Millennium National School

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Annual Gathering – done

The gathering was AMAZING. There is just no other word for it – we had a lot of fun organizing it, and the kids had a lot of fun participating in it! As usual, we had it at the Yashwantrao Chauhan Auditorium for 2 days. Its such a well planned affair, that the Yashwantrao Chauhan Auditorium staff compliment us every year – that we are by far the most organized and careful school to celebrate their annual gathering in the auditorium!

OK – I know I have said this before – but we make sure ALL the kids in the school get to participate in the gathering. At least in one of the items. And we do the make up, we do the costumes – all the parents need to do is drop their kid to the school, and come to the auditorium later. And of course, the kids anchor the show – they introduce the next item, crack a joke or two, sing a rhyme, or even start and end the show. These features, we believe, make our gathering so different from other schools.

We had a lot of different things in the gathering – plays, dances, monologues and demonstrations. Kids right from Nursery to the 9th performed very well on stage. I will put up some videos and pictures soon. The gathering ended on a high note, when all the parents, teachers and children danced to the “Final Dance”. This Final Dance has now become a cult song to end the Annual Gathering. Its a medley of songs that we have made consisting of the most upbeat songs (Chicken dance, Best years and rigga-digga-ding-dong song). It consists of dancing all the steps that were performed in the days of the annual gathering, in all songs, to the beat of this song. We have the usual children dance to the Final Dance once, and then invite the parents and teachers to join in, for the second time.

The smiles and glows on the faces of children and parents at the end of the dance is proof enough to show that the Gathering was a huge success!

Now, its back to school. And time to get serious about studies and sports! The photos and CD’s will be available for sale in a couple of days. Will let you know when!


Unit 3 done – now what?

The Annual Gathering, of course! For the next week, all the kids in the school are going to be practicing for the Annual Gathering. Yes, ALL. We make sure all kids take part in the gathering. For us, this is one of the grandest things that happens in the academic year. We have hired the Yashwantrao Chauhan Auditorium for the 8th and the 9th of February – and we will send out invitations to parents in some time.

Wait and watch this space, for more on the Annual Gathering!


Papers Uploaded

The Unit 3 sample papers are uploaded. Find them here.


Treasure Hunt

The treasure hunt was a huge success! After being postponed once, due to lack of clues, the kids had a blast trying to figure out clues. We had 2 treasure hunt categories – one for the 5th grade, and one for the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade kids. Since the 5th grade kids were doing it for the first time – the clues were easy – but the other experienced had a tough time.

Finally, a group from the 9th grade won (they did last year too – when they were in 8th).
You won’t believe what keen eyes these kids have. We thought we had chosen clues which were not easily noticeable, but heck, no! These kids found them out in just a matter of minutes!

This year, we also added another twist – ME! I was the corrupt guy in the treasure hunt – and I was giving away clues – but not for free! I was charging them 10 minutes of their time to give them a clue and send them off to the proper place!

Here are a series of pictures – they dont capture the mood – but they at least give a hint!
Its Begun!      The teacher is the clue!      Is it this flagpole - or is it the trees?      Too many clues in the waiting room!


Latest events happening at the school

First and foremost, the Annual Gathering preparation is gathering steam. Since all the students participate, it took us sometime to figure out the items and the participating members. Its almost finalised now and once the students get back from the Christmas break (which, by the way, is from the 23rd of December to the 1st of January – school starts on the 2nd of January 2007) the students will practice hard for the big days! The atmosphere from now on will be electric in the school.
We organize a Christmas party for the KG and 1st, 2nd std kids. We have a Santa, we have chocolates, and we have song and dance! If you think the other kids miss out on the fun – you’re wrong! We have a Treasure Hunt in the school for the rest! Since we have a huge campus, complete with all sorts of ‘hints’, we have a massive treasure hunt, which is not only physically tiring, but mentally tiring too! Come take a look in the school on Friday 22nd after 3:30pm to see what I mean!
Next, its picnic season now! Our 3rd Std kids went to the Coca-Cola factory, 4th are scheduled to go to Sinhagad and so on. The KG kids are going to have a special treat as we are organizing a fun fair for them. There are going to be merry-go-rounds, jumping jacks, horses, camels, baloons, sugar candies and loads of fun games!

Its great to share things that are happening in the school with everyone (there are so many things happening at the school at any point of time!!) – the blog idea seems to have worked out good!


KG Syllabus Uploaded

The Unit-3 KG syllabus is put up. You can find it here.

We are also planning to make a CD of all the songs we teach, so that parents can understand the tune that their child keeps humming at home!


Interesting article about the state of the education in India

I found an interesting article over at the New York Times titled A College Education Without Job Prospects

From what the article says, if that is really what the education system in India is like, we (as in Millennium) are doing a great job. I know this sounds as if I am blowing my own trumpet, but it is true. We are so anal about these things. We keep monitoring to check whether English is the only language spoken by teachers. We even ask teachers who teach other languages to explain in English. We try to make the children creative by asking them things they see around them, and asking them to write in their own words. We only help them when there is a spelling error or an error in sentence construction. We keep telling them to speak in English, not because its going to help us, but because it will help them. Constantly talking about this makes them think about this a little seriously – and it shows!
I hope other schools follow our example. We have to work towards improving personalities and understanding of our  students, leading to their own welfare – indirectly working towards the welfare of the nation!


Admissions for the next academic year begin on 1st of December 2006!

For existing parents, make sure you have filled out the undertaking forms!

For prospective parents, browse through our website and find out more about the school!


Some old news…

September 28 , 2006
The last few days were very hectic. We had the gymnastic and swimming demonstrations for parents. Then we had a intra school quiz competition from Maggi titled “Maggi Good Food Quiz”.

September 12 , 2006
Two students of ours – Sagar Kelkar and Yash Garje got the 4th and the 5th prize in the Interschool Mallakhamb competition organized by the Zilla Parishad on the Maharashtra Mandal premises. We were the only English medium school to participate in the contest.

September 3 , 2006
Mrs. Phatak received the Rotary Leadership Award for her outstanding contribution in the field of Education

September 3 , 2006
The new Unit Test – 1 sample papers have been uploaded. You can see them in the papers section.

For some really old stuff, check out our archives.