On the 12th of July 2019, two students from our school participated in the annual Albert Barrow Memorial, l all India inter-school Creative writing competition. Oendrila Sarkar of class X reported to Modern High School and Miriam Dixon of class XII reported to Dolna High School.

The topics were political in nature and required our opinions on the matter. Most importantly, these topics were relevant in the present day context. The topic that Oendrila Sarkar, participant of category (II) wrote on was “Democracy without education is equivalent to no democracy.” On the other hand, Miriam Dixon, Category I participant wrote her piece on the topic, “Can democracy exist without morality?”

The topic was given 30 minutes before the writing commenced. The 30 minutes of preparation time was spent on thinking on the topic and writing down the important points. The writing time started at exactly 10:00am and ended at 11:00am.

The experience was new and worthwhile. We would like to thank our principal and teachers for giving us thus opportunity.

On the 21 st of April, the Catholic students of Classes X and XII went for a Career Guidance Seminar at Don Bosco, Park Circus. The Ceremony began at 10:00 a.m with the lighting of lamps. The students were then addressed by Mr.S.Calvert who encouraged the students to dream. Mr.Calvert’s session was followed by some inspiring video clips. The students were then divided in to various groups and were sent to different classes based on their interests in different fields. They were addressed by eminent personalities from various fields like Science, Law, Music, IAS, Management, Teaching etc. It was truly an enriching and a learning experience.

On 1 st July 2016, the junior school students of our school participated in Vanmahotsav Programme at St.Xavier’s Collegiate School. Ms. Aruna Mondal was the teacher - in - charge for our participants. The students participated in a group dance and fancy dress competition. It was an enjoyable learning experience for the students and teachers.

Sixteen students from classes III to V participated for Vanmahotsav Inter School Fest held at St. Xavier’s School, Primary Department on Thursday 30th June, 2016 from 8:00 am to 11:30 am. Five schools participated in this Fest. Our school took part in all the five events which were scheduled on the day. The events were Pot Painting, Waste Materials reused, Power point presentation, Collage making and Group singing. The girls stood 2nd in three events which were Pot Painting, Collage making and Group singing. They were accompanied by Mr.D.Saldanha.

Loreto Day School, Elliot Road girls participated in X-Uberance 2016, organized by St. Xavier’s Collegiate school on 23rd June, 24th June and 25th June. Girls from senior school (class IX – XII) participated in events like Creative Writing, Film review, Extempore, Half – a –minute, One- minute – to – fame, fashion show, Western Dance, Eastern Music, Debate, Foosball, Basketball. Table – Tennis, Antaksari and many other exciting events. The participants put in their best efforts and could bag the prize for One– minute –to-fame and Hindi Extempore. It was an enriching experience for the girls.

10th February '16: The Catholic family of Loreto Day School, Elliot Road began their day with the Eucharistic celebration of Ash Wednesday at the parish church along with the students and staff of St. Mary’s School, Ripon Street. The season of Lent which is 40 days away from Easter is a time of repentance. Ash Wednesday is significant and marks the beginning of a new time when we are reminded that man was made from dust and he will return to dust after death. "Dust thou art to dust thou returnest" is the belief of every Catholic.

TECHNO PRISM 2016

The students of classes VI, VII IX and XI and participated in Techno India Fest on 08.01.2016. They participated in events such as Best Out of waste, Quiz, Eastern Dance and Canvas Painting. Alisha Parvez and Zainab Mansoor stood second in the senior quiz.

On the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th of December, 2015 four girls from class 9 and five girls from class 11 had participated in the International School of Theatre Association, known as the ISTA Festival which was held in Seva Kendra.

We were divided into groups and had to perform on, ‘The Street’ of Kolkata. Our final performance was on the 13^th of December. We were provided by snacks and lunch. On the 2^nd Day of ISTA we were taken to Loreto sealdah to observe the street. On the final day we had to put up our play which we had prepared. The play went well as we got lot of appreciations, from parents and audiences. The students had composed two songs “Namaste kya khabar ’’ and “Into the Big Blue Sky”

ISTA Festival was very helpful as it taught us time management and work in a group.

Gastronomia fest was held in St. Thomas Girls ' school, Kidderpore on 9th November 2015. Ten reputed schools of Kolkata participated, eg. Lamarts for girls, Modern high for girls, Heritage, St. Paul's mission, etc. The fest was mainly divided into two parts, quiz and cooking with table layout. Eminent judges were present from renowned organizations and institutes. Four plus two girls of our school participated in it. Two of them cooked different exotic dishes and displayed them very well. Two of them participated in the quiz related to different aspects of food, based upon national and international knowledge. Our school came the first runners 'up. It was a very entertaining and enriching experience. We ended the program by giving the host school a thank you card and small token gift.

A group of 50 girls accompanied by two teachers went as audience to Loreto House for their concert ' The Child' being held in the open. To watch a performance right under the open skies was a novel experience for all of us there. Infact, it added a touch of romanticism to the entire production.

What unanimously amazed us is the high level of choreography, the superb costumes and props, the perfect lighting and lastl but not the least, the elocution , enactment and narration.

