After a fierce competition, six schools emerged victorious, with Bhavans Poochaty claiming the coveted title.
The quiz was expertly conducted by the knowledgeable Mr. Snehaj Srinivas, whose guidance ensured the smooth running of the event.
The event was graced by the esteemed Mr. Ajosh Thomas of GITAM University and Ms. Rachel Ignatius, Principal of The Choice School.
Through the CATD (Choice Academic for Teachers Development) program, we ensure our educators receive robust training.
Last week’s meditation program at Choice House was a testament to our dedication, underscoring our commitment to fostering a supportive environment for both professional development and overall wellness.
Our Family Day is a testament to this commitment, bringing parents and children together for a day of fun, learning, and creating lifelong memories. This year’s event was particularly special, featuring a mesmerizing kalaripayattu performance by a mother-son duo and an energetic exercise display by students using hoops.
Parents and children also had a blast participating in a variety of challenging but fun games together. The day ended with a delicious feast and a raffle draw.
Thank you to all our families for making our Family Day a resounding success!
Under the auspices of the Outreach programme of Kochi Muziris Biennale, a one day workshop was held at The Choice School for 7th and 8th Graders on the 18 of February.
In the morning a group of about 15 students from Grades 7 and 8 and a few teachers gathered in the Primary quadrangle for one of the most beautiful sessions of self reflection , facilitated by two lovely ladies-Ayushi and Kripa.
They used the life history of Padma Bhushan Somnath Hore, a famous painter and sculptor, who lived during the British times and had experienced the Bengal famine, to drive home the concept of the process of ‘being wounded’ and ‘healing’.
How he dealt with the wounds received by him due to what he saw and his way of healing his wounds was made the basis of this workshop, leading our 15 young students of Grades 7 and 8 and the teachers to delve deep into themselves and come out with what kind of wounds they had been dealt with by life and how they had healed themselves, if at all the process had been completed.
The depth of understanding in each of the children and their way of expressing and explaining what had traumatised them and ‘wounded’ them was an eye opener for all the adults present there, including the facilitators. They confessed that they had not expected this kind of an outpouring of feelings which was very mature in its expression and very honest and RAW!!
There were a few who refused to speak up and they were allowed their space.
To quote one of the participants: “There was an activity wherein the participants were divided into groups and they had to choose words with only one vowel and present an artwork with limited colours, time and thoughts. This pushed us out of our boundaries to work with constraints. The medium used for this activity was paper and marker pens.’
“The next activity was an individual activity where in students were allowed to express their feelings of hurt through the fabric and explore the fabric while wounding it. They could tear, crumble, paint or do anything creative to wound the fabric. The fabric was then passed on to the student on their right who had the task of healing the fabric. All of this was to be done keeping the purpose in mind. The medium used for this activity was fabric and paints.
The main idea of these activities was to give students an outlook on the fact that it is totally normal to be wounded and that healing is a part of the process. Metaphorically speaking they can be considered as two sides of coins. The objective was to pour out the thoughts we often keep within, perhaps, scared to share.’
The children sat mesmerised as Ms.Preethi led them on this trail where they heard ‘the jungles whisper’ to help save and preserve India’s delightful flora and fauna in the forests. It was a riveting session of book reading peppered with a lot of interactive discussions on the ‘cruelty’ of mankind towards nature and the fading species of extinct animals, birds and plants.
The hour sped by as Ms.Preethi made the stories come alive by using visual, auditory, role playing and storytelling methods. The children had plenty of questions to ask and received a lot of information in return. There was even a quick quiz played by all of them on extinct animals of Kerala. Ms.Preethi, at the end of the session, made the children happy by personally autographing all the copies of her book carried by the children, on that day, to school.
For Subid Ahimsa, there is nothing in the world that is waste, and this is something the IITian-turned-toymaker reiterates at a workshop at the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
The IB PYP 4 children, and some art students of Grades 4 and 5 had the good fortune of attending the toy making workshop in Fort Kochi’s Cabral Yard on January 19,2023.
Addressing a session on toy-making using waste material, he told the participants that children have been his teachers, giving him fresh ideas. “In all my workshops, I may not be sure if I am imparting any ideas to the kids, but I always gain something new from them.”
Subid aims at making children understand the importance of waste management. Through making toys from ‘waste’ or low-cost/easily-available materials, Subid is trying to spread the spirit of ‘ahimsa’.
The participants from The Choice School were made to realize that now is the time to learn, unlearn and connect with nature and surroundings. They were told very categorically that they must realize the usefulness of things we throw away. Everything can be useful; Instead of destroying trash, we must think for a while and try and see what we can do to it to turn it into something useful.
Thus we had children make whistles out of empty pen refills and pen holders, Paper fans, magic paper wands, spinning toys using old CDs and flying toys.
It was a day well spent!
