Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine;
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Safely through the world we go.
- William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”
Yet another session comes to an end. A session which unfortunately, has again been lurking with uncertainties.
Travelling down the memory lane, at the beginning of the school year, there were no physical classes and all learning took place online. Not missing out on the Pre-Primary, we resumed online classes for them as well and meticulously planned their classes with special attention towards fulfilling the needs of the little hearts and minds. The plan included redesigning the teaching-learning approach by incorporating a lot of activities which were a mélange of art and craft, exciting celebrations of the national and regional festivals and role plays, along with academics to ensure that we reach out to the children to a great extent and help them grow, learn and expand their creative and imaginative horizons eminently.
Then, mid-session, the schools reopened to everyone’s respite but in hybrid mode and initially for senior classes, followed by junior classes. All rejoiced to have physical classes eventually with necessary precautions.
Primary wing students stepping into the campus after a long gap was a memorable day. Children were thrilled to be in school again and participated enthusiastically in various activities such as Games, Music, Art, etc., organised for them.
We had to maintain a delicate balance between online and offline classes, which created enormous stress and anxiety amongst students, parents and teachers. However, we still clinged onto the hope and moved ahead with a positive attitude. With our resolute focus on student’s learning accompanied by parent’s support, we continued undauntedly harmonising online and offline modes as per the instructions from the government.
We tried our best to make up for the lost time for the students, by organising a series of matches in Cricket, Volleyball, Throw ball, Basketball at the school between students and staff members, to ensure physical fitness, hone their sport skills and to inculcate the sporting spirit, which would help them in their life ahead.
Numerous activities like Debates, Declamation, Puppet Shows and Science Exhibition were also arranged, for their all-round development, which was severely affected during the online classes.
We had also arranged a Guest Lecture for the ISC student, presented by Mr. Pankaj Kumar Trivedi, who is the Managing Committee member of Hyderabad Branch of SIRC of ICAI since 2016 and also has served as the Chairman of Hyderabad Branch in the Year 2020-21, in an effort to provide students exposure on ‘Trends in the Field of Banking and Finance’ and to make them aware of the different values required for different career prospects.
The Founder’s day and Director Sir’s birthday too were celebrated observing all the essence of the school’s philosophy.
Students of ISC and ICSE nearly had a new experience of appearing physically for their Semester-1 examination after a gap of almost two years.
Maintaining the culture of Sherwood Group of Institutions, we had Blessings Day celebrations to bless and wish the ISC (XII) and ICSE (X) students the very best for their coming board examinations and future ahead. A havan was performed symbolising burning out all the past unnecessary deeds and to start afresh.
These trying times have made us embrace change as the new norm and with a great teachers team which thrives on change, exploration and progress, focussed on accelerating learning at the child’s speed, when the school opened by providing children opportunities of the highest quality to meet the diverse range of learning needs.
It is rightly said that Challenges make us wiser and stronger. We learnt to value everything, we had been taking for granted and we then learnt to plan better.
Let us celebrate small yet significant successes which the children, parents and the school have achieved this year. The most significant being ‘remaining healthy’.
We express our deepest gratitude to all the parents for sustaining faith in us and supporting us in every walk of this challenging journey.
We hope that we may see good times returning soon and thus we plan ahead for a fresh new session with renewed vigour and zeal.
We feel a sense of delight and relief, while planning the new session with the usual yet so essential activities like Assemblies, Exhibitions, Annual Day, Sports Day, Academic enhancements, which lead to an overall development of all their gifted faculties in the children.
The essence of physical meeting can never be achieved by virtual meetings. We are also planning to strengthen the parent & school bond with frequent parent-teacher meetings, conferences and get-togethers.
Academic arena will witness a newer approach to teaching-learning with the implementation of Experiential-based Learning, supported credibly by the Mathematics & Physics Learning Zone.
Mathematics & Physics Learning Zone being a new addition - a dream of our Director, who has always believed and encouraged ‘learning by experience’ rather than ‘rote learning’. His passion for teaching and concern for students energised him to work tirelessly for several weeks to set up the Learning Zone.
