Dear Parents ,

Teachers Students and friends, I feel as an educator it is imperative that each and every one of us reads the following, Abraham Lincoln's World Famous Letter to his Son's Teacher .It would help us understand education in its true perspective and remind all of us in the teaching profession that we need to reconsider and evaluate our duties. I also take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very warm Christmas and a Joyful New Year.

He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, all men are not true.

But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero;

that for every selfish Politician, there is a dedicated leader…Teach him for every enemy there is a friend, Steer him away from envy, if you can, teach him the secret of quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick…Teach him, if you can,

the wonder of books…But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school teach limit is far honorable to failthan to cheat…

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong…

Teach him to be gentle with gentle people, and tough with the tough. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the band wagon…

Teach him to listen to all men…but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him if you can, how to laugh when he is sad…Teach him there is no shame in tears, Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness…

Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders but never to put a price-tagon his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob and to stand and fight if he thinks he’s right. Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel. Let him have the courage to be impatient…let him have the patience to be brave.

Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will have sub-lime faith in mankind. This is a big order, but see what you can do…He is such a fine little fellow, my son!

John Andrew Bagul,

Principal,

South City International School,375 Prince Anwar Shah Road,

Kolkata 700068

NOVEMBER 2011 ISSUE 6

PRINCIPALS MESSAGE

Tiny Tots celebrated the eerie yet fun filled festival of Halloween on the 31st

October and 1st November. They danced on the Skeleton song wiggling their knees

and scaring me with spooky looks and scary sounds. They were thrilled while doing

chip paper work on Mr.Patchy. Later, some children showed enthusiasm while making

ghostly figures with thermocoal and tissue paper. On the 1st November, they actually

mounded their own Mr.Patchy to take home with them

Mr.Patchy’s patchy box…paper tearing… Aren’t we innovative? Meet Mr. Spooky…

Tiny Tots mounding Mr. SpookY!! We made them all, be-

ware of the TINY TOTS!

In the first week of November Std 2 went for Germ Observation to the Biology Lab. The children

were extremely excited and went armed with their notebooks to record all that they saw. Shom-

nath Sir was eagerly waiting for the children and showed them the tapeworm and hydra specimen

under the microscope. The children witnessed something new and told the teachers about their observations. They also saw the bottled speci-

mens of crab, leech, octopus, spider and a sea fish. The children were very enthusiastic when they could see a micro organism in a gigantic size.

CELEBRATIONS——HALLOWEENS DAY

Page 2 SOUTHERN STARS

Strange! Sparrows are becoming lesser and lesser in number!

I remember as a small child when we playfully sprayed broken wheat on the ground, a hundred sparrows would very musically ascend and start pecking on it. It’s time friends to be aware and make others aware of this alarm! Class II(B), took a small step forward to help all their schoolmates be aware of the danger the Earth is facing. Is She

is going to lose forever all her beautiful birds and amazing animals!

The Old Testament, and even The Holy Quran talks about how God saved the animals of the world during a huge flood which He had sent to destroy the evil people of the world. God had assigned a man called Noah to build a huge ark and He instructed him to let his family and species of all animals to be safe inside the ark. When Noah finished making the ark, he did just what God had asked him to do. When all the animals and Noah’s family was inside the ark God sent a huge flood. It rained non-stop for forty days and night. All the people of the world was destroyed!! But Noah’s family and the animals were safe. The students of Class II(B) sang a song and acted out the

story of Noah. They even read out an awareness note to all their schoolmates.

This was God’s first step towards conservation of Wild-Life. God loves all animals as much as he loves all His peo-

ple, because He is their CREATOR.

Let us together take an oath to help all those birds and animals who are on the verge of disappearing today!!!

Let us, like Noah build an ark of awareness through which our Wild-Life may be saved from extinction.

The assembly started with some information given by the children along with a ppt presentation. This was followed by a skit. — Children performed a skit through which they passed a message- not to waste food and to be thankful to God for all His blessings.

This was followed by the news headlines. Thanksgiving Day in the United States is traditionally a holiday to give thanks for the food collected at the end of the harvest season.

Thanksgiving Day 2011

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Class Assembly- Class II Section B

National Wildlife Week

Page 3

On 19th Nov.2011 South City International School had the privilege and honor to welcome Mr Andrew Sortwell to their school .Mr Sortwell is the University of Cambridge International Ex-aminations Regional Manager for South Asia . Mr Sortwell has been closely involved in interna-tional education for some time. He has worked for the English Schools Foundation in Hong Kong as the Director of Education, working with 21 schools to develop the curriculum and lead the professional development of staff. Before moving to Hong Kong, Mr Sortwell was the Direc-tor for Children and Young People in Northamptonshire, UK, having previously been the Princi-pal of a further education college and Ramsey Abbey School in Cambridgeshire. . He was

accompanied by Mr Vinayak Sudhakar and Mr Rakesh Konjengbam .