To do a full 75 minutes of production with elocution as a basis was truly an experiment- an experiment which paid off well. The feeling of having completed a full cycle of despair and happiness was magically woven before us.

All of us in the audience , at the end, were stunned into silence but we relentlessly kept clapping for the entire cast and crew. We are thankful to our Principal who gave us an opportunity to witness this show and are extremely grateful that the host school thought of inviting us to their first evening show. This 'one-of-a-kind ' show will remain etched in all our minds for years to come.

On the 10th of October, 2015 class X sec 1 went on an educational trip to the Amul Factory in Dankuni. We reached the factory by 9:45 a.m, we were divided into two groups. We were taken to a room where we were shown 2 videos – one on the history of the Amul Cooperative in Gujrat, the other on its various dairy products. We were also told about the various process of milk purification like pasteurization we were each given a cup of Cashew Draksh- an ice – cream which will be launched shortly ( and believe us it is DELICIOUS!). Then we were taken on a tour of the entire factory which manufactured 3 products – ice – cream, curd and milk. We enjoyed our tour through the ice – cream section. Here we were allowed to enter a room which had a temperature of -30 ºC. We were also shown “white chocolate”. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and also gained a lot of interesting information relating to milk, curd and ice – cream.

On the 13th and 14th of October, 2015, group of girls from Loreto Day School, Elliot Road had attended Festival D’ Agusto, a fest organized by St.Augustine Day School, Kolkata.

The offstage events were held on the 13th of October in St.Augustine School, these events included science invention, Tomato Art, Comedy joke writing, Movie Parody, Quiz prelims. The on stage events were on 14th of October and held in Science City Auditorium. It included fashion show, dance, quiz finals, four minutes to fame and tug of war. There were certain open events as well. These included selfie, dubsmaash, videography and photography. The event was very successful we stood first in tomato art, second in selfie, dubsmaash, photography and four minutes to fame. Our teacher incharge was Mrs.S.B.Majumdar she was felicitated by a token of appreciation from the host school. The student representatives were Priti Das and Shehreen Saqlain. Overall it ws a learning and enriching experience.

The host school had organised an inter school quiz competition where there were seven schools participating . Our school too had Haneya Shahnawaz and Saumya Chandra of the Middle school participating as a team for the event.

The quiz had four rounds and a time limit mentioned clearly. It was a closely contested quiz between St James and Don Bosco for the first place. The mixed bag round had questions based on audio visual aids and the  subject round had questions primarily based on Science , Sports , Literature and  Geography.

At the end of the four rounds which included the Rapid Fire round, the team from Don Bisco came first followed by St James.

After a short break of thirty minutes, the final activity of the dat, the debate took place where there were nine participating schools . The debate motion for the day , was picked the day before in the presence of the participating schools representatives from among the three choices . The motion thus selected read as, " Environmental Concerns and Economic Development Cannot go hand in hand ."

Most of the speakers were first time speakers and the format of the debate was slightly different from the usual . The eighteen nervous speakers began hesitatingly and by the end of their four minutes, they appeared to be more confident.

The questions posed by the judges and fellow participants were ably replied by the participants to the best of their ability . The evenly contested debate came to an end with kind words of appreciation and encouragement from the three esteemed judges.

Our first time debaters from class IX were Alisha Parvez and Zainab Mansoor who articulated well and stood their ground explaining their stand with dignity ,clarity and conviction. 

The position of the best team went as expected, to St James school while the best speaker was from Don Bosco .

As a team , what we gained was enormous. The body language , the level of confidence , the height of preparation were all something that we learnt. We are thankful to the  host school for inviting us and we are equally grateful to our principal. Sr Nirmala for encouraging us to take part.

Finally, the day arrived when I was supposed to represent my school for the All India Anglo Indian association organized Derozio Extempore at Frank Anthony Public School on the 10th July.

It had been raining incessantly in Kolkata for the past 24 hours. I kept praying it would stop on time. God heard my prayers and despite many water logged streets , I managed to register on time.

After the registeration, I was escorted to the library and at 9:00 am, I was given the lots to pick up by topic. Indeed, it a good topic and I didn't feel the need to choose an alternative topic.The topic was,"India should spend more money on the welfare of poor rather than cricket."

After an hour of preparation time, all the 25 participants were eager to voice their thoughts for a duration of two minutes on their respective topics. Some were funny, some humourous, some were politically inclined and some were rather serious.  I put in my best with modulation and expression coupled with facts and figures. I may not have won but I was satisfied that I had put in my best and hence had no regret whatsoever.

The eminent judges, Mrs B.Kakkar, Mr S Biswas and Mr D'Donker spoke and their views encouraged us, motivated us and gave us the right direction. At the end of it, when we participants were ptovided with  refreshments by the ever hospitable Frank Anthony School, I considered myself to have been fortunate to have been a part of this major inter school competition - my first ever on-the-spot Extempore competition. I thank Sr A Nirmala for this opportunity.

