The teachers explained to their little audience how the love of a friend, relative or anyone else is to be specially celebrated on this day as Saint Valentine is synonymous with loving and caring. Through the week,  every child was given an opportunity to qualify for the Music Quiz and after several rounds, 2 children per section were selected from the pre-primary class. The quiz entailed that extracts from the music scores of different songs which the children had learnt throughout the year would be played by Mr. Lalit, music teacher. The contestants would need to guess the song.

The Quiz was divided into 6 categories as follows.

Prayers, eg., “ God’s love”, “I like to build a world of hope”
Action, eg., “..drive like papa”
Festival, eg., “ Ram bade veer thhe”
Annual Day songs eg., “ Kahaan chale”
Special Day songs, eg., “It’s a hap hap happy day”
Patriotic songs, eg., “I salute my flag”, “nanha munna rahi  hoon ” etc. to name a few.

One could hear the hush and hum of anticipation. Musical vibes packed the place and the teachers tried hard to keep order. The excitement was unabated as the pace soon became a pulsating one. What an effort it was to ensure that the audience in their enthusiasm did not give away the answer to the contestants! The round where the music scores were played was a particularly popular one and the audience happily clapped along.

Most often the contestants easily offered the answer and sported a triumphant smile. Occasionally, they looked at each other to evaluate the alternatives   in their little minds. Sometimes in great remorse they drew a blank. The audience missed no moment to cheer a right answer and to mourn a mistake too.

Ms. Priya Kulkarni ( Pre-primary) and Ms. Reema Devgan ( Pre-school) marked the score-board and soon it was time for a result. No wonder that our little eager faces strained in anticipation! All our team members both the pre- primaries and the pre-schoolers exchanged wistful glances with their team-mates as they waited.

The result was a hard-fought one with PP-E coming out tops amongst the Pre-primary and Gama and Hercule sections tied for the top amongst the Pre-schoolers. Certificates were handed out to all participants by Principal ma’am and Viji ma’am even as the musical morning met it’s happy conclusion.

As told by Mrs. Viji Vasudev, Head Teacher and Ms. Priyanka Malhotra, teacher.

One, where children could fly, have crocodiles and piranhanas for pets and where your grandma could be a football-ace! Needless to say the children were happily transported. Wide-eyed, some children lost no time offering Mr. Spillman ideas for possible sequels to the stories he told.

Peals of laughter resonated in the corridors as the stories unfolded. Every new bend and flow of the stories obviously seemed made a magical medley. We are left without doubt that our class 3 is already enriched by several young story-tellers from amongst it’s own ranks!

Whilst our theme was ” Best out of Waste”, we also canvassed the other causes that we are concerned about. One such cause is the hazards of using polybags. Celebrating festivals in an eco- friendly way with herbal colours or going cracker-free and recycling paper-waste were other issues that we emphasised.

We showcased our creations from waste materials like an aquarium from a discarded shoe box, dolls of fused bulbs, pen holders from discoloured bangles and newspaper, amongst many others. The special attraction of our stall was an enormous Qutub Minar of waste paper! Our glass paintings, mosaic and tiles received appreciation from visitors to the stall. Extensive handmade torans at the entrance of our stall provided a festive look.

Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi Ms. Sheila Dixit was the chief guest of the occasion. She visited our stall and interacted with the students ( Sonakshi, class 8A, Snigdha, 8A and Pranati, 8B. She praised the effort and seemed specially impressed by our in-house “Geo Times” which occupied a prominent place in the stall.

To sum it up, it was a wonderful opportunity for us to put forth our concerns and endeavours on
environment. How ever such events also give us an opportunity to learn from our counterparts so that
we could do even better next time.

Report by Rukmini Thampi

Eco Club Incharge

Ms. Bhandari began the workshop by narrating 2 stories written herself. The first story was about young Rahul who discovers his family’s love for him and the second story was about little Ria who discovers how special she is! Ms. Bhandari then prompted the children to individually thread a story and draw it. She was ushering their imaginations to unleash. Soon enough the ideas began to appear and quickly they became abundant! The result was joyous. Art had seemed to easily fill in for where articulation in word had hesitated. Thoughts, story-angles, feeling etc got succinctly presented and the communication was complete. The journey of each child through this exercise would nevitably have stimulated a refreshed Self-Discovery.

Principal ma’am began the proceedings of the morning by leading the train of teachers and students to light the farewell lamps.

She blessed the childrens’ new journeys offering each a diya to carry away and keep. It would mark the carrying away of the light of knowledge they had assimilated. To illuminate the worlds that they will touch. The light would offer a timeless assurance whenever clarity felt cluttered, she assured.

Mr. Raisinghani, Director wished the students triumph and prosperity and urged them to keep in touch with School and their schoolmates as alumni. Ms. Madhavi Divan, governing body member, implored that the students must carefully heed their parents, teachers and elders. But equally they must follow their hearts. She read out a message from Mr. Prafull Goradia, Chairman and Dr. Nayana Goradia, Vice Chairperson to wish the children as they set sail as ‘ Ocean liners with Indian anchors’.

Our dear parents also recounted most movingly the memories of their association. Unforgettable memories of joys and anxieties of sharing and of pride. Parents who spoke on the occasion were Ms. Vibha Chopra, mother of Ishan Chopra; Ms. Simmi Nangia, mother of Dhruv and Dhrishti Nangia and Ms. Ushmi Sethi, mother of Ashna Sethi. Students who spoke on behalf of the graduating sections were Arushi Chaturvedi, Hardik Wadhwa and Chandni Airi. (Click here to read speeches).

The computer department presented a slideshow of a string of magical memories that marked the 14 year long odyssey from nursery until now. Each time a slide flipped, a loud and rousing cheer went up from amongst the children to fit forever the frame, as it were, in the hearts of those assembled!

Finally a burly bunch of colourful balloons was released to seal the show. The balloons quickly caught the air to ascend.

That our little babies of once, have now readied to soar, filled us teachers with a renewed faith, even as we saw the balloons freely find their flight.

On graduation day, as we all say goodbye
    I know my teacher has a tear in her eye
It really has been a cherished time
    And now I walk ahead into my future to shine

As told by Ms. Sukhmeen Cheema, School Counsellor.