebrows were ugly. I straightened my hair, success in every walk of life. That impermanence struggled with body image and threaded my eyebrows. is the way of life was instilled in us along with Essentially, I tried to erase everything about myself that readiness to adapt to change both within ourselves did not fit the beauty standard of a skinny, straight-haired and the world around us. My school years played girl. I have changed my standards of beauty.’ a crucial role all through my professional career. With this thought Alisar Awwad, class of 2015, set off Having been raised in an international environment, to start a campaign to showcase beauty in people of all I could understand and embrace different cultures colours, features and races. ‘We have been brainwashed with an open mind–all thanks to The British School into believing that only certain types of physical attributes and India. can be beautiful. Through this project, I am trying to I left India after five wonderful and memorable years. change that cerebration’, she explains. I graduated from Warsaw University with a Masters Alisar interviews people struggling with body image and, degree in Sociology and was admitted to the Polish in the process, helps them leave their insecurities behind. Academy of Sciences as a research fellow. Soon after, Participants talk about their idea of the concept of beauty, politics caught up with me again when martial law the prejudices they faced while growing up and what was introduced in Poland, following which I had to makes them feel beautiful. leave my country and move to Australia. Later, my career took me to all parts of the world–Brazil, New She shares these stories on social Zealand, South Africa, New Caledonia, Poland and media to inspire others to even back to India. highlight their experiences in order to challenge 42 years passed and I landed at the doorstep of culturally accepted The British School again in 2018. Accompanied by beauty standards. my two grown up sons, I looked up at this beautiful new building and remembered times gone by. Things ‘I want everyone to change; nothing is permanent–I saw the old motto know that they are of our teachers and mentors come true yet again. beautiful in their own Things changed for the school, for the better. From way’, she says. a small institution established for international students, it has developed into a fantastic, modern Alisar is an undergraduate and open school, fit to educate future citizens of the student pursuing a double world. Congratulations! major in Theatre and Communication Studies at Robert Czarnecki Ithaca College. Class of 1978 More details about the project can be found on the links below: facebook.com/alisarawwad instagram.com/alisarawwad1 5 Photos for pages 6, 7 and 8 by Fourness Dhar Fourness pages 6, 7 and 8 by for Photos 6 Give Peace a Chance ‘Music is an expression of who are within’, says Neil Nongkynrih, class of 1989. As the founder, conductor and composer of Shillong Chamber Choir, Neil has led the journey of the choir from a little known ensemble of talented youngsters to one that has held the nation spellbound and won laurels for their state and the country. From performing for the Obamas and former presidents of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to collaborating with big names in the Indian film industry, contributing to societal causes and building intercultural relations, the choir has achieved exceptional success. Neil has been bestowed with two prestigious civilian and state honours–Padma Shri and U Tirot Singh Award. In addition, he has numerous accolades to his claim–Forbes Person of the Year, CNN IBN Indian of the Year, ICC Musician of the Year and at least a dozen more notable awards and honours.