School Magazine

From The Vice Principal’s Desk
As educators, it is crucial to stay attuned to current education trends that are shaping the future of learning. One of the most significant trends is the integration of technology into learning. Digital tools, e-learning platforms, and AI are enhancing personalised education, allowing students to learn at their own pace and access a wealth of resources beyond the classroom.

Another key trend is the shift toward competency-based education, where the focus is on mastering skills and knowledge rather than traditional grading systems. This approach encourages students to learn at their own pace and develop a deeper understanding of core concepts.

Additionally, there is growing recognition of the importance of social-emotional learning. By prioritising emotional intelligence, empathy, and resilience, we aim to create well-rounded individuals equipped to face life’s challenges. Project-based learning, experiential education, and mindfulness practices are gaining traction, helping students to think critically and adapt to a rapidly changing world.

As we adapt to these trends, our commitment remains to provide students with a balanced, forward-thinking education that prepares them for the future.

Ms Smitha Menon

Key Moments At NCFE :

• Investiture

• Sports Day

• Regale

• Grandparents’ Day and Parent Involvement Day

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INVESTITURE

“GREAT LEADERS ARE NOT DEFINED BY THE ABSENCE OF WEAKNESS, BUT RATHER BY THE PRESENCE OF CLEAR STRENGTHS.”

On the 14th of June, elections for the Student Council for the academic year 2024-2025 were held. The students of the school were asked to cast their votes for the deserving young leaders who were willing to embark on the journey of accepting responsibilities and carrying out several tasks.

The students assembled in the computer lab, class wise, along with their voting code. They had to enter the respective code before selecting their representatives in all the categories. Their index fingers were inked to ensure fair elections.

The Investiture Ceremony was held on the 3rd of July, to mark the journey of the Student Council to lead the school with commitment and perseverance. The newly elected leaders marched their way into the hall. They received their badges, sashes and House flags from the honourable Chief Guest, Group Captain Ananth Ganesh, Principal, Vice Principal and the House Mistresses. The Head Boy of the school, Devraj P Sura, addressed the audience with his inspiring speech to impel the spirit of the Student Council. The Chief Guest then addressed the gathering on the significance of leadership and the idea of always learning from our mistakes. He underscored the importance of completing tasks on a regular basis. The ceremony concluded with the newly elected Head Girl, Nidhuvana M, delivering the vote of thanks.

SPORTS DAY

National Centre for Excellence celebrated its annual Sports Day with great enthusiasm and spirit. The event began with an energetic inaugural dance, setting a vibrant tone for the day. Following the dance, the Principal officially declared the sports meet open. She encouraged all participants to showcase their best efforts and uphold the spirit of sportsmanship.

The day was filled with various drills that highlighted the students' agility and coordination, captivating the audience with their precision and teamwork. The excitement continued with a series of races, where students displayed speed and determination, competing passionately for the top positions.

The event concluded with an impressive March Past, where different houses exhibited their discipline and unity, marching in perfect synchronisation. The day was a grand success, reflecting the school’s commitment to fostering physical fitness and team spirit among its students.

REGALE

Johann Goethe once said, "A really great talent finds its happiness in execution," and the annual cultural fest of NCFE, Regale, truly gave talented students a chance to execute it.

Regale started off early with a variety of events, including writing, poetry, figure painting, and more. The main event began beautifully in the VK Convention Centre with the lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest, prayer, and welcome dance. This was followed by the exciting "Battle of the Bands," where different houses competed against each other while the audience cheered them on, eager and buzzed for the upcoming set of songs. The theme was fusion, where they had to smoothly mix Western and classical music.

The dancers performed gracefully with coordination for the "Dynamic Duo" until the spotlight was stolen (quite literally) by solo instrumentalists and vocalists, with their powerful voices echoing in the auditorium. After this came the game of intelligence and problem-solving, “The Rubik’s Cube” , where quick and sharp minds were tested. This was followed by the "Spotlight Dance," and then "Mad Ads," a fun event featuring humorous advertisements for fictional products.