The importance of the evening was accentuated by the presence of distinguished and eminent personali-ties from the academic circle , the directors and principals , from other esteemed International institu-tions of Kolkata like Calcutta International School , Vidhyanjali International School, Gem’s Akademia, Bridge International School . Mr. Sortwell and his team were welcomed in a traditional style. The evening programme commenced with the contemporary Indian dance accompanied with the music of Ananda Shankar, performed by the students of South City

MR. ANDREW SORTWELL VISITS SOUTH CITY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

Page 4 SOUTHERN STARS

On the 14th of November, 2011, the teacher as well as the non-teaching staff of the School put up an excellent programme for the children of the School. It started with Principal Sir’s address to the children and lighting of the lamp followed by a prayer song by Head mistress Ma’am.

The two-hour programme showcased events like fusion dance, medley of songs, ballet, waltz and a wonderful skit which

were thoroughly enjoyed by the children. The programme ended with the readings from four holy books, the Bhagwad Gita,

the Quran, the Bible and the Guru Grant Sahebji followed by the National Anthem..

CHILDREN’S DAY

Page 5

LOOKI FORWARD

FOR ANNUAL DAY

AND CHRISTMAS

CELEBRATION

The South City International School held its first Intra School karate Champion-ship held on 5

th of November in their Air-conditioned Activity Room of the school.

Forty students participated in the tournament and played three rounds each. The Principal of the school Mr John Bagul declared the karate championship open. In the junior section Rituraj Thakur of class IV-B came first, in Kata . In the senior section Meher Malhotra of class VI-A came first, in Kata Abhishek Rathi of class VII-B came first in Kata . In Junior section Shaurya Gupta of class IV B, came first in Kumite . In senior section Meher Malhotra of class VI B came first . Tan-veer Chopra of class VII A came first in Kumite and the Best performer in the overall Kata event went to Meher Malhotra of class VI A. National level referees and Judges ( Approved by A.I.K.f. , Recog . by Govt of India , Ministry of Sports and Youth affairs ) were present as officials for conducting the tournament . The competition was based on two events and that is Kata ( Syncronised steps of karate movements ) and Kumite ( Sparring).

Mr. Junichi Masuda , “Consul” - Consulate General Of Japan , Kolkata was pre-sent as a Chief Guest ,gave away the prizes and certificates . He is a well known Martial Artist from Japan and also a Senior police officer from the Tokyo Police Department, Japan .

KARATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Page 6 SOUTHERN STARS

A workshop on “Developing Reading Skills In School” was held on the 11

th of November’11(Friday), at the Hotel Hindustan Inter-

national . It was organized by Oxford University Press and was presided over by Mr. John Mason, the noted educationist. It was

a well attended gathering of teachers & Principals of eminent schools of Kolkata as well as academicians who had travelled all

the way from distant places such as Durgapur and Kalyani.

Mr. John Mason brought the hall alive in his own inimitable style with his vast repertoire of knowledge, passion for literature,

keen sense of humour and enthusiasm for new ideas, without sounding the least sermonising to the group who had assem-

bled there on that day.

WORKSHOP—-06/11/11

As the Mother Goddess is bade an effusive adieu, the leaves on the

trees gradually turn coppery yellow and there is a slight nip in the

air with the warm mellowed sun signaling the arrival of winter in

Kolkata – a lovely time for picnics, outings and of course

CHRISTMAS!!!!

We at South City International are no different as

we gear up for our Annual Concert which is usually held in De-

cember. As a prelude to this Mega Event a workshop had been ar-

ranged on the 6th of November at the A.V. Room for the principal

characters of the play and a few others who are interested in drama

by the noted actress Ms. Ekavali Khanna. The students were from

classes 6, 7 and 8 and the main reason behind the workshop was to

help the students shed their inhibitons and improve their on- stage

body language.

DEVELOPING READING SKILLS IN SCHOOLS – A REPORT

Page 7

South City International School organized Bengali elocution competition on 11th Nov. 2011, to commemorate

Rabindranath Tagore „s 150th birthday. The competition began at 9.30 a.m.Two eminent senior teachers from

reputed schools of Kolkata ( Garden High School , and Loreto School , Elliot Road ) and a distinguished personality

from British Council, Kolkata who is the Head Programmes with the organization and manages all Indo-

U.K. collaborations in the art and culture related programmes, had graced the occasion as judges . The po-

ems recited were based on Nature followed by poems on Mother, poems from “ Katha o Kahini” and ex-

tracts based on Tagore‟s love for his motherland .

Tagore was an avid advocate of inter-civilisational alliance; his vision was given to a symbiosis of the East and West.

The poems recited by the students of South City International School reminded us that Tagore‟s poetry

overflow national boundaries.

This event once again brought home the fact that Tagore is a "world poet"

This programme was aimed at igniting minds , inculcating love for poetry and tasting and understanding the

essence of Tagore‟s poetry , developing public speaking skills , to overcome stage fright, strengthen communication

skills, enhance leadership qualities which was achieved to some extent, as the students recited their pieces con-

fidently , with proper expression , diction , intonation and voice modulation. The participants were very well

trained. The participants made their parents and teachers proud of them. It was a tough job for the

judges to select the winners . One of the judges was requested to speak on the day‟s event. His words

of wisdom encouraged the students in their pursuit.

The Principal of South City International School along with three Judges did the honour of giving away the

prizes to the winners.

The competition ended on a positive note , making every body feel proud , happy and contended.

Bengali Elocution Competition