 

Writteb by - Sreeja Chakraborty of class X (2) 

Awesome Excursion

On 24th September, 2015, we, the girls of class nine had gone for our excursion to the Indian Statistical Institute from school. This seemed a perfect day as we had just given our exams and had seen all our papers and thus the timing seemed perfect.

At first, we were taken to the auditorium, for attending a talk on Statistics and the work of ISI. Dr. Banerjee , the Dean, gave us a lecture on Statistics and the founder of ISI, Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. He also informed us about the date of the Mathematics Olympiad organized by ISI.There was a short presentation on the work and evolution of the ISI and the great ‘Renaissance Man’, P.C. Mahalanobis. After seeing the presentation, we were divided into three groups for visiting the Geology Museum, archives of P.C.M. (Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis) and the Library.  

For most of us, we had seen the entire skeleton of a dinosaur only in movies. But witnessing before us was something different. About twelve feet tall, with its menacing yet harmless features, stood the bony lifeless structure, in the middle of the museum. The people of ISI took pride in it as this was the only one in Kolkata. the massive dinosaur skeleton. We were both awed and amazed at the size, structure and magnificence of the skeleton. An interesting thing about the dinosaur was that it had been discovered at the birth centenary year of Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore. Since it had huge legs,’bara pa’ it was named as Barapasaurus tagorei. Surrounding the skeleton were other fossils and rocks of different organisms. These fossils were mainly found around the  borders of Maharashtra and Telengana.

After the Geology Museum, we visited the archives, the dwelling place of the founder of ISI.We saw the rooms where this great man had once lived. There was the dining table in the room mainly where the meetings were conducted with people like Jawaharlal Nehru. It was great to see what people were like in those days, their passions and their interests. The letters from renowned personalities to Prof Nahalanobis was something we thoroughly enjoyed going through.

Next, we moved on to the last spot, the library. We saw historic books over there like the Aryabattiya and Surya Siddhanta, written by Aryabhatta. There were volumes of books mainly for the study of Statistics. Also, there were books for the modern researchers. There were recreational books as well. It was like entering into a world of books. 

It was so touching that the organisers  had seen to our refreshments as well. Each of us were given a food packet which we all devoured on our way back to school on the bus.

Statistics is a science that we barely knew of. We were still unaware to the wonders of this subject till we came to ISI.  The hard work of the people of ISI is something we all salute to. I thank Sister, Mrs. Govindraj , Mrs J. Banerjee ,Mrs. Bhattacharjee, Mrs. Gomes and Mrs. Sharma, on the behalf of all the girls of class nine for giving us an opportunity to go to his wonderful place, to which we were oblivious about. such experiences come rarely. But when they come, they fix themselves in our memory so well, that we never feel like forgetting them. Such experiences motivate ordinary people like us to at least think about becoming extraordinary. Becoming someone like Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, who changes the course of the world towards betterment and perfection would indeed be a dream come true.

Written by - Sristi Banerjee of class IX

The Niche Club of La Martinier’s for Boys presented crucible of dreams on 1st October 2015 to celebrate International Old Age Day. It started with a speech by the chief guest Mr Nirmal Agarwal, ex student for La Martiniere for boys. The theme of the day was Old Age and Environment. Dance performances were presented by Maya foundation, Anubha foundation, All Women Bengal Union, New light foundation and children in need International. The different events which took place were street play, collage making, t-shirt painting, extempore and model making. And the participating school’s were Loreto Elliot Road, Heritage School, Calcutta Girls, St. James, La Martiniere for girls and the host school La Martiniere for boy’s.

‘INNERVE’ held at St. John’s Diocesan on 18th and 19th of September, 2015 was a science fest of a unique sort. The ceremony marked hundred years of the formulation of the Theory Of Relativity by Albert Einstein. Debate, poster making and skit were the events held on the first day. Events for the second day were quiz. The fest gave the students a stage to showcase their talents.

On 10th July, 2015 Shweta Biswas (11 H) and Tushita Basak (10 ii) participated in the Inter - School Debate Competition organized by the JPIC unit of Loreto Day School, Entally. The students were accompanied by Mrs. A. Ganguly. The topic for the day was ‘Women Empowerment is leading to gender imbalance.’ sixteen schools had taken part in the competition. Each of the participants convinced one of the motion so perfectly, that the competition will be etched to one’s memory forever. It was an enriching experience for all.

On 27th & 28th of August 2015, Mrs.S.Pandey & Mrs.M.Partridge attended a seminar on the teaching on Hindi at Loreto Provincialate. Mr.Soumitra Anand of DPS Newtown and Mr.Vishal Singh of Heritage were the resource persons. The workshop started with a prayer organised by the teachers of Loreto Dharmatala. After this Sr.Sudha spoke about sincerity, freedom, justice and joy which could be incorporated in our daily lives and how we as teachers could also install these values in our children. Mr. Soumitra Anand gave us tips on making our classes interesting. Mr.Vishal Singh enlightened us on how we could use modern technology in our teaching. A quiz round was held by Mr.Soumitra Anand for the teachers. Every group was given ten minutes to hold a micro class. Mrs.Gasper observed the classes and gave her comments. The workshop ended with a prayer service by Loreto Dharmatala and a vote of thanks by Mrs.Sangeeta Pandey of Loreto Elliot Road.

