“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination and a hard-to-find alloy called guts”

Global City International School, Bangalore organized the 3rd GCIS Cup, an Interschool Soccer, Throwball and Basketball Tournament in the school premises on 26th and 27th October 2017. The fantastic turnout from various schools and the pleasant weather were a perfect boost for the students on the first day of the two- day event and an air of festivity prevailed throughout.

The event kick started with the Principal’s address. He said that GCIS believes in a holistic development of an individual and said that communication skills, which is important for an individual, could be easily achieved through sports. He urged the students to play with a spirit of sportsmanship.

The Chief Guest for the day was Mr. Jagadish Yadav, a Professional Badminton Player, and Gold Medalist in Jamaica International 2017. He declared the 3rd GCIS Cup open and in his address said that it was important to give equal importance to both sports and academics and learn to balance them. He impelled the parents and teachers to encourage students to take up any one sport and give their 100 % so that we could hope to see our tricolor flying high in the next Olympics.

A total of 22 schools participated in the tournament. There were in all 62 teams with 618 participants. In Throw ball, National Public School emerged Winners and New Baldwin International School were the Runners up. In Soccer U- 12, Parikrma beat DPS East to lift the trophy and in the U- 14 category Treamis School beat DPS East to win the cup. In Basket ball Boys, National Public School, Indiranagar emerged winners and Runners up were New Horizon, Gurukul. In Basket ball Girls, the winners were Bishop Cottons and Runners up were New Horizon, Gurukul.

The school also awarded Best Players for all the games and declared the Best Goalkeeper for the Soccer teams. The best coaches were recognized and felicitated.

Mr.Arthur, Senior Coach of Bishop Cotton Girls School came over to the podium voluntarily and appreciated our school and the management, for organizing the event in a wonderful manner. He pointed out that, out of all his experience in taking his team to various levels like State, National or International, he felt this was by far, the best tournament in his 40 years of experience. All the coaches also appreciated our ambience, systematic planning, fair play and the overall experience they had with us.

Grandparents are a family’s greatest treasure, the founders of a loving legacy, the greatest storytellers, the keepers of traditions. Grandparents are the family’s strong foundation. Through their special love and care, grandparents keep a family close at heart. To honour them GCIS – CBSE Grade I & II celebrated Lights Camera Action on 10th & 11th November, 2017.

The function started with welcoming the grandparents followed by classical dance performance by our students of grade I & II. Followed by the first category performance ‘The Rising Stars’ where the grandparents sang beautiful songs along with their grandchild.

To balance the tones set by the events so far, we had a The Great Out Door Champs and Draw Sketch Doodle early in the morning at 8:30am in which grandparents and the grandchild as a team participated with great zeal. The winning teams were appreciated with certificates and a small trophy. Vibrant music and scintillating grandparent-grandchild combinations in Fashion Fiesta made these events runaway hits with all those present. Then the grandparents danced their heart out on the stage.

The students gave a closing performance for their loving grandparents. The mood of the audience was one of exultation and everyone seemed to be very ecstatic. The look of contentment on the faces of grandparents, parents, grand children and all present in the audience made us feel that another event from GCIS has been truly successful.

Collaboration spurs innovation because bringing together groups of people who have different ideas, approaches, experiences, and areas of expertise creates a fertile environment for generating new concepts and methods. Mrs. Elena Averina, coming from Russia with AFS Intercultural Programs, has worked with the Cambridge teachers during her visit to GCIS. She spent a long time in many classrooms where she got a good feel of our practices and also gave her valuable input on various subjects to the students. The main purpose of the visit is to work together to achieve lasting and scalable educational insights. As this partnership continues to expand, Mrs. Elena will be reaching out to faculty to work with Russian schools.

Ultimately, at the heart of GCIS is the recognition that we can better achieve the mission of helping all students by working cooperatively rather than separately.

We welcome Dr. Sumer Singh to the GCIS Family!

Dr. Sumer Singh is a visionary educationalist who has over the past decades shaped key educational initiatives across the country and influenced international educators across Europe and Asia.

Dr. Singh’s quest in enabling Global Citizenship begins with the intent of using education as a key part of setting the basis for learning the nuances of a world without borders and embracing the diversity of regional cultures.

In this quest Dr. Singh’s leadership was heralded by several schools and organizations of international repute and he had served as:

• Director, Asian School, Deharadun
• Board Member, Lawrence School, Lovedale, Ooty
• Director and Principal of Daly College, Indore
• Member G-20 (USA)
• Executive Member and Trustee of Round Square, UK
• Advisor (Education), Government of Punjab
• Principal, Lawrence School, Himachal Pradesh

Dr. Singh’s continuing passion in changing education delivery models and bringing them to current relevance in a world driven by scientific, engineering and Information Technology revolutions continues unabated.

