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29th March, 2019 Volume 7, Issue 134
CONTENTS Featured Story From the Head of
School Whole School News From the Primary
Principal Primary Learning Focus From the
Secondary Principal Secondary Learning
Focus Introducing From the PTA Monthly
Menu
IMPORTANT DATES April 1st - 3rd - M5
Practice Examinations 4th - 6th - ISACI Swimming Tournament at
TBS 5th - 6th - Tournament of the Minds, Chennai 5th -
Primary Mid-Semester Reports Published 5th - Secondary Science
Bowl: Inter-School Competition 9th - Primary PTCs 10th -
Early Years Sports Day 12th - Secondary Mid-Semester Two
Reports Published 12th - Talent Show 15th - 19th - Spring
Break
Featured Story
Stonehill Hackathon 2019
The second annual Stonehill Hackathon was held on the 22nd and
23rd of March. This 24-hour event
had 95 students from TISB, CIS, NPS, OIS, Trio,
Neev, Greenwood and SIS participating. The theme of
this year was ‘Education,
Healthcare and Food’. During the hackathon, students were engaged
in coding
and creating
applications in the form of mobile/desktop applications, websites,
web applications and
Arduino/Raspberry
Pi based projects.
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Featured Story
Our esteemed panel of judges included Dr. Partha Talukdar,
Assistant Professor - Department of
Computational and Data Sciences at Indian Institute of
Science (IISc), Bangalore. He is also the founder
of Kenome, an Enterprise
Knowledge graph company; Ms. Naimisha Kolli, an expert in
complex
networks and network
science, with an emphasis on analysing and developing algorithms
for large
scale social networks in
urban computing applications; and Mr. R. Muralidharan, former
Chief
Research Scientist at IISc. Currently,
he is the Senior Project Scientist at the National
Supercomputing
Mission
Project.
Winners of the 2019 Stonehill Hackathon in the Junior (top) and
Senior (below) Categories.
Students created a variety of innovative and creative products
including a wireless car for those with
physical disabilities; an application that
gives you a recipe, a nutritional pie chart and a healthy
meal
plan based
on data input; an Arduino based glove that translates sign language
via an Android app; an
attendance tracking product based on facial
recognition; and a Google Home integrated app that
scans medicines and prescriptions and sets
reminders for you.
https://www.iisc.ac.in/https://www.kenome.io/https://nsmindia.in/https://nsmindia.in/
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Featured Story
The winners were picked based on creativity,
innovation and feasibility of the products. They received
prize money worth INR 1, 00,
000/-. The winning teams were:
Junior Category
Winners Oakridge International School Bangalore
First Runner Up Neev Academy
Second Runner Up Greenwood High International
School
Senior Category
Winners Neev Academy
First Runner Up Stonehill International School
Second Runner Up Greenwood High International
School
Congratulations to all participants and winners for
contributing towards technological innovation! I
would like to thank the D1 student organisers for helping to
put this event together and our teacher
chaperones, Ms. Katie and Ms.
Blessina.
Organising Committee of Stonehill Hackathon
2019.
Mr. Mohammed Nassir Secondary Design &
Computer Science Teacher
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Whole School News
Stonehill Celebrates the Indian Festival Of
Colours
Primary and Secondary students and staff celebrated Holi on
Thursday, 21st March. This festival
signifies the arrival of spring, and celebrates the beginning
of a good spring harvest season.
The Primary School celebrations started with a short
presentation by the P6 Hindi students who spoke
about the significance of the festival,
and the importance of being respectful while playing with
colours, before they played with
dry, organic colours with their friends and
teachers.
Holi was celebrated by Secondary students and staff during their
lunch break that day. There was a
short presentation by Ms. Manpreet on the
festival, before students and staff thoroughly enjoyed
themselves playing with colour.
Thank you to our Host Culture team for organising
this!
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Whole School News
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From the Head of School
Welcome to the New HoS This week, we welcomed Brian
and Young Soo Brumsickle to Stonehill.