I would like to thank Sr.Anita, Mrs.Gasper and Sr.Nirmala for giving us this opportunity of attending this workshop as it was both an enriching as well as a relaxed and enjoyable experience.

On 27/08/2015, during the activity period, inter house throw ball competition was held. Ten girls from each house took part in the competition. Six houses were divided in two groups. Kalpana Chawla house and C.V.Raman House played in the final. Kalpana Chawla House defeated C.V.Raman House by 2-0. Mr.Sujit Banerjee, Jt. Secretary of W.B.T.B.A. conducted all the matches.

4th September, 2015 : We celebrated teachers day. We began the day with the holy Eucharistic celebration followed by the programme put up by us, the students. With the theme of the mass being "Rooted" and that of the programme being "Fairytales", we hope to have given the teachers a wonderful time.  Teachers are "deeply rooted" in values, convictions, beliefs and principles. They are the foundation of our school. They are the torch bearers who uphold these values and inculcate them in us.

After the mass, we arranged for a some refreshments for our teachers. We then started off with the programme which consisted of a prayer service, fashion show, dance , skit etc.  Our message to our teachers , " We know we disappoint you a lot at times . We are sincerely sorry .We hope that you know that everything we are is because you love us and because you have been our strength when we were weak. We love you infinity times infinity. Thank you for all that you've done for us."

Loreto Elliot Road (Junior school) had dual reasons for celebration on the 3rd of September, 2015. One was the annual teachers’ day and the other was the visit of Sister Anita Braganza - Provincial (Indian Province) to the school. Junior school coordinator, Mrs.Nirmala Biswas organized the day programme and she did a fantastic job. Her hard work, precesion and creativity was truly commendable. Mrs.N.Biswas began the day with a welcome speech for Sr. Anita followed by felicitation. The programme then commenced with a very apt introduction of a miracle that transformed Helen Keller’s life. The programme went on to be an action-packed one with each item following into another. During the prayer service, the qualities of a teacher highlighted. The girl then put up a colourful dance. A melodious rendition of Do Re Mi which was perfectly sung by the girls of classes IV & V took the teachers by surprise. A skit was put up on none other than our "Missile Man" Late Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, which was brought out a strong message for the teachers. The girls also expressed in a simple but touching manner "what a teacher meant to them", with placards displaying their attributes. The whole school sang a song wishing the teachers. While the cards to the teachers were being distributed, a PPT presentation was shown displaying pictures taken in our school of teachers helping and guiding students. Never was it witnessed before that a teacher and a student in our school would make promises to each other but yes, they did. So that day - Mrs.Chopra represented the teachers making a promise to the children of their love and respect for them and for their profession, and the students promise their love and respect too.

The teachers were extremely greatful to Mrs.Nirmala Biswas, Mr.Dominic Saldanha, other teachers who helped and last but not the least the loving and caring girls, for putting their heart and soul into the programme. It was a well organized programme.

On 24th & 25th of August, 2015, Ms.Mondal and Mrs.Roy attended a workshop on techniques teaching Bengali in classroom. The workshop was held in Loreto House. The day commenced with a prayer service organized by Loreto Sealdah.

Sister Sudha went through Maxims of Mary Ward and ushered us into an environment of learning. Mrs.Arna Sil was the resource person. She conducted with a wonderful workshop on the methods of teaching Bengali in class. Her methods were all activity based. She stressed a lot on the importance of debate and elocution for enriching the language. She gave her valuable advice on preparing lesson plans for effective teaching. The workshop began at 9 am and ended at 4:30 am. It was an enriching experience which will help us to deliver our lessons effectively.

On 26/08/2015, two students from plus two went to Loreto House to attend a workshop on Disaster Management. The students were accompanied by Ms.Handa. We reached the venue on time and got ourselves registered by 9 am. There were 9 schools in total. Schools like Ashok Hall, Mahadevi Birla Sishu Vihar were also there. The programme started after 10 am. The first speech was given by a teacher from the Geography department. There resource persons were invited: Mr.Ghotok, Sir Jude Hendriques and Prof. Tuhin Das. Mr.Ghotok showed us a power point presentation. The slides aimed to show us the decrease in the rate of wetlands. The presentation was very technical and innovative. He told us that due to heavy construction of high rise buildings, wetlands are decreasing in number. We were shown different maps which highlighted the disaster prone areas in India. Then the session was taken over by Sir Jude Hendriques. It was an interactive session. We were told about various types of natural and man- made disasters. Each school had to choose a disaster and were asked to answer a few questions. Then the students from each school had to speak about the evacuation system of their school and what measures should one take during emergencies. Lunch was provided by the school. After lunch, Mr. Tuhin Das discussed the possibilities of various disaster. The programme ended with a Thank you speech.

The participants got certificates. It was an enriching experience and was very informative. The entire workshop was conducted and organized very well.