Dr. Singh is involved with leaders in the educational areas who will drive the future:

• Advisor, Global City International School, Bangalore
• Board Member, Mayo College and Mayo girls school, Rajasthan
• Board Member, AFS India (USA)
• Member, World Leading Schools Association, Netherlands
• Partner ICU2, Paris
• Member, Indian Public Schools Society (Doon School)
• Advisor, Sanskaar Valley School, (Dainik Bhaskar Group)
• Advisor, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior

GCIS and Dr. Sumer Singh will work together to further accelerate our journey of providing truly world class education.

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page’

GCIS, a partner school of AFS India (an international, voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit exchange organization), organized the second AFS Inter-school Educational Fest in the school premises on 3rd November, 2017. It was attended by more than 150+ participants from 13 schools of Bangalore. The day long festivities saw students spiritedly participating in events ranging from literary to visual and performing arts.

The day began with active participation from all the participating schools and the environment was filled with energy and excitement of all students. However, the main goal of the event was not about winning or losing, it was about providing the experience of intercultural communication. To meet this objective, 20 AFS exchange students had come from all over the world especially for this fest. These young ambassadors from United States of America, Italy, Thailand, Austria, Germany and Japan conducted workshops and presentations for all the participants. The presentations included introduction of their countries, interesting facts, superstitions and beliefs. This was followed by a Question and Answer session. While interacting with the students, they talked about the value of exchange program to promote Intercultural Learning.

It was sensational! Vibrant! The AFS Bangalore Chapter and GCIS globalized the classrooms in today’s interconnected world. The victory lies in building international bridges, inspiring love for other cultures, languages, and open minds!

One of the best ways of learning science is to do research and experiments by oneself. At GCIS, we use Butterfly Field Kits to achieve this. These kits are syllabus oriented and the students can perform the experiments related to the lessons taught in class on their own. The educators demonstrate these experiments in the class and the students follow suit, and do it themselves. This develops a scientific attitude in them and they begin to understand the subject better. They tinker and come up with new ideas and better ways of doing things. The principles of science are brought to life through the hands-on method. Their concepts become stronger and they learn faster when they do these experiments and infer from them. It helps them solve problems in daily life which are based on concepts learnt in class. Learning by doing through these kits in GCIS is great fun.

The Field trip to the post office was a valuable learning experience for the Kindergarten of GCIS. To share the joy of Diwali and also to learn the traditional ways of communication, the children had prepared beautiful Diwali cards for their parents and visited the post office and posted their cards in person. They enjoyed their trip to the post office by singing merrily all the way. On reaching the place they were gradually guided through the procedures from posting their cards to dispatching it. They were also taught about the various variety of stamps and post cards that they can avail at different rates. The children had great learning time and they also pause at several places, to take pictures…

It was a delight for them. Field trips are the most exciting, adventurous and knowledgeable events in a child’s life and GCIS aims at fulfilling all those requirements for the development of a child’s well-being.

World smile day is celebrated every year in the month of October. With a knowledge, smiles are everything in learning and happy students make better learners, the Kindergarteners of GCIS celebrated ‘Smile Day’ on 6th of October with great fun and valuable gain in learning.They were all dressed up in yellow colour costumes representing the smiley colour. The students decorated the big circle Smile craft with yellow colour sponge dabbing by sticking a bow and an ice cream stick as a take away activity. As healthy smile relates to strong and shiny teeth, the children attended a valuable and interactive session by the school nurse. She encouraged the children to brush their teeth twice a day for two minutes and to eat healthy food including lots of vegetables and fruits. And even displayed a video on how to brush your teeth properly in order to keep the teeth healthy and stay protected.

The British Council is the UK’s international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Ms Kika and Ms Shikha got the opportunity to be a part of School Programme Overview Workshop by British council on November 9th, 2017. The speaker of the event was Ms Anitha Bijesh of DPS Bangalore South who is associated with the British council from last seven years.

Participants got to know

a)The nature of work British council does in the school sector.

b)The importance of professional development of teachers and leaders.

c)The range of programmes under Connecting Classrooms.

d)Need for six core skills which British council identified to meet the needs of students in 21st century and in the current globalised economy.

e)Pre requisites for the British council International School Award.

f)Schoolsonline website for online trainings, resources and to connect globally by finding a partner school.

Speaker also briefed various courses in English language for students of ages 13 – 19. To name a few, programmes like Aptis, Young learners English (YLE); Reading challenge etc.

