BOMBAY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL |Principals Page

BOMBAY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

From the Principal, Dec’09-Feb’10

Introduction

The year ended on a peaceful note. During December, we had a well-attended Christmas Assembly in the Playground to celebrate the Christmas spirit of giving. Our children had a toy collection drive and gave these gifts to an NGO, Life Trust. Several Classes entertained the audience with song and dance. The Salaam Balak children also participated in the Assembly and performed for us. We are hoping that this is the beginning of a long-term partnership. The playground had a lovely ambience and it was a delightful end to the year. There is great excitement in school as we prepare to start the new academic session in March.

Student Activities

Junior School Sports Day was a lively event, held in our playground. The secondary school students went on their educational tours: Std. V went to Lonavala, Std. VI to Mahableswar, Std. VII and VIII to the Gir Forest in Gujarat and Std. IX to Rishikesh. All the students had a wonderful time. This is a very important aspect of our school and encourages learning for life. Our Student Government elections were held, followed by the Investiture Ceremony.

We bid farewell to our Std. X students. The guest speaker this year was US Consul General, Mr. Paul Folmsbee.

The students from Std. V to X appeared for the Final Examinations. It is only at BIS that students are so carefree that the playground is speckled with football players every day even during the exam period. It is indeed wonderful to know that our students are so stress free!

The New Student Government

Head Boy: Yash Dalal, Head Girl, Mili Sanwalka, President, Ira Chadha-Sridhar, Vice-President, Avanti Dalal, Secretary, Shiva Row, Sports Secretary, Vikramaditya Joshi, Social Awareness Secretary, Alisha Sonawala, Treasurer, Namit Mehta, Captains, Alpha House, Varun Ursekar, Ziya Jaffer, Beta, Mrinal Trivedi, Priyanka Mariwala, Gamma, Neel Karpe, Kanika Basu. Congratulations to all the new Office Bearers. We have great expectations from all of you in the coming year!

Assemblies

There were two Middle School Debates held. English Debate, Topic: Reading Books is more important than watching Movies. Winners: Alpha, Best Speaker, Akshay Shah, Runner up Nitya Sudarshan.

Hindi Debate, Topic: It is essential to have exams at the Middle School Level. Winners: Alpha, Best Speaker, Anshuman Mor, Runner up, Sanaya Attari.

Sports Update

EVENT	AGEGROUP	WINNER	RUNNER UP
Inter house Football	Senior Boys	Beta	Gamma
Inter house Football	Senior Girls	Beta	Gamma
Inter house Football	Junior Boys	Alpha	Gamma
Inter house Football	Junior Girls	Beta	Alpha

Muskaan Tolani won the silver and Bronze medal at the Inter School Aquatic Meet.

Cornell Model United Nations

Our students from the present Std. IX will be going to the International MUN in April 2010. The students are, Arnav Mariwala, Mrinal Trivedi, Varun Ursekar, Gaurav Doshi, Akhilesh Agarwal, Sanaya Nanavaty and Mili Sanwalka.

Teachers’ Workshops

The Art teachers, Ms. Pathak and Ms. Pinky attended an animation workshop in which they learned useful techniques. Ms. Fizza attended a 2 day workshop on Quality Circle Time, conducted by Ms. Maya Menon of The Teacher Foundation, Bangalore. This is a process which makes it possible for students to resolve issues through mutual dialogue and introspection.

A workshop entitled, “Thinking through Design” was conducted by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. This was attended by Ms. Fizza, Ms. Pinky and Ms. Tasneem. The workshop included principles of design technology and was conducted by Mr. Singh from the Ecole Mondiale School.

International Links

A teacher and educational consultant, Judy Cuthbertson from New Haven, Connecticut, USA, spent a week at BIS and had inspiring sessions with the teachers as well as students, particularly from Std. I. It is indeed enriching for our teachers and students to have such interactions. We are expecting two teachers from the Copley School in UK in March. Our Std. V and VI students have been exchanging letters with Copley School. This has been an on-going exchange, and we hope to send our teachers to the UK on a reciprocal visit as well. We have received a Grant through the British Council for these visits.

Pasch Activities

Our students from Std. VIII have a wonderful opportunity to participate in the Mini Munchen Programme in August 2010. The students who have been selected to visit the simulated city, based on written and oral proficiency in the German Language are: Shalom Palkhivala, Sakshi Mehta and Radhika Roy.

Once again, 3 students from the present Std. X (who will appear for the ICSE in March) have been invited to a German Youth Camp in June. The selections are under way. All students who visit Germany in 2010 will be spending their summer holidays learning the language at Max Mueller Bhavan.

Staff Update

Rajiv Bhatt has resigned as IT Coordinator due to health reasons. Mr. Jayaprakrash has joined the admin team. Mrs. Daruvala retires after 18 wonderful years at BIS. Sadaf Memom, Middle School Math Teacher has left for personal reasons.

Admin Update

The new uniforms will be available from March onwards.

The Art Room on the fourth floor and Std. X were refurbished during December. Other major work on plumbing and windows has been initiated. We thank the Student Government of the past years who have contributed 13 Lakhs towards this work.

We shall be having major works done in the summer break. This will also enable us to gradually move term and be in sync with other IGCSE Schools in the city.

After-School Activities

The Forensics Acitivity will start the second batch in March 2010. There will be the beginners and advanced batches this time. Robotics, Kids in Chorus, our School Choir and Karate continue.

Alum Get-together

For the very first time the halls and corridors of BIS were ringing with our ex-students and ex-teachers. It was a very well-attended gathering, filled with nostalgia and sharing of memories. There were more than 300 people in the school hall and all those who came were extremely happy to see the changes in the school. We request all BIS parents who are also ex-students to participate in the Alum activities so that we can have more events in the future.

IB Update

There has been much progress since the last AGM. The forms for IB affiliation have been filled, the Trust is in the process of being registered, and we are speaking to a Consultant to help with the process. The collection of the seed capital has started, and there has been a great response from the parents. A detailed update about the IB will be presented at the forthcoming AGM in March 2010.

Our new term has begun, and we look forward to more activities and sharing the excitement of our children. Let me end by wishing each one of you,

A Happy New Year!

Grant that I

May bring no tear to any eye

When this New Year in time shall

end

Let it be said I've played the

friend,

Have lived and loved and labored

here,

And made of it a happy year.

-Edgar Guest

with every good wish,

Mona Seervai

Principal