Page 1 of 14

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK December 2018 Newsletter

“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative

effort” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Dear Parents and Guardians,

It is hard to believe that we have now reached the end of Semester 1 of the

2018-2019 academic session. School life has been busy for each stakeholder

and as a school we are extremely proud of the progress we have made thus far

and the way our students have grabbed opportunities provided to them and

have achieved a significant amount in all aspects of their school life. Even if it is

a small improvement in any area, we ask for them to be proud since the effort

is more important than the actual result. As a team, we began the year with

many new colleagues, but in a matter of five months, I am proud to say that

we have been able to collaborate and rally together and now share great

collegiality.

The Primary Years Programme: The month of December focussed on

unlocking the creative potential in our young Eagles who worked very hard for

weeks to make each of us extremely proud of their effort which in turn

resulted in a successful PYP Indus Day. The saying that strength truly lies in the

team (or I am as good as my team is) was beautifully showcased and I

congratulate Ms. Manju Suryanarayanan and the rest of the PYP team on this

success. Watching the kids perform “The Lion King”, which is a classic for many

of us was a wonderful experience and the kids’ heart-warming performance

took us down memory lane and brought a smile on our face many a time

through the show. I would also like to mention that weeks of deliberate

practice and constant feedback ensured our student performance in this

Page 2 of 14

pursuit of excellence was brilliant. Please find below a couple of photographs

and a few more in Appendix A.

Page 3 of 14

The Middle Years Programme and IGCSE: The students of Grades 6 to 10 were

mostly busy with their assessments/half yearly examinations. These

assessments compared to the MTT-1 saw students of course have a larger

syllabus covered but at the same time, they have now settled in better to the

demands of the MYP as well as IGCSE expectations. Our students also attended

an orientation on the World Scholar’s Cup that offers a platform to compete

with bright minds across the world.

The Diploma Programme: Students of Grade 11 had their half yearly

examinations preceding which were revision classes that were

comprehensively planned and helped students understand the expectations of

how to respond as per IB expectations. Our Grade 11 students also attended

Page 4 of 14

an E-Portfolio session, conducted by the Head of Academics, Ms. Harsimran

Kapany. The purpose behind encouraging students to work on their E-

portfolios is to be able to have a collated document that can be credentialed

(something the school is exploring to introduce shortly) and which will add

value to university applications. Part of the Leadership Curriculum saw the

Grade 11 students introduced to the persuasive communication module

which will see every student record an I-Lead Speech based on the TED Talk

model. We will showcase the best of these at the Innovation Symposium we

are planning in April-May 2019.

Placement and Career Guidance Cell: It certainly is one of the busiest period

for our colleagues of this department. They are in the midst of processing close

to 1200 university applications for the students of the batch of 2019 and

working with teachers on their recommendation letters. Further, they

continue meeting with students on an individual basis to help add value to the

counsellor’s recommendation letter that many universities ask for. It is indeed

heartening to see that from the early applications/decisions, twenty five

students have received offers and more are expected over the course of the

next fortnight. We had the University of San Francisco and the German

International College visit our school and interact with our DP students.

Boarding: Our Thai students visited the Thai Consulate in Mumbai to be a part

of the celebrations and also had the opportunity to meet with the Thai

education Minister. We ended this term with a formal sit down dinner which

was preceded by carol singing and Christmas celebrations. In the new session,

we are looking at making the weekend activities more vibrant, enjoyable and

enriching. We will share this plan shortly (once school reopens post the winter

break).

Sports: This month saw five of our students participate in the 64th National

Games which was hosted by the Government of NCT, Delhi between December

14th and 19th 2018. We congratulate all five students for putting in their best

effort and also their coaches in training them. The list of participants is included

in Appendix B

We are very proud to share with you that Sharon Shaju, a student of Grade 11,

represented Maharashtra in the 65th National Games Federation of India finals

in Swimming conducted in New Delhi. We congratulate Sharon, her parents and

coach on this incredible achievement. She participated in five events and the

results she achieved are as follows;

Page 5 of 14

Sharon successfully defended last year's medals for Indus by winning:

1. 50 Meter Breastroke SILVER 2. 100 Meter Breastroke GOLD + National Record 3. 200 Meter Breastroke GOLD 4. 4x100 Meter Medley Relay SILVER

Mihir Shah, a student of Grade 9 participated in a competition organised by the

Pune District Chess Association and won the third position in the under 14 age

category. Congratulations Mihir!