A special assembly was organized by the students of Junior school to bid farewell to Sr. Kerubina. Along with a prayer service and a hymn, both the students and a teacher shared their fond memories of her. She was presented with a vote of thanks given by Sr.Nirmala and Sr.Kerubina.

on the 27th of August, Loreto Day School, Elliot Road has organized a middle school (6-8) Inter House Quiz under the super vision of the middle school coordinators Mrs.De and Mrs.Rocha. The quiz began with a preliminary round with each team having 3 team members and 20 questions to answer. The motive of this round was to have an open score for each house. These was followed by nine quizzing rounds based on current affairs, music, movies, world, identification of pictures etc. If the teams were unable to answer, the question was passed to the audience. Every student participated enthusiastically. The teachers as well answered a few questions. The leader board was caught by Subhash Chandra Bose House taking the 1st position followed by a tie between several other groups. This was a quiz with a difference and the beginning of the annual quiz of Loreto Elliot Road. The programme ended with an inspiring speech by the Principal and every student went back home absorbing a lot of knowledge which they gained through this quiz.

The Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall at Indian Museum reverberated with youthful exuberance on Wednesday evening as hundreds of students, their teachers and guardians from across the state converged there to be a part of the Times NIE student of the year Award function.

Delivering the key notes address, former chief Justice Altamas Kabir reached out to every student to instill into them the actual meaning of education. As many as 125 students from schools in and around Kolkata, siliguri and Durgapur were felicitated. Amreen Naaz studying in class XII, commerce from Loreto Day School, Elliot Road was also awarded the student of the year.

The awarded the student of the times of India in associating with JIS Group Educational Initiatives. The Prestigious awards recognize class XII students whose accomplishments span academics, sports, conduct, leadership and service to their school and community. Each student achiever was felicitated with a badge, medal, trophy and certificate

On 19th of August, 2015, Loreto Day school, Elliot Road had organized on Inter- class group and individual elocution competition. The honourable judges were Mrs.Madhumita Ghosh who teaches in Loreto House for the past 25 years and Mr.Kaushik Sen who has devoted his voice for Aakashvani. The program began with the prayer service and holy ceremony of lighting of lamp which the was followed by judges’ introduction.

The group Elocution was first in line which took a head start with the powerful poem “Bharot Tirtho” by class 6 Bengali students; which was followed by “Kandari Hushian” by Bengali students of class 7 and “Keno Elo Naa” by class 8. This was in turn followed by the six individual recitations. The students performed enthusiastically which was a treat for the judges and the audience. Next was the declaration of result followed by a “thank you” speech by the Bengali teacher “Mrs.Roy: and our principal. The students heard an encouraging speech from both the judges which lead the event to a happy ending.

On Friday, at about 11:30 A.M, I went with eighteen girls to a science exhibition at ST.Augustin’s school. First, we went to the Maths section which taught us a lot. Next, we went to the Biology and Physics section where we learned about gravity and robots too. Then, we went to the Biology and Physics section where we learned about gravity and robots too. Then, we went to the Missile section where we learned about Abdul Kalam. After the exhibition, we received gifts .It was such a fun time and it was the first time I went to another school. I will never forget this memory.

On 23rd August, 2015 about ten girls from our school went to Birla Industrial Technologies Museum for National Safety Science Quiz. Our school girls sat in the Demo room according to the seat numbers. At about 11 o’clock we were the test paper which included 100 questions. Some of the topics that were included are safety protocols during fire, earthquakes, chemical spills on the skin in laboratory.

There were Multiple choice questions. We were also asked to write an essay of 250 words. The topic was ‘How to bring awareness about safety”. After the exam to had to fill a survey from. It was a very enriching experience and I feel privileged to get this opportunity to know more about safety. I would like to thank sister for giving us this opportunity and Mrs. A Ganguly for training us so well.

The Catechetical commission led by Sr.Bernadette and her team organized a two day seminar on 22nd and 23rd August 2015 at Loreto Day School Elliot Road. This seminar was attended by teachers who teach catechism both in schools as well as different parishes.

The seminar was organized to enable us to use various tools in our teaching methods and to conduct our catechism classes effectively. This seminar touched upon various topics like sharing of faith experiences, the aims of catechesis, techniques used to teach catechism, comparing the books catechism of the catholic church (ccc).The compendium catechism of the catholic church (cccc) and the ‘you cat’ and how these are to be used when taking classes. There were also a lot of interaction and sharing sessions. The day ended with a recapitulation and a written evaluation for the day.

The first hour of the second day was devoted to planning and demonstration of lessons where we were divided into 3 groups and each group was given a topic and level for planning a lesson.

Topics hike sacraments were discussed and the sacrament of Reconciliation was discussed in detail. An interesting session on media and catechesis was also conducted by Mr.P.Shah who encouraged us make use of technology to the fullest through the internet. He also stressed on the 6 objectives of catechesis, to teach catechism through teaching and not through preaching.

After this session a written Evaluation was conducted and the day ended with the celebration of the Holy Mass and a vote of thanks

The host school had organised an inter school quiz competition where there were seven schools participating. Our school too had Haneya Shahnawaz and Saumya Chandra of the Middle school participating as a team for the event.