The second day of Regale began with solo dance performances. The most awaited event—the "Group Dance" was a blend of drama, acting, groovy steps, and props. The theme was "Man vs. Nature: Coexistence," and it made us think for a minute that dance, indeed, is a unifying art form. The ability to communicate a big message through emotional steps is a talent possessed by a few. The "Melodic Pairs" event delighted the audience. Following this, the excitement shifted to the "Critical Clash" debate, where all the houses engaged in heated discussions on various topics.

The highlight of every Regale is the "Fashion Show", where the excitement is palpable. The models, in stunning costumes designed by our talented school designers, graced the runway. To top it off, the Chief Guest, Mrs Sujatha Sharma, former Mrs. India, joined them on stage, making Regale a truly interactive, fun, and cultural experience. This year’s most novel event was "Newscastic", a chance for students to write and present their own newsletters like news anchors.

A few parents as well as alumni, were invited as chief guests, making Regale a unique, engaging event. After the announcement of the eagerly awaited results, teachers and students danced with joy and relief, celebrating the success of their hard work.

GRANDPARENTS’ DAY

The Foundational Stage celebrated Grandparents’ Day for the pre-primary students with a series of interesting activities. Grandparents received a warm welcome and participated in the activity- ‘Assembling a Family Tree’, adding their photos next to those of their grandchildren. They then participated in a ‘Thumb-Printing Activity’ which the teachers later made into a card and it was gifted to the students. Several games were organised to strengthen the generational bond. The enthusiastic grandparents displayed their varied abilities like singing and dancing during the Talent Show, thus, rekindling memories they may have missed during their own school years.

The grandparents were given the opportunity to share their reflections about the event and the day concluded with a ramp walk followed by snacks, providing a memorable farewell.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT DAY

The Foundational Stage hosted a special event for parents called 'A Day with My Child' in the month of July. Parents were invited to spend about an hour in their wards' classroom, where they got to observe and participate in the teaching and learning process. They could witness how activities were integrated into each concept taught in class. Parents shared their feedback about this engaging experience and participated in a gallery walk.

The Middle Stage facilitated a wonderful opportunity for parents to actively participate in their children's education and strengthen the home-school connection. The students and teachers of Grade 6, 7 and 8 warmly welcomed parents to their “Together We Thrive” event and the annual parent involvement program, "AMITIE", which gave them a glimpse into their child's daily educational routine.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Our school’s Girls Team participated in the State Level Tournament at New Horizon and Ketaki Gulhane was awarded the Best Player of the Tournament.

Vedanth S was awarded the Best Player of the Tournament in GJR International School Football Tournament.

SKEI Basketball Tournament-Deeksha Jain was awarded the Best Player of the Tournament, Under-16 basketball team

NCFE Girls Under-16 basketball team won the finals in the SKEI Basketball Tournament.

Our students secured the second place in the Football Tournament hosted by the GJR International School.

SUBJECT CORNER

Cybersecurity- Its Importance in the Digital Age

In today’s interconnected world, cybersecurity is a critical concern for individuals and organisations alike. With rapidly improving digital facilities comes an urgent need to combat cyber threats. Cyber threats are evolving at an alarming rate. From ransomware attacks and data breaches to phishing scams and malware, the variety and sophistication of cyberattacks are increasing.

Cybersecurity’s first line of defence involves implementing preventive measures, such as firewalls, antivirus software (McAffee) and intrusion detection systems, as well as regular software updates. Detection includes monitoring network traffic for unusual activity, etc.

When a cyberattack occurs, a swift and effective response is vital. This includes isolating affected systems, mitigating the impact, and restoring normal operations. Having a well-defined incident response plan can significantly reduce the damage caused by an attack.

After an attack, organisations must focus on recovery; this means restoring data from backups, repairing affected systems and conducting a thorough investigation to understand how the breach occurred to prevent future incidents.

