From the Desk of the Head of School The past three months have seen frenetic activity and commendable achievements of students with the staff’s efforts. Various opportunities to hone and showcase talents are being provided to students. It is gratifying to see the students of Kasiga School scale greater heights. We would like to share a brief overview of the achievements of the students. We will continue to promote the Holistic growth of our children by providing and creating a conducive atmosphere for their development .Summer break is the most anticipated time of the year for both the parents and the children. I hope these vacations see you spending quality time with your children. I hope our students enjoy a rejuvenating break.

Dr. Neeta Bali.

Kasiga Declared a ‘YES’ Centre (IAYP)

The Award Programme was first introduced in

the United Kingdom in 1956 as the Duke of

Edinburgh’s Award. The aim was to motivate

young people aged between 14 and 25 years to

become involved in a balanced programme of

voluntary self-development activities to take them

through the potentially difficult period between

adolescence and adulthood. The Award’s concept is

one of individual challenge, giving young people a

balanced, non-competitive programme of voluntary

activities which encourage personal discovery

and growth, self-reliance, perseverance,

responsibility to themselves and service to their

community, either individually or as part of a team.

The basic structure of the Award consists of 4

mandatory sections – Service, Adventurous Journey,

Skills and Physical Recreation. There are 3 levels of

the Award – Bronze, Silver & Gold. Participants can

undertake all three categories of the Award

programme or enter directly at any of the three

levels in the following age group; Bronze Award

(for those over 14), Silver Award (for those over 15)

and Gold Award (for those over 16 years).

YES CENTRE

The international award is an exciting, self

development Programme available to all young

people worldwide equipping them with life skills to

make a difference to themselves their communities

and the World. Kasiga School has become a Youth

Engaging Society (YES) centre. The YES Centre

will help to make the Programme available to all

young people in the 14-25 age groups who wish to

take up the challenge and do not have access to it

from their own School, College or community.

Individuals may enroll with the Yes Centre for

starting the Award Programme or completing the

Award journey that they started earlier. To date over

90 young people from Kasiga School have been

motivated to enroll for IAYP.

We hope that this Award Programme will help our

children to explore their hidden depths of character

and develop them as good human beings in the

process. Now that's a sign of achievement.

5 May, 2015

Kāsiga students Receive a Special Mention at MCGS MUN 2015

The delegation comprising six delegates from Kasiga School participated in Mayo College Girl’s School

MUN 2015, Ajmer. The students represented the school in three different committees i.e. HSC, DISEC &

AU.

Nikunj Bansal, who represented Sierra Leone, won the Verbal Mention Award. He was appreciated for his

lobbying skills and his resolution was the only resolution that was passed in the committee with 2/3rd

majority.

Kāsiga Lifts Earth Art Competition at Hopetown Girls’ School, Dehradun

A group of pupils from our school went to Hopetown Girls’ school on the 15th of April to participate in the

various categories of the Competition on Earth Art. The pupils who represented our school were Ananya

Chandhok, Kashish Oberoi, Vagmita Swaroop, Madhav Goyal, Akash Gupta, Shivang Mohan Agarwal,

Shreya Kulshreshtha, Mahi Manjusha and Pratha Vohra

There were about 18 schools competing in a variety of events. In the ‘Paint My World’ section where the

‘Brahma Kamal’ was to be shown in a painting, our school stood second. Ananya Chandhok and Kashish

Oberoi did their school proud by achieving this feat. Our school was awarded a second prize in the

Environmental Art Category as well.

Our pupils collectively grabbed the Earth Art Trophy for 2015 for the first time!

Workshop by Space and Development Research Organization

The workshop started at 11:15 am with the brief introduction of the speaker Mr. Sarvesha Bhardwaj, Ph.D,

Astrophysicist. The content was designed for classes 5-8. He started the workshop with the ignited Q/A

session followed by a series of power point presentations which included clips from NASA HQ, about

Aliens, Stars and Galaxies and the making of telescope.

He gave a pair of telescopic lenses to all and taught them an easy way to make a telescope for watching

stars. The session came to an end with the vote of thanks by Mr.Balodi (HOD, Physics) followed by lunch.

SDRO presented the equipment and lenses for making a telescope to the Physics Department for better

teaching-learning.