The quiz had four rounds and a time limit mentioned clearly. It was a closely contested quiz between St James and Don Bosco for the first place. The mixed bag round had questions based on audio visual aids and the subject round had questions primarily based on Science, Sports, Literature and Geography. At the end of the four rounds which included the Rapid Fire round, the team from Don Bosco came first followed by St James.

After a short break of thirty minutes, the final activity of the day, the debate took place where there were nine participating schools. The debate motion for the day, was picked the day before in the presence of the participating schools representatives from among the three choices. The motion thus selected read as, "Environmental Concerns and Economic Development Cannot go hand in hand." Most of the speakers were first time speakers and the format of the debate was slightly different from the usual. The eighteen nervous speakers began hesitatingly and by the end of their four minutes, they appeared to be more confident.

The questions posed by the judges and fellow participants were ably replied by the participants to the best of their ability. The evenly contested debate came to an end with kind words of appreciation and encouragement from the three esteemed judges.

Our first time debaters from class IX were Alisha Parvez and Zainab Mansoor who articulated well and stood their ground explaining their stand with dignity, clarity and conviction.  The position of the best team went as expected, to St James school while the best speaker was from Don Bosco. As a team, what we gained was enormous. The body language, the level of confidence, the height of preparation were all something that we learnt. We are thankful to the host school for inviting us and we are equally grateful to our Principal, Sr Nirmala for encouraging us to take part.

On 11th August, 2015 four teachers from the Junior school attended a workshop on Junior school mathematics in Loreto House. Mrs. Bhaskar was the resource person who stressed on the fact that for teaching any mathematics operation one has to take into consideration the three basic stages: concrete, pictorial and abstract.

Mrs.Bhyaskar had prepared a PowerPoint presentation on two addition story sums and asked the teachers attending the workshop to express how they would explain those sums in class. Many activities were organized related to fractions and ratio.

She also spoke about Alpha Math which is being practiced in Singapore and was asking the teachers to incorporate these methods in their teaching. The session began at 2:30 P.M and ended at 4:30 P.M. It was surely an enriching experience for the aspiring teachers.

On the 19th of August 2015 I, Alisha Parvez of class IX-I had gone to BITM for the Kolkata district level of the Science Seminar accompanied by Mrs.J.Banerjee. The topic for the seminar was “Harnessing light-possibilities and challenges”. The topic was indeed an interesting one as most of us feel that light usage is just confined to using bulbs and solar panels. In this program, I learnt that light has a million different possibilities and we may be looking at a light-powered society in the future.

I got the 2nd prize in the district level. To qualify & first had to win in a school level competition My presentation covered various norms which light can transform including telecommunications, national defense, manufacturing and health science. I was extremely pleased as I was able to correctly answer all of the questions asked by the judges. It was an extremely enriching experience as I learnt a lot from the presentations of my fellow competitors. They had incredible ideas which ranged from using light for artificial photosynthesis to using it to power our cars. The aptitude test was, in my opinion, extremely difficult as it was mainly focused on the class X syllabus. However, I tried my best and am satisfied with my rank.

On the 7th of August 2015, we the Loreto, Elliot Road girls went to St. Anthony for the Inter School elecution debate called “ Oratio.” We were escorted by Mrs Rocha- our English teacher.

We reached St. Anthony by 10:05 A.M, and the programme began shortly. It started with an introduction by the host which was followed by lighting of the lamp by the Principal, Vice principal of the school and the sponsor of the show – Mr. Punjabi. After the lighting of the lamp, Mr. Viswanathan – one of the chief guests, who gave a heart warming speech. This speech was enriching as it provided the necessary points that one has to keep in mind while delivering a speech. The topic for the day was “ What does it means to be a hero.” The judges were introduced after which the judges took their seats and the programme of the day began. The first school was St. Xaviers Collegiate School.

The schools that followed were Birla High, Loreto Entally, St. Anthony, St. Joseph, La Martinere for girls, Loreto Dharamtalla, National High, Megh Mala Ray Education Centre, Union Chapel, St. James, Loreto Elliot Road, St – Aloysias Jewish girls, Army Public School, St. Mary, St. Teresa’s secondary, St. Thomas, St. Augustine, Loreto Bowbazar, Harrow Hall School, Park English, and La Martinere for Boys. After this we were given a break of 10 minutes where we were served light refreshment. The other half continued then. The two participants from our school were Asmita Mondal and Vivienne Mathais from class VIII who spoke with great conviction and confidence. After the speeches were over the prize distribution ceremony took place. The results of Oratio 2015 was declared. Soon after the last participant spoke. The best speaker went to St.Xaviers Colligiate school, both for the first and third placement and they received the best team award too.

Often we hear today people lamenting about the lack of diligence and discipline in today's students. For me, this is a rather preposterous statement and this time I was armed with enough ammunition to prove the statement as not always true.

As a child we had a separate period on our timetable which said ELOCUTION. At that time, in all honesty, I must say, I did not value that period but today as a teacher when I look back. I realize the importance of Elocution.

