The Monthly Newsletter & School Blog of the Gandhi Ashram School, Kalimpong
April & May 2023 Newsletter
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Post the Easter break, Jenny Cafiso, Executive Director and Juan Emilio Hernandez, International Programs Coordinator of the Canadian Jesuits International visited us. Sr. Ann Stevens SJC, General Councillor of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny also visited us.
We also has the Inauguration of the Campus road by the GTA Chairman Anit Thapa, Accompanied by MLA Ruden Lepcha, Municipality Chairperson Rabi Pradhan, Councillors. The GTA has promised a football ground for the school.
Our Music Team worked along with Belgian conductor, Rozemarijn Vanwijnsberghe to present the ‘Hope Concert’ with over 170 students in the chorus and orchestra, performing extracts from the Oratorio ‘Heavens’ by young beligan composer, Philippe Lamouris, in multiple languages, drawing from spiritual traditions of the world. It was truly the most modern repertoire that the team ever performed and the students rose up to the challenge in style.
We kickstarted our Annual Interdisciplinary Project, ‘Our Common Home; Our Shared Future’ on Earth Day. We will mark World Environment Day as culmination. A Dance Musical with the School Chorus and Orchestra as well as an exhibition by students, staff and parents as well as the Seeds of Hope and Action (SOHA) Exhibition in collaboration with Bharat Soka Gakkai will be presented on Sat, June 3.
As part of the Project, our Classes 8,9,10 and Staff participated in the 3-day Nature in Art Festival organised by the Himalayan Trust for Natural History Art in Pudung with many exhibitions, workshops and activities. We also gave a workshop ‘Music inspires Art; Art inspires Music’, with the nature theme. It was well received.
We invited two actors visiting from Uruguay to present their show, ‘Rio: Khola’ at the school teaching the children the importance of water. Two staff members attended their 5-day training and they also conducted a workshop for our Class 10 students. Drama truly brought out the hidden qualities of our students.
We have also been presenting Class assemblies on the topic and approaching the project through various subjects. The parents body received a workshop on Zero-Waste Village and Zero-Waste Campus’ by Kamlesh Rai from Darjeeling.
Taking the School Year Theme ‘We Build Each Other’ forward, we have launched a year-long project ‘Adolescent Life SKills Education and Staff Capacity Building’ with Naveen Jhajharia.
We had encouraging outcomes from the Madhyamik exams. All 26 of our students except 2 did well at the Madhyamik exams. One of our girls stood third in St. Philomena’s School. 3 disqualified candidates from last year passed this year.
The English and Nepali Teams organised Tug-O-Words, our Inter House Debates.
The Class 9 and 10 students appeared for their Trimester 1 Written Evaluations. We bid farewell to our dear Fr. Binod Kerketta SJ for his new stage of formation and future ministry.
We have had two very eventful months. We had the investiture ceremony for our Student Council
The highlight of the month was the culmination of our Annual Interdisciplinary Project - ‘Our Common Home; Our Shared Future’ that marked World Environment Day. The project itself was primarily inspired by our Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ and the 4th Universal Apostolic Preference of the Society of Jesus, passionately pursued by our Director, Fr. Paul D’Souza SJ. Both, very strongly placing humans at the centre of the crisis - acknowledging that we are part of the problem and inviting us to be part of the solution. The Dance Musical organised by our Music & the Arts Team, showcased dance, movement pieces, a mime routine, choral and orchestral works - I am the Earth by Gyln Lehmann and Prakriti by the Nepali band, The Shadows. These were all based on the theme assigned to each class from LKG to Class 10. The Seeds of Hope and Action Exhibition of the Bharat Soka Gakkai was inaugurated by Mrs. Rajni Tshering, a senior member of the BSG in Kalimpong and retired teacher o...
The GASChorus, Musician and Dancers from Xavier Sangeetanjali and Young Musicians from Delhi and Mumbai toured with the GASOrchestra for a week presenting one-hour-long concerts at Siliguri, Kurseong, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Gangtok as part of the Strings of Hope Concert Tour. The project was a powerful union of two of our projects - Strings Concert Tour Project (started in 2011 by the then Music volunteer Virgil Vihaan Sequeira at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai) and the Hope Choral Project (started in 2023 by Belgian conductor Rozemarijn Vanwijnsberghe). We are indebted to our organisers in each location - Fr. Edu Arockiaraj SJ and Fr. Tommy SJ at Matigara, Fr. Kevin Moktan SJ and his team at St. Alphonsus, Mr. Cassian Dukpa, Ms Dipika Adhikari and the team at Hayden Hall and Fr. Edward Baretto at Darjeeling, Br. Gilbert and our school team at Kalimpong and Mrs. Laxmi Rai Gurung and the staff at Tashi Namgyal Academy and Ms. Sharolyn Zimba at Gangtok. The tour has had an impact beyon...
We started School Year 2023 with great clarilty. The Staff spent 3 days in fruitful sessions. The first day was spent with development professional, counselor & special educator, Naveen Jhajharia, who took the teachers on a journey of discovery into the needs of the students and their own needs through well designed tools and team games. The second day was spent reviewing the Strategy, Policies, Standard Operating Procedures and Roles for 2023. The theme for the School Year 2023 was chosen as ‘We Build Each Other’. Specific systems were reformulated to ensure that every primary stakeholder - students, teachers and parents can be effectively accompanied through this year. We introduced Vocational Guidance for Classes 6 to 10 at an exposure level. On the third day, Fr. Paul D’Souza SJ gave a session for staff to go deeper into the governance, spirituality, documents of the Society of Jesus and the formation process of candidates, connecting to what it means for our school ...
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