Other Student Achievement: We are equally happy and proud to share with you

other student achievements this month.

Haaziq Kazi (Grade 7) was invited to speak at the TEDx Gateway event in

Mumbai on December 02nd. This was Haaziq’s second experience at a TED event.

Haaziq spoke about his passion about cleaning the oceans of plastic waste and

how he has designed a prototype ship named ERVIS which can suck out plastic

from the ocean surface. Haaziq’s persuasive communication skills and

confidence were so impressive that he was one of the two speakers amongst

the twenty seven in total to receive a standing ovation from the audience. He

has been invited to be the keynote speaker by VJTI Technovanza at the end of

this month.

Krish Desai (Grade 9), Anirudh Subramanyam (Grade 8) and Abhay Gupta (Grade 8) have over the last few months participated and seen success at different stages of the World Scholar’s Cup. Relying mainly on self-directed learning, these students with their incredible support of their parents and guidance from some of their teachers won the following awards at the final round conducted at Yale University;

Anirudh - won a gold for collaborative writing and a silver in individual debate. Abhay - won a silver in collaborative writing, a gold in History, a silver in Literature Krish - won a silver in collaborative writing and a gold in Science.

We congratulate all three boys and their families on this incredible achievement.

Another student we at IISP are incredibly proud of is Smitha Gokhale of Grade 8 who has been selected to represent the Indian Mountaineering Foundation

Page 6 of 14

and was part of the Indian delegation to the Asian Climbing Championships that were held in Thailand in December 2018.

Shachi Gokhale, a student in Grade 11 received a ‘high commendation’ award

at the Dynamic Training Model United Nations Conference. There were more

than 500 students across different schools in Maharashtra that took part. We

congratulate Shachi on this achievement and wish her more success at future

MUN Conferences.

Aditya Pachpande of Grade 7 was the only participant from India, has become

the youngest student to successfully complete two summer courses at Harvard

in July 2018. Aditya’s application and performance in the interview had the

management waiving out the age criteria, a first of its kind decision. The Summer

Business Academy and the Summer Coding Academies at Harvard are intensive

academic enrichment programs. These summer programs offer an unparalleled

and challenging academic experience lead by Harvard instructors and world-

class speakers. This program saw him learning the power of the programming

tool Python, its uses in application domains, and to resolve even the most

complicated issues. He also realized why tech giants Google, Dropbox, IBM,

Instagram, and Reddit use Python to develop their innovative products. Being

the youngest participant was not a deterrent factor to his learning, in fact, Aditya

excelled in his performance.

Having completed this program, now he has already been invited to attend the

second level of the Summer Business Academy and the Summer Coding

Academies at Harvard in summer of 2019! We congratulate Aditya and wish him

best of luck for his future endeavours.

Page 7 of 14

The World Scholar’s Team: Anirudh, Krish and Abhay & Haaziq Kazi

Sharon Shaju & Shachi Gokhale

Page 8 of 14

Smitha Gokhale & Mihir Shah

Aditya Pachpande

Miscellaneous Events: A MMR vaccination drive was conducted at school in

collaboration with the government on December 11th 2018. There was a positive

and significant turnout and all precautionary measures in place ensured this drive

was an absolute success.

The month of December is viewed as a season of sharing. Many of our teachers

came together to make it a wonderful Christmas for the children in Sparsh

Balgram, an orphanage located in Bopodi. The children had written down one

Page 9 of 14

wish they each had which our teachers then went about making these come true

for these children for whom Christmas became a tad bit more special.