To be articulate, to have the correct pronunciation with modulation of voice and expression is indeed the strength of any oration. As a teacher, I am blessed to have students in this school who want to improve and have the willingness to be a patient listener and then improvise to bring in their own creativity and talent to the fore.

This was amply clear in the Aurobindo Bhavan organized Elocution competition where eleven girls from classes VI and VII  part.  As they registered for the event individually, they were given a choice of two poems , from which they were to elocution one on the 2nd August. The English Elocution would definitely be a close one with so many participating in it.

Rehearsals began with the enthusiastic girls memorizing the piece in two days. Thereafter, our regular rendition commenced and with amazement I saw the girl’s elocution with complete ease and joy. To anybody , it was evident they were not only comfortable with it but were also involved and thus enjoyed . There were girls who showed their innovative was by adding their own expression and that to me was magical. Every child had something so very different from the other ....it is obvious, that their magic was spun over the judges and audience where they were highly appreciative. 

Loreto Elliot Road students swept the awards in Group C where there was multitude of school students taking part. The top three positions went to Madhuritu of class VI ( 1) Shrestha of VI (2) and Anuska of class VII (1) respectively . Certificate of Merit were awarded to Alisha of VII (2) , Hiba of VII (1) and to Ambiya of VII (2).

What made it deeply satisfying is that the girls were excited and were so very positive in their approach. They were happy that they put in their best and were unanimous that they had gained a lot from this exposure. It was indeed due to Sr Nirmala's encouragement that we had a large number of participants from the school. Our deep gratitude to the staff of Aurobindo Ashram who went out of their way to make our girls and their parents comfortable.

A TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE

On 29th July 2015 about 60 girls of our school went to Birla Industrial and Technological museum. Girls from classes V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X went there. 29th July,2015 was (International Tigers Day) .The opening ceremony began at about 10:30 am. (There we were accompanied by two of our school teachers ,Mrs N.Barua and Mrs R Raul).

About five of the important guests were introduced. Among them was a famous lyricist in Tollywood , a famous football player, a famous scientist who was related to the science based on farming and the director of BITM. They elaborated on the fact that we should keep our environment clean and enable the animals to lead a healthy life like us. After 20 minutes some of the girls went for a drawing competition. It took place for about 40 minutes. Then again all the girls went back to the auditorium where Mr. Sobyasachi chakraborty the famous actor was given a ‘plant’ by one of girls of our school.

Then he showed us the pictures he had taken of the nature. Then Rupam Islam a singer came and he too was given a badge and a plant and then he also spoke about nature. Then prizes were given to the winners of the drawing competition. All the thirteen winners were from our school. Amisha Gupta from class VII came first and Aafia from class IX came second. After the prize distribution we had quiz. Again most of our girls won prizes which was a pen and a chocolate for each correct answer. The programme ended with a puppet show. It “Fishes in danger” was the theme of the puppet show. Young girls and boys did a good job. We were released well, at 3:15 P.M. Although we were released late in the afternoon, I am Sure, everybody had thoroughly enjoyed themselves and will make it a point to do even the least required to save the environment. While going home each girl was given a packet of food.

‘ST.THOMAS’ SCIENCE EXIBITION

On the 24th of July we , a batch of 40 girls, along with Mrs. Mazumdar, went to a science exhibition at St.Thomas Day School. We had a lot of fun there. Everything we saw and learned was very interesting like brain games, illusions, flames coming out of volcanoes heating ammonium Dicromate(CNN4)2Cr2O),carmetics artificial substances added to beautify food and the difference between good and bad food, Tornado in a box, hydro electric power plant, bubbles in a bucket and the list carries on.

We had a very thrilling and informative experience. I would like to thank Sr. Nirmala and Mrs. Mazumdar who gave us this golden opportunity to have this exciting experience.

Harmanpreet Kaur

On the 6th August,2015, the students of classes 6,7 & 8 went on an educational tour to the Birla Institute and Technological museum (B.I.T.M). They were accompanied by four teachers Mrs.Banerjee,Mrs.Rocha,Mrs.Barua and Mrs.A.Ganguly.They reported to the venue at 10:15 A.M.

They began their tour of the museum with the Mathematics section where the easily learnt numerous theorems through games and puzzles. Next they moved to the Bio-Tech portion of the museum which imposed them to the many technologies devised, so that man’s life becomes comfortable and easy. Just after this we assembled in the auditorium to mark ‘Hiroshima Day’ by observing a few minutes of silence. Mr. Das organized a quiz to educate the children about the children about the of such a heinous Crime.

As the children answered the questions they were awarded prizes. It brought them to a realization that is available for our use but its left up to is to use it only for its positive attributes to make our lives Convenient .Later they viewed a 3D movie based on a journey, on the great wall of China. It was a thrill for the children to be on that adventure. We insisted the coal mine that is housed underground. The mine is so realistic mannequin miners working here and there with machines cutting coal off the wall the entire process was described and explained. Last but not the list was a demonstration of impairments depicting the various aspects of fire in the fier-y-tale. This was thoroughly enjoyed by the students as they aided Sir Das in carrying out the experiments. The days events came to a close at 2:45 P.M. The children were dispersed and parents were there to vecei them. It was a day well spent by the children as they learnt quite a few things by learning through doing.