Brian will be
taking over as the new Head of School for the 2019 - 2020
academic year. During the
week, he met with members of the
Educational Leadership
Team, the School Management Team and the
Governing Council, where he spoke
about himself, his family and his
approach to international
education. He also spent time with teacher
leaders, students
in classrooms, and had an informal meeting with
parents. Brian was
provided with all the information required for a
smooth transition to life at Stonehill. It was a great
experience for the
Stonehill community to
meet and get to know Brian a little better, before
he arrives in India with his family in July.
Simon McCloskey
Brian interacting with staff and parents.
Simon McCloskey Head of
School
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From the Primary Principal
East Asia Regional Council Of Schools (EARCOS) Mr.
Ron is our school’s EARCOS representative. He travelled to
Bangkok last week to participate in their annual conference;
this
year the conference was focussed on the arts. He also
delivered a
workshop on ‘Teaching for Artistic
Behaviour’. He is very impressed
with the way teaching for
artistic behaviour is infiltrating the
Primary Visual Arts
classroom across the world. I have personally
observed children’s
enthusiasm and commitment to the process,
along with their ability to take
their own learning further. This
student agency is giving
them voice and choice in one very
important silo of
classroom learning.
Karen Crooke
Mr. James, one of our instrumental music teachers, also attended
the conference. He was
impressed
with the skill level of the students who performed, and brought
back ideas on how to
grow our students’ learning. This week’s Community
Time will showcase 5 instrumentalists
involved in
the programme. P6 Camp Last Thursday, P6 students
camped out in tents on the school campus. They had campfires
and
games that went
late into the night. I was informed by reliable sources that
torches were still
flashing around the Primary field at 12:30am! For some
children this was the first time they had
slept in a tent, for others it
was the first time they had slept away from home. Everyone was
firmly
committed to having a successful
evening. IB Scope and Sequence Development Ms.
Hafsa, Mr. Ron, Ms. Moushumi and Mr. David have been involved in
Digital Scope and
Sequence discussions with the IB team in The Hague. These
teachers have contributed (and will
continue to do so) greatly in the evaluation and
development of these IB documents. Thank you
for representing us so well in this
endeavour. Mr. Ron and Mr. David have been invited to
The Hague to participate in face to face discussions
for this. They will
leave on March 29th, and join other teachers from across the world.
This group
will take on the physical development of the documents. Once
this is done, the whole review
group will get back together to edit and further
develop them. Utilising practising teachers is the best
way to ensure documentation is implementable and
practical. It is one of the reasons why the IB is so
in-tune with the 21st century needs of learners. PYP
Music Concert Sharing learning is one of the ways we showcase
our achievements. The P4 through P8 learners
will share these achievements on Friday,
29th March from 2:00 pm onwards. The Performing Arts
team has put together a delightful array
of performances.
https://www.earcos.org/
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From the Primary Principal
Reporting to Parents Two important activities are in
our near future:
1. A narrative report will be delivered to you through Managebac
on 5th April. Please keep an
eye out for the announcement.
2. Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on 9th April.
The sign-ups for the
conferences have gone out.
We encourage you to make an appointment. The sign-up will
close at 3:00 pm on 8th April to ensure
teachers have a secure schedule.
Early Years Sports Morning
Karen Crooke Primary Principal
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Primary Learning Focus
Hindi in the Primary School
This year in Hindi, we have learned a variety of new things. We
studied vowels, consonants and
numbers; we learned the names of fruits and
plants, emotions, telling time, the names of ethnic
Indian clothing; we learned facts
about India and played games that are indigenous to India; we
learned Hindi poems and
writing stories in Hindi. Additionally, we have been
working on goals set by students at the beginning of this academic
year.