Kāsiga Girls enjoy a Baking Session on the 19th of April

The girls of Kāsiga had a wonderful Sunday morning session at

the School CDH learning to bake bread, apple pie and fruit cake.

Working with their hands was not only therapeutic but also a

great learning experience. The students were given ingredients

and the recipe to bake bread for the whole School along, apple

pie and fruit cake for themselves. Under the able guidance of the

Kitchen staff the girls kneaded dough, cut apples and lined pie

dishes and set up the different bakes they were putting together.

Besides fun and learning, the girls also realized the hard work

that goes into daily food preparation and appreciated all the

people involved in the CDH.

The session ended with everyone devouring the pies and cakes

made!

Kāsiga Beats Railway XI in an Impossible Chase

The senior students of Kāsiga School beat the team comprising officials from the Railway Board, during an exciting match played on the Cricket Oval of Kāsiga School on April 5, 2015. The toss was won by Northern railway board who opted to field first and showed tremendous grit in terms of restricting KASIGA XI to 99 all out in the stipulated 22 overs, following which KASIGA XI did not buckle under pressure with a low score and fought really hard and restricted the team to 76 all out in 18 overs.

The star attraction of the match was the gutsy 35 runs made by KASIGA XI captain (Mr. Wasi Hasan: Man of the Match); best bowling figure , Aman (KASIGA XI) who captured 4 crucial wickets and not to forget a marvelous running catch by Mr. Salil Kumar at the boundary. Kāsiga’s winning against all odds was a great moment of pride for everybody. The unusual victory made both the teams relish and ponder over the game and spirit of cricket that won…a gentleman’s sport.

.

Workshop on Folk Art of Mithila and Gond- Under

the Aegis of Spicmacay Dehradun Chapter

On the 6th of April, 2015, there was a lot of

hustle and bustle in the Art School at Kasiga

as SPICMACAY had arranged workshops

on Gond Art and Madhubani paintings.

Classes 6 and 7 attended this workshop

The experts involved were:-

Gond Painting-Painting technique from

Madhya Pradesh

· Mr.Dilip Shyam

· Mrs.Champakali Shyam

This technique originally was practiced on

the walls of houses on clay surfaces using

earth colours or natural colours.

Nowadays, the designs are drawn with

rotring pens on paper and painted with

acrylic paints.

The pupils were regaled with mythological

stories regarding various birds and their

creation. The intricate designs and patterns

of the simple forms of the birds and trees

were very attractive and a challenge to copy.

The pupils had fun and discovered a whole

new visual language.

Madhubani Painting from Bihar

The experts involved were:

· Mr.Saroj Jha

· Mrs.Mamta Jha

The pupils were taught to draw and paint

this art form by using bamboo sticks and

acrylic colours. The detailed patterns were a

treat for the eyes. The pupils learned how

the mythological themes were executed on

walls and then in 1967 these designs were

later drawn on hand made paper. On the

whole it was a learning experience for the

teacher and the taught.

Visit to Rajpur Nature Film Festival

Students of Grade IX visited the Rajpur

Nature Film Festival, at the Civil Services

Officers Institute, Rajpur on April 16. This

festival which aims to celebrate the natural

bio-diversity of Dehradun, as well

as shed light on the

significance

and

vulnerability of

Rajpur as one of the last

remaining green belts of the city, hopes to

create awareness on the need to prioritize

environmental concerns along with

intelligent urban planning, and explore

options that encourage living in harmony

with nature. Reflection is a critical part of

powerful learning experiences and after

watching the thought provoking

documentaries, our students came back

enlightened and with food for thought.

Kāsiga Organizes Blood Donation Camp: Give blood, give life! On the occasion of World Haemophilia Day

(April 17, 2015), a blood donation camp was organized at Kasiga School. The event proved to be a grand success as a large number of staff members came forward to donate blood. The camp was organized by the Indian Medical Association. Prior to the camp, students and staff members were apprised of the benefits related to blood donation by the Volunteers of Indian Medical Association.

According to the information presented on the occasion, only 50 percent of the country's blood requirement is fulfilled through such blood donation camps. Hence, there is a need to create awareness amongst our youth for active participation in such a noble cause. Throughout the morning, there were smiles and laughter all around - a true embodiment of what we believe in - selfless service with a smile.