Cybersecurity is just as important for individuals as it is for organisations. Some methods by which individuals can protect themselves online include: using strong passwords with a mix of letters, numbers and characters; two-factor authentication for extra security; regular software updates; not clicking on suspicious links or e-mails; using reputable antivirus software; a secured Wi-Fi network; backup data on an external hard drive or cloud storage; etc.

Artificial intelligence is also playing an increasingly important role in cybersecurity. AI can analyse vast amounts of data to identify patterns and detect anomalies indicating cyber threats. ML algorithms can also predict potential vulnerabilities and recommend proactive security measures.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, so too must our approach to cybersecurity. By combining advanced technology with robust policies and continuous education, we can better protect our data and systems from the ever-growing array of cyber threats. In this digital age, cybersecurity is not just an IT issue but a fundamental aspect of safeguarding our way of life.

-Ananya Gangule IX-C

CYBER SECURITY

In today’s world, we have technology everywhere, which makes our lives both complicated and easier. As we increasingly rely on technology, all our privacy and our personal information need to be protected. This is where cybersecurity plays an important role in our daily lives. It has also become a critical concern for citizens about their personal data.

Cybersecurity is the process of protecting systems and personal information from unauthorised access and damage. It is also composed of different types of techniques and technologies designed to safeguard digital assets and ensure the availability of information. 

Cybersecurity has been improving and making our lives easier at the same time, giving more opportunity to the people who are hacking our personal information.There are many important principles of cybersecurity, but the main ones are:

• Confidentiality: Ensuring that sensitive information is accessible only to those who are authorised to view it.

• Integrity: Protecting data from being altered or tampered with by unauthorised parties. This principle ensures that information remains accurate and reliable.

• Availability: Ensuring that information and systems are accessible to authorised users when needed and helping to protect someone’s personal information and privacy.

Cybersecurity has a lot of merits as well as demerits.They are used to maintain business continuity as cyberattacks can bring a lot of financial losses, destroy their reputation, etc. It also secures the national interest, many countries would like to know the plans of other countries so that they can improve their own. Because of this, they use cybersecurity to protect all the valuable information.

A few demerits of cyber security are that there should be no space for human errors, so we can say that cyber security is very complex to handle.Sometimes, when we have applied cybersecurity to our systems, it may reduce the access for the user to go through his private data. For people who have smaller organisations, it can be very tough for them to maintain cybersecurity as it needs to be regularly updated, need to purchase highly advanced tools, etc.

Cybersecurity and technology are deeply intertwined, with cybersecurity relying on technology to protect digital assets and technology driving the evolution of cybersecurity practices.Technology is a tool and the target for cybersecurity. If humans cannot live without oxygen the same way technology cannot live without cybersecurity.  -Tejassvi Ganesh IX-C

Regale: Celebrating Tradition Through Toy-Based Pedagogy

Storytelling was one of the highlights, where students narrated stories based on their parents’ childhood games. These tales not only entertained but also imparted valuable lessons, such as

the importance of outdoor play over video games, the bravery required to swim in ponds, the focus needed for games like Gilli Danda, and the significance of teamwork.

For the Clay Modelling competition, students showcased their artistic skills by creating models of traditional games. Their creations included intricate replicas of carrom boards, Pallanguli,

spinning tops, and Aadupuliattam, reflecting the rich cultural heritage of our society.

The Puppet Dance brought lively energy to the event as students dressed as puppets and performed with strings, adding a dynamic and entertaining element to the day.

The Rangoli Making activity was a beautiful blend of tradition and creativity, allowing students to explore traditional art forms and integrate them into their lives.

The Draw and Colour competition encouraged students to explore and depict traditional games through art. This not only sparked their curiosity about the games their parents once played but also brought variety and cultural depth to their own playtime.

Finally, the puppet making workshop allowed students to craft their own puppets, promoting hands-on learning and fostering creativity.

Regale was a day filled with learning, fun, and a deep connection to our cultural roots. Through these activities, our students not only honed their skills but also developed an appreciation for the traditions that have shaped our society. We look forward to more such events that celebrate the past while nurturing the creativity of our young minds.