Some of
these include writing sentences independently, improving their
written skills and speaking
Hindi
fluently. As an indicator of their learning, Hindi
students reflected upon their lessons. Below are two
reflections for you to get a feel for our learners’ commitment
to their learning and their lessons. Enjoy! नम�त!े मेरा
नाम अरहान ह.। आज म � आपको �ह�द� के बारे म� बताऊंगा। हम �हदं� म� बात
करना और �लखना सीखते
ह� । �ह�द� बोलना आसान ह� पर�त ु
�लखना क�ठन ह�। �ह�द� म� हमने वण �माला, �गनती, फल� के नाम, पेड़-पौध�
के
नाम सीखे और कहानी �लखी।हमने भारत के बारे म� कई बात�
सीखी और भारतीय पारंप�रक खेल खेले जहाँ हम� �ह�द�
म� बात करनी
थी। Namaste my name is Arhaan. Today, I am going to tell
you about Hindi. In Hindi classes, we learn to
speak and
write. Hindi is easy to speak, but tough to write. In Hindi, we
have learned vowels,
consonants, numbers, names of fruits and
plants, and writing a story. We have learned quite a few
facts about India,
and we played traditional Indian games where we had to speak in
Hindi while
playing them.
Arhaan, P7 �हदं� म� हम भावनाओं के बारे म�, कपड़� के
नाम और समय के बारे म� सीख�। हम कहा�नयाँ भी �लखना सीखे
।हमने अपने �लए एक ल�य तय �कया और मेरा एक ल�य बेहतर �लखावट
है। In Hindi, we have learned about emotions, the
names of ethnic Indian wear and how to tell time. We have also
learned to write stories. We had to set goals for ourselves and one
of my goals was to improve my writing skills.
Anvitha, P6 Ms. Raji VK & Mr. Rajat Jain Hindi
Teachers
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Primary Learning Focus
P4 Investigates Sources of Energy
The current P4 Unit of Inquiry gave students the opportunity to
investigate different sources of
energy. This required them to think about how they could be
principled in conserving electricity. They
took action by identifying ways in which
they could help use less power, both at home and in school.
Taking the stairs, using bicycles, keeping all windows and
doors shut when the air conditioner is on,
were just a few of the
suggestions we received. Students were introduced to the persuasion
genre and
they
tried their hand at convincing their peers to use renewable sources
of energy.
While investigating circuits, students were able to build a
simple circuit using a battery pack and
alligator clips to light a bulb. Through their
exploration, some students found that the batteries had to
be placed in a
certain order to allow the flow of electricity. Once we had
mastered the science of
circuit making, we transferred our
knowledge to making cards which lit up using copper strips,
coin
batteries, and LED
bulbs. We used solar panels to work fans, and students brought in
personal
projects
using various energy sources.
Mathematics saw us sorting and classifying 2D
and 3D shapes. The process of
looking at what
made them similar and different helped us
develop an understanding of their
properties. We gave
reasons justifying our choices and had some
fun making 3D shapes from the
magnetic tiles in
our classroom.
Ms. Sylvia Gillett & Ms. Pareen Tankariwala
P4 Class Teachers
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From the Secondary Principal
Secondary Assembly The Student Council organised Secondary
Assembly was held on
Thursday, 28th March. Mr. Premson shared the
results of Book
Week competitions; the M1s presented their
anti-bullying plays; the
ISACI Season 2 results were shared; Ms. Evie
talked about ‘Stonehill’s
Got Soul’, an event that will
occur in May; Mr. Mohammed gave a
presentation
on the Hackathon; Bhavya (D1) talked about Beyond
the Stone, the
student magazine; and the Student Council gave us
more
details on the Secondary Dance. It was a wonderful
celebration
of student achievements.
Narendra Mehrotra
Stonehill Hackathon The 24-hour Stonehill Hackathon was a
huge success
with 95 students from 8 schools participating. Thank
you to Mr. Mohammed
and D1 students Sachin,
Samarth, Krutartha and Adarsh for organising
this. Many thanks to
the teacher chaperones for the night,
Ms. Katherine, Ms. Blessina and
Mr. Mohammed.
Congratulations to Leander (M5) and his team for
winning Second Place in
the Senior category.