Fresher’s Night celebrated at Kāsiga School

Saturday, the 11th of April, was an evening of song and dance as the old and new students of Kāsiga enjoyed the evening together. With wonderful performances to start the evening, students were loudly cheered for playing different instruments, dancing and the grand finale by the School band ‘The Mad Hatters’. Sreesh Bakshi was brilliant on the Tabla. Charoen Singh and Julahdat from Thailand had the crowd enthralled with their performance of hip hop

dancing. Teeramet (Few), also from Thailand, set a foot tapping beat on the drums. Singing by a group of new and old girls, including Samprada Karki and Pratha Vohra, had the crowd asking for more. After these performances the boys and girls enjoyed dancing to popular music in the foyer. The beautiful back drop of the Mussoorie hills twinkling with lights was the perfect setting for new students to get to know their peers and together move forward to reach for the stars.

Kāsiga Shines at World Heritage

Day Quiz Across the World, World Heritage Day is celebrated on the 18th of April every year in order to commemorate the beauty, splendour and biological richness of World Heritage Sites. Students from Kasiga were invited to participate in a Quiz organized by Wildlife Institute of India on this occasion. The Event started with an introductory speech by Dr. P.K Mathur, Dean, and Faculty of Wildlife Science. The Guest of Honour was our Head of School Dr. Neeta Bali, who in her speech emphasized the importance of wildlife education at school level and exhorted the students to contribute their bit

towards their conservation. Dr. Bali reiterated the importance of unity amidst diversity as it was evident in the Quiz teams, where individual team members were from different schools. This was followed by the main event of the day, the Quiz Competition on Biodiversity

and Natural World Heritage. There was active participation by the students of all the three schools. Palash Tyagi’s team won the first prize. On this occasion, the first issue of the Natural Heritage E-Bulletin was released by the Dean, Wild Life Institute and Dr. Neeta Bali.

Scholastic Book Fair held at Kāsiga School

Kāsiga School hosted the Scholastic Book Fair from 6th to 8th April 2015. It was inaugurated by Dr. Neeta Bali, Principal Kāsiga School.

The Book Fair provided an exciting opportunity for the staff and students of Kāsiga to interact with the well known author and scientist Mr. Biman Basu. Mr. Basu won the 1994 NCSTC National Award for best science and technology coverage in mass media and has been in the forefront in popularizing science. He has also authored over 20 books and scripted several radio serials on science. The three days Book Fair was a wonderful opportunity for students of Kāsiga, to indulge in perusing through their favourite books

Workshops held in the Art School onthe12th of April, 2015 A group of excited youngsters assembled in the Art School at about 9:45am to participate in the workshops ‘Best out of Waste’ and ‘Printmaking with Stencil’ While one group used braided newspaper pipes to fashion a basket on an upside down

pot, the others used prepared stencils to make their own creations with sponge pieces and poster colours. The children were happy and some were thrilled with what they had been able to achieve. It was a fun- filled forty minutes for them!

Kāsiga Contributes to Mission ‘Save the Ganga’ with Padmashree Tom Alter

Kāsiga School Dehradun was host to a well acclaimed theatre personality, an intense actor and Padamshree awardee, Mr.Tom Alter, for three days. With his wit and ingenuity Mr. Tom Alter mesmerized the students and staff of Kāsiga with various facets of his journey starting from his hometown, Mussoorie, all the way to the film industry, Mumbai. Mr. Alter also encouraged the students to focus on achieving their dreams with hard work and dedication avoiding the temptation of shortcuts. Students also got the opportunity to interview him which was quite enlightening and an eye-opener. In a fitting finale to his visit to the school on Sunday the 5th April, 2015, Mr. Tom Alter presented his acting prowess in a dance drama on the theme: GANGA- A SAGA OF BHAGIRATHI. The musical enactment was presented by Mr. Tom Alter himself who was accompanied by classical dance exponent Mrs.Sharmila Bhartari, staff and students of Kasiga School. The dance drama supported the mission and vision of our Honourable Prime Minister Mr. Narender Modi of saving the GANGA. The School chairman: Mr.Ramesh Batta, HOS: Dr. Mrs. Neeta Bali, Directors: Mr.Sidharth Batta and Mrs.Chandini Batta were present to extend their support to make this event a memorable moment for Kāsiga School Dehradun.