November 2023 Newsletter

 




We marked the significance of Dasai at a morning assembly before school shut for the break. 

When we returned, we organised the first GAS Fête to raise funds for the Music & the Arts and the Health & Community Missions. It was yet again, a powerful collaboration between the Staff, Parent Guardian Council, the Student Council and Class 10 students for whom, this was their culminating action project under their Adolescent Life Skills course. The footfall was over 1,500 with many friends of our students, alumni, community members and students from other schools visiting. We managed to raise INR 90,000. 

Our School Orchestra and Music Teachers performed at the Sikkim State Education Awards on the invitation of Mount Zion Schools trustee, Sharolyn Zimba, including arranging overnight the favourite Hindi and Nepali song of the Chief Guest, The Hon’ble Chief Minister. The Cello and Viola Ensemble (Classes 3 to 10) performed an original composition of our Cello Teacher, Devraj Rai at the Child Rights Day at Kalimpong Town Hall organised by the Kalimpong DIstrict Child Protection Unit.

We celebrated Tihar in school with an Inter-House rangoli competition and the singing of Bahilini and Deusi (and Aashish) including a special song organised by the Hindu teachers before we took a break for the festival. 

We returned to a visit from representatives Antonio Casla and Daniel Vallejo of our funders, Manos Unidas, Spain who were pleased to see our work and the impact of their support. We also were visited by Harmony McMillan, a music teacher who initiated a Pen Pal Project with our Class 6 students and those from Mother Teresa Middle School in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, part of the Jesuit Network.


As we prepared to close the year, we celebrated our second ever Family Day in each of the Village Zones, an action project of the Life Skills and Facilitation Group of teachers who worked together with the Zonal representatives of the Parent Guardian Council with the aims of putting the children at the centre of the community by bringing the children, parents/ guardians and the village together in a fun atmosphere to play games, share their reflections and enjoy a potluck. The school distributed chocolates shaped like a violin. 

We also celebrated Children's Day, the farewell of our outgoing Class 10 batch of 2023 and 2024 since we were not able to give the previous batch a farewell last year, as well as the farewell of our American volunteer, Matthew Weindling. We also felicitated the Student Council and the Parent Guardian Council. The event included performances by the staff, parents and Class 9 students and ended in an elaborate lunch and desert prepared by the staff. 

Class 10 have begun their Trimester 3 Written Evaluations/ Send Up Exams and the rest of the school is gearing up for the Term 2 Written Evaluations.

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