Experiential Learning approach helps children think for themselves independently. They learn different concepts in a peer group at their own learning pace, involving themselves in discovering, reflecting and applying the concepts. This approach also helps in developing their communication skills and self-confidence, thereby strengthening their decision-making skills by responding to and solving real world problems and processes.
The Mathematics & Physics Learning Zone will commendably assist the students to master various Concepts and thereby to reinforce their fundamentals in Mathematics & Physics, paving way to IIT foundation.
In order to catch up on the lost time, special attention will be on brushing-up the fundamentals in all the subjects. Hands-on activities will become an integral part of teaching-learning for better understanding of different concepts.
No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again…
- Buddha
Let us move on with strong belief, confidence and oneness, with the objective of giving each child an opportunity to unveil his/her hidden skills and nurture them with utmost care and affection.
Koduri Ishitha of Class X who has been representing Hyderabad State Cricket team has been selected for the State Senior Women’s T-20 tournament 2022.
We wish her the very best for the upcoming matches.
We are sure that this is just the beginning of many more laurels coming your way, Ishitha !!
Here are Harshita.G ,Class XII and Atharva Havale,Class XII in conversation with Ms Papia Choudhury ,Principal Sherwood Public School. Ms Choudhury who took over the reins of the school in March this academic year sheds light on her journey as a teacher, sharing with the students how Sherwood played a big role in her professional transformation.
Atharva Havale, Class XII
Harshita G, Class XII
Ms Papia Choudhury
Principal, Sherwood Public School
To be honest, 23 years sounds like a really long time. However, this has been the best time of my life, learning, growing and self-developing. These 23 years have been filled with lots of adventures, finessing my skills, applying my knowledge and learning new concepts to improve the quality of education. I was born as a teacher in Sherwood only under our guru Yogendra Kumar Gurwara. Quite indeed, these have been the transformational 23 years of my life.
Since early childhood, while growing up, I always wanted to make my career in teaching, whether it be a teacher or a lecturer. I want to be around kids, teach them and learn with them in the process. I am thankful to the almighty to have given me this opportunity. My constant urge for learning, being patient and loving the company of kids probably inspired me to become a teacher while having fun in the process of becoming one. I was greatly inspired by my teachers at the Ramakrishna Mission. My Parents also always encouraged me for the same.
Happy times come and go, but the best childhood memories stay forever. As my father was in the Army ,I was forced to change my school from time to time. In class IV, my parents decided to sent me to a boarding school.I completed my schooling in Muradpur Ramakrishna Mission in West Bengal.That was the golden periods of my life .Assembly Hall, Playground ,Art room, Music room and the laboratories are fresh in my mind. Needless to say, we never used electronics/ phones or laptops when we were children and that has shaped our life differently. My teachers were extremely loving & caring.The bond that I had with them paved the way ahead for me as a teacher.
Sherwood is one such place where everyone – teachers, domestic staff, office staff are treated with equal respect and warmth. This culture was created by the founders of our school – Mr Yogendra Kumar Gurwara and Mrs Jyoti Gurwara..
Unique style of conducting the Assembly and the prayers of our school give me lots of motivation and strength to work with the same spirit always.
Sir’s passion towards a noble mission of providing children with a pleasant educational experience, his hard core dedication to his mission, the tireless efforts he puts in to work for his subjects of interest , namely ,Mathematics, Physics & Geography – all these are never seen before traits in an individual. The fact that he is approachable to students, parents and staff makes him stand apart as a director.
His guidance throughout the years has helped me flourish in my career as a teacher. Following the sequence in teaching, the use of teaching aids and considering the child as the most important person during the process of teaching learning has helped all, not just me including all those who have worked here at any point of time to become better teachers.
I have become more patient, learnt to face challenges – personal or professional with a smile and am able to manage to sort out issues without being biased or hurting one’s emotion. The ability to observe the little things around us, appreciate them, organize and conduct an activity or event effectively taking care of the minute details, accepting & forgiving ,recognizing good things & derecognizing the shortcomings– these are traits that I have imbibed through Sir’s guidance. Everything that happens around us occurs for a reason, every event that we conduct in school has a purpose, understanding the purpose is important before getting into it. This is the way Sir has taught us to work and it has proved to be so effective.