Upcoming Secondary Events
● 1st - 3rd April - M5 e-Assessment Practice
Exams
● 4th - 6th April - ISACI Swim Gala at TBS, New
Delhi
● 5th April - Science Bowl - Inter-school Science Quiz
Competition at Stonehill
● 5th - 7th April - Tournament of the Minds,
Chennai
● 12th April - Mid-Semester 2 Reports Released
● 12th April - Talent Show
● 13th - 21st April - Spring Break (Holidays)
● 24th April - MYP Art Exhibition ● 24th April - Secondary
Parent-Teacher
Student Conferences ● 26th April - D2 Leavers
Assembly ● 26th April - Secondary School Dance at
BLVD ● 1st May - Holiday ● 3rd - 24th May - IB DP
Exams ● 13th - 24th May - IB MYP e-Assessment ● 25th May
- D2 Graduation Ceremony
Narendra Mehrotra Secondary
Principal
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Secondary Learning Focus
Analysing Dr. Suess’ Works for Political and Historical
Connotations
M4 and M5 History students analysed the impact
of political cartoons by
investigating the works of
Dr. Seuss, who started his career as a political
cartoonist
during World War II. According to
historian Richard Minear, “Most of Seuss’ later
books – barring the ones
teaching children to read –
are political in some way and
contain features that
can be traced back to the wartime
cartoons.”
Students spent some quality reading time in class, revisiting
familiar childhood stories and linking
them to contemporary historical events that Seuss spoke out
against. Through this process, the
students discovered that ‘Yertle the Turtle’ is an
anti-fascist tale; ‘The Sneetches’ tells a story about
discrimination based on stars
worn on the bellies of birds’; ‘The Lorax’ is one of the most
powerful
environmental fables of the 20th Century. The book has taught
generations of children about
ecological ruin brought on by greed, offering lessons for
environmental policy today; ‘The Cat in the
Hat’ is a revolt against authority, but
it is ameliorated by the fact that the Cat cleans up everything
in
the end. Ms. Narayani Saberi HoD -
Individuals and Societies
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Introducing
Each week we feature a Stonehill Teacher in our weekly
bulletin. This week we interviewed Secondary School
Counsellor, Venmal
Elango. Qualification and certifications: MSc in
Counselling Psychology and BA in Psychology,
Sociology &
Literature. What do you teach at
Stonehill? Secondary Counsellor and PSD
teacher. Where are you from and where else have you
lived? I am originally from Madurai in Southern India,
and
have lived in Bangalore since High School. What
inspired you to become a teacher? I have wanted to be a
Counsellor since I was in Grade 8.
When
I was in boarding school, I remember wanting an
adult who I could
speak to about my feelings and
someone who could give me
guidance - this is what
motivated me to choose counselling as a
career
Venmal Elango
What is your educational philosophy? Be open and without
judgement - you will be amazed by who you can learn and grow
from. What made you choose Stonehill? The rich
cultural diversity of the school. What is the best part
of your job? I enjoy knowing that I can make a difference
everyday, big or small. What are your hobbies and
interests? Playing scrabble, colouring, writing, reading and
theatre. What is your favourite book? ‘Man’s Search
for Meaning’ by Viktor Frankl. What is your favourite
music? I enjoy a variety of genres. My favourite are
jazz, rock, pop and
alternative.
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From the PTA
Dear Parents,
The Stonehill PTA proudly invites you to our
annual PTA Charity Gala!
Celebrate Stonehill’s 10th
year of excellence and diversity with your
community. This coveted yearly
tradition not only serves
to raise funds for our beloved
adopted charities, but also brings our
community together. Save the date
and enjoy an
evening with your friends, while making new
ones.
Please visit our 2019 PTA Gala web page to find
information
concerning ticket payment, contacts
and Stonehill PTA Charities. It’s going to be a
fabulous event -
reserve your tickets today!
Best wishes,
Team PTA
Cafeteria Menu
A detailed monthly menu can be downloaded from the
menu page on the school website. It contains the Continental,
Indian and Boarding Menus.
http://www.stonehillgala.in/https://www.stonehill.in/monthly-menu/https://www.stonehill.in/monthly-menu/