What we learn with pleasure we never forget

          - Alfred Mercier

Success belongs to the relentless learners. Because as you know more, you can achieve more

         - Robin Sharma

Driven by this famous quote and with international exposure at the core of all its actions, The Global City International School organized a unique assortment of landmarks, history and heritage of 11 countries across the globe- Brazil, Finland, Greece, China, Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Egypt, Australia and Saudi Arabia. Aptly called the “Cultural Bazaar”, it was indeed a spectacular idea in giving the students an exclusive prospect to explore and learn with exclusive details.

With each class representing a country, the students and teachers used this occasion as an extension to get a broader panorama of different countries. The conjoint efforts saw teachers devising methods which invigorated the curiosity amongst students and also kept the learning quotient high.

Some highlights, to name a few, were Grade 1 teachers using pencil toppers to tell the students about the animals of Finland and using available tools to show why Finland is called the Land of the Mid-night Sun. Another significant learning was on the densely covered rainforest of Brazil which is a home to a variety of animals and a subject of environmental interests.

The Grade 2 children not only made lanterns and gained the knowledge on the currency of China but also enjoyed figuring out their category as per Chinese Zodiac Signs. The team showcasing models of the Great Wall of China were all wide-eyed on learning that the wall is visible from the moon. Their learning horizon got broadened by the ancient Greek gods and most importantly about the mathematical Sieve of Eratosthenes.

Grade 3 went on a musical journey exploring numerous musical instruments used by the great German musicians, made invitations welcoming their parents to witness their learning scenario and about the history of legendary figure, Hitler. Furthermore, the contentment was evident when they started greeting in Spanish and got immersed in the varied festivals of Mexico.

The rich civilization of Egypt, pyramids and the legend of the Phoenix were learnt by the Grade 4 students. Grade 5 went on a virtual trip to Australia and experienced one of the wonders of the sea world – the Coral Reef.

Delighted about the land of sand and fuel – Saudi Arabia, Grade 6 effortlessly experienced a desert wilderness using mostly recycled materials. They got an exposure on man’s desire and willpower to make desert habitable.

The Grade 7 and 8 student-teacher team representing Singapore learnt how implementation of knowledge led to the building of magnetic train. The students also extended their learning and learnt about super trees, the significance and importance of the rain forests and of course, the Merlion which is a major tourist attraction and landmark of Singapore.

Grades 9 and 10 also created a huge structure representing Mount Fuji, a symbol of China, alongside transient beauty of cherry blossoms.

The excitement amongst the students was palpable. Some were a little nervous and were seen rehearsing their talk while others were excited to see what their friends and seniors in other classes had put up and were seen excitedly sharing and showing-off the knowledge they had acquired.

The journey was a mutual learning for the teachers and the students alike. Seamlessly, the broader picture of all the countries was showcased with a pride of triumph. We are confident that the parents too have found the event constructive and fun.

It has been rightly said that grandparents are those with silver in their hair and gold in their hearts.

Don’t grandparents have a way of always making us feel special?

Whether it is supporting the children at school, cheering them from the sidelines or making their favourite home cooked meal. They often know just the right thing to say or do. Grandparents are epitome of unconditional appetite for love and unending tolerance for mischief.

So we thought we will celebrate “OLD IS OUT, GRAND IS IN “ by cheering our grandparents which was held on September 15th and 16th at GCIS.

The show took off by honouring the grandparents by pinning of badges and taking the child’s handprints with their grandparents. Grandparents took the opportunity to share their experiences with the ‘GCIS grandma and grandpa’.

The programme started with various activities like minute to win, musical chair, talent show etc. where grandparents participated with great zeal followed by a skit by our KG facilitators where they highlighted about the values, motivation and inspiration that we draw from our grandparents.

With great enthusiasm, grandparents also participated in the fashion show where they expressed themselves, trying on different looks and putting together unique ensembles.

Participation certificate and prizes were given away to the grandparents by our president and our principal.

The event was a great success and it concluded with the blessings of all the grandparents present and with the hope that they continue to enrich our lives with the valuable contribution that emerged from their experiences.

Diwali, commonly known as “the festival of lights” is a time of celebration by sharing gifts, greetings and best wishes. It is a time of enlightening homes by lighting diyas as a symbol to welcome goodness. The Kindergarten section of GCIS, with its ever homely environment, observed this auspicious festival by conducting numerous fun activities. It all started by making of diwali cards and posting it to their own homes in the post office, followed by diya painting, free hand expression, special assembly and ethnic celebration. The tiny tots were engrossed in these activities in full swing, experiencing the air of festivity and lightening up their moods. They were also taught about the story behind Diwali and also on the practice of “Safe Diwali” thereby making it meaningful. Not only that, different cultures yet one spirit was felt in every classroom and the school in general as they displayed their grand and unique ethnic wear. The happiness on their faces at the end of all these ventures was obvious as they carried their hand-made diyas home in delight. Thus, one can truly say that the heart of Diwali was felt.