Our teachers too engaged in the Secret Santa game for a fortnight which was

super fun to see notes/gifts being sent to each other and everyone trying to guess

their Santa. The air was filled with happiness and excitement and on the last day

of school, this culminated in the respective Santas revealing themselves and also

presents being exchanged.

Professional and Self Development for Staff: As an organisation, we take great

pride in the time and resources we invest in the professional as well as self-

development of our staff. This month’s focus in the middle and senior school was

on how best to implement self-directed learning. Workshops were conducted

and this was followed up by department meetings.

Our Track 2 team attended the Central Leadership Retreat in Bangalore

between December 19th and 21st. The CLR is conducted twice a year and

focusses mainly on self-development and it is the responsibility of all Track 2

members to bring back this learning and disseminate the information to their team

members. This CLR focussed on Grit, Resilience, Giving Meaning to Work,

Psychological Robustness and Habits of Excellence. There was a movie

screening of “The Little Princes of Rajasthan” and a discussion that followed

on what time tested lessons we can extrapolate for personal excellence. The

discussion was led by Mr Chirag Jain who is one of the producers of the film.

The keynote speaker at the retreat was Mr Parimal Gandhi who is a living

example of how positivity, grit and resilience can see you through the toughest of

times. Mr Gandhi has survived three different types of cancer, has lost vision in

one of his eyes and also has a few other medical conditions but interacting with

him, you will never imagine that someone so positive and always smiling and

determined has gone through/ is going through so much physically.

The IISP Team at the Central Leadership Retreat

Page 10 of 14

Before I conclude, I would like to wish each of you and your loved ones a very

Happy New Year. May your lives be filled with happiness, love, laughter, good

health, great luck, travel, adventure, learning and beautiful memories in the

year ahead. I thank you again for your trust and faith in our team and for being

such great partners in your child’s education journey.

Please continue to reach out with feedback, suggestions or any concern that

might be bothering you. We do rely on you to help us improve in all aspects of

school life so that the children are provided an enriched environment to learn

and in the case of boarding, an overall enriching environment to live in. We

really would like to see each child in our care grab every opportunity that

presents itself which will help them grow and learn together.

We as a school continue to think of ways to refine and strengthen our

approaches to teaching and learning. And my request to you as our partners in

your child’s education is to please take the time to celebrate your child’s

efforts, their interests, their passion, their curiosity as we work together to

create thoughtful and innovative learners who are also compassionate and

empathetic human beings. Please note that your involvement is the key in this

whole process even if your child is a term boarder. A few words of

encouragement over the phone from you can do wonders in your child’s

learning journey. To quote Bob Beauprez, “Education is a shared commitment

between dedicated teachers, motivated students and enthusiastic parents

with high expectations.”

Thanks and warm regards

Preeti G. Prabhu Principal Indus International School Pune principal@indusschoolpune.com preeti.prabhu@indusschoolpune.com +91 8390905891

mailto:principal@indusschoolpune.commailto:preeti.prabhu@indusschoolpune.com

Page 11 of 14

Dates For Your Diary: JANUARY 2019 Date Event

January 02nd Boarders’ return to school

January 03rd School Reopens for all students

January 15th Sankranti [Holiday]

January 24th Investiture Ceremony [Please note: This has seen an amendment from the

earlier announced date]

January 26th Republic Day [Holiday]

January 21st to 31st PYP Sports Heats

APPENDIX A: PYP Indus Day 2018-2019

Page 12 of 14

Page 13 of 14

Page 14 of 14

APPENDIX B: Participants at the 65th National Games 2018

Sr. No Name Grade Discipline Age group

1 Tanvi Bhatamrekar 6 Swimming Under 14 Girls

2 Anoushka Vaidyanathan 11 Swimming Under 17 Girls

3 Rishabh Nahata 12 Swimming Under 19 Boys

4 Arnav Banthia 11 Basketball Under 17 Boys

5 Jagat Pratap 10 Basketball Under 17 Boys