Absolutely. There is a well defined balance between my personal and professional life. The best thing to strike a balance is to have my priorities with respect to the school days and my family life strikingly clear. When my priorities are clear, I am able to execute them in order to have the best of both my worlds. I have a great support of my family members which helps me to balance personal & professional life.
Personally for me, the progress of the school means carrying forward the legacy and teachings by our beloved Director sir and Jyoti ma’am.
I have the following immediate goals to work for:
’School education is a joyful journey, not a race’’.‘Being a parent myself, I just want the parents to understand that it is important to understand that each child is unique and has unique abilities and dreams. Instead of imposing our dreams on our children, let us understand their capabilities and help them achieve their dreams and stand back when they fall and support them in everything they do.
We appreciate the confidence and trust you place in us .On this note, a word of gratitude to all the parents for their extended cooperation.The process of teaching and learning is possible only when parents and the teachers work in sync.Do continue to support our children and stay in touch with the school activities
The pandemic situation did not dampen the spirits of we teachers .The entire teaching fraternity at Sherwood Public School was always geared up to provide a wonderful virtual school experience to all our students. The pandemic has taught us “Tough times don't last but tough people do'' .Our focus is not only to achieve 100% learning outcomes across all subjects but also to enhance the communication, social and research skills of our students.
Pandemic taught us to be flexible to each child’s needs.
It also made us realize how fragile our life is and how we should be grateful for each and every day of our life and make the most of it. Pandemic taught us the value of life as well as the value of relations.
It will indeed be an incredible experience during this digital era to work along with our children and to help empower them with knowledge in new, interesting and fun ways. The pandemic thankfully has subsided bringing in fresh air for the students and teachers to get back to normal amidst all the uncertainties. However, at the same time it has taught all our Sherwoodians to bounce back with enthusiasm, zeal and vibrant smiles.
Learning is never holistic if it is just bookish knowledge or if it is just the co curricular activities. It is a subtle combination of both. Since my early life, I was very fond of co curricular activities as they gave me a sense of working with different people and I really enjoyed doing it.
Every soul on earth is gifted with a set of talents and potential. In Sherwood we believe normal schooling and passion go parallel. Through CCA we give exposure to children in different activities such as art, music, dance, poetry, oration skills etc.
Children want them to be heard, CCA allows them to vent out their emotions and ideas they are good at. Here in Sherwood schools, we conduct preliminary rounds for all the events which ensures that every child is given a chance to express and showcase their skills. Participation in cocurricular activities ,Music talent search, Science and Craft exhibition Annual Day etc inculcate in them the virtues that mold their personality. Organizing skills, time management ,team work, punctuality etc are imbibed by the students by participating in such activities. Adventure, especially the Himalayan excursions help children to become fearless. These are moments that cling to their heart and mind forever. They might forget the concepts taught in the class in due course of time, but their learning experiences during activities last forever.
I listen to music, classical,Hindustani,Rabindra sangeet,folk songs.old melodies. I love to dance too. I participate in dance dramas as well as choreograph dance dramas. I like to travel too. Meeting and connecting with people is also my hobby.
One of our school quotes says “Tough times never lasts, tough people do”. I too believe that any tough time is temporary, and by overcoming it we become stronger and with this learning from our past we can deal with the present and future. I don’t get carried away by the joy of the present nor am I worried about the mystery of the future. We just have to learn from the present, face it with a smile. A smile can treat a wounded heart.
I strongly affirm the fact that Dynamism exists in all of us. Happiness is just a state of mind and I believe that we all have the capability to be happy and influence and inspire people in our own little ways. Whatever your heart wishes and however it does with a strong mind one can achieve it with a positive spirit. In these ambiguous situations that we are in, I place my complete trust in the staff and students and would like to see them blossom into enthusiastic youngsters who will rule the world.
The school is the place of pride, dignity, knowledge and wisdom. It symbolizes the growth, development, success and supremacy of a Nation. Empowering and inspiring all students to excel as lifelong learners. To make useful human resources who can overcome life challenges with a smile and enthusiasm.