On the 30th, 31st of July and 1st of August, 2015, the students of Loreto Day School, Elliot Road had participated the annual fest of St.Joseph’s College – “JOSEPHTSYNA 2015”, on the occasion of the institution’s 125 years. Our students had taken part in most of the events, with a few exceptions and were placed among the top three in all of the events. Although the fest had some of the “not so renowned” schools of Kolkata, participating in it, the level of competition was very high as students got a chance to showcase their talents and got the exposure they deserve.

The students also won the trophy for the best school award and came back cheerful and content with their success. The overall performance and behavior of the students was also greatly appreciated by everyone present there.

On the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of July, we the girls of classes 11 and 12 had gone for the Modern United Nation, hosted by The Calcutta Boys School. The Calcutta Boys School have named this Assembly of Nations as it brings in all the nations across the world together, disccusing their problems and giving solutions.  Different girls had gone to different committees representing different countries. 

Sagarika Roy and Upasya Bhowal of class 12 had gone for the UNCIO committee, that is the United Nation Conference International Organization representing Denmark. In their committee they had discussed about the placement of the members of the Security Council on the first day. On the second and the third day they had passed a resolution in which they were able to NUL the WETO power by removing US which the superior most country. 

Simra Nanawatty of class 11 had gone had for the International Press Corps Committee as a news reporter. On all the three days she had to sit in........  committee, and write a

report on whatever had happened in the committee. At the end of each day's discussion she had submit a report on that particular committee. Stating in that report, all the discussions that had taken place in that committee. She had to take interviews of the Delegates present in that committee and make reports. Whatever reports she had made was published on daily newsletter of the Assembly of Nation 2015. 

And Shehreen Saqualain of class 11 had gone for the FIFA Committee, i.e., The Fédération Internationale de Football Association represention United States of America. There the main topic of discussion was corruption that had taken place and how Mr. Sepp Blatter the President of FIFA was involved in it on the first day. On the second day a resolution was passed where on a vote of 2/3's majority Mr. Blatter was removed from his post and the right of hosting the 2022 World Cup was taken away from the country of Qatar. On the third day, the agenda was what suggestion each country could give to the Russian Football Association to curb racism in that country against the players and the personnel of the Skysport Channel and who should be elected as the new President of FIFA. Again, on a vote of  2/3's majority Mr. Louis Figo had won the election and became the new President of, The Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 

Muntaha Al Ameer and Jannat Shami it of class 12 had gone for the Joint Crisis Committee together and individually for the National Security Council where Muntaha was representing India and West Pakistan War Cabinet where Jannat was representing West Pakistan. 

The National Security Council had planned to help East Pakistan to fight the West Pakistan. India had a very strong plan. The bombing at the Zero Point by the West Pakistanis raged the Indians and so the they battle plans to crush them. At that time India had a very economic support so they could easily crush them but they wanted peace so they accepted to go for a joint meeting with the Pakistanis. Indians placed their demands and Pakistanis placed theirs in the Joint meeting, because they were unable to draw a conclusion they voted for plebiscite in Kashmir. India got back Kashmir and West  Pakistan got East Pakistan back after voting. Later on the last day West Pakistan said that the Indians were treating the kashmiris in a bad way when they were asking for help. So they were asking India for Kashmir. Meanwhile there waisa change in the Indian government,  Moraji Desai was replaced by Indira Gandhi. They both had different ideologies. Since Moraji was a pro Pakistani he was supporting the Pakistanis.  Jannat had gone for the West Pakistan War Cabinet committee where they had discussed about the Bagri Masjid Issue and solutions to them. 

Thank You

In today’s fast moving technological world switching over to better paid jobs or jobs for growth are a trend, it is rare that we find employees working for 25 years and more in one single institution. Therefore with pride we at Loreto Day School, Elliot Road, celebrated the silver jubilee of four of our staff members – Mrs. Manju Louis, Mr. Martin Osta, Mrs. Jacinta Gomes & Mr. John Gomes, on Friday the 3rd Of July, 2015.

With God’s grace & blessing our jubilarians have reached so far in their career and therefore it was befitting to celebrate their joy through a Eucharistic celebration. All through the mass, we thanked and praised God for them and asked God to continue to shower His blessings on them and their families. The Mass was followed by a short felicitation for the jubilarians. As they were being felicitated, a short introduction was given for each of them.

Mrs.Louis dedicated her life to teachery while Mr.Osta & Mrs.Gomes work in the office & Mr.Gomes is a very silent member of our domestic staff. The Junior school then, put up an enthralling “Fusion Dance” after which Mrs.Jacinta Gomes addressed the gathering on behalf of all of them. The programme ended with our Principal, Sr.Nirmala expressing her feelings and gratitude towards four of them. The day ended with some refreshments for the staff.

The Albert Barrow inter-school Creative Writing Competition for Category II was held in our school on 17th July, 2015.

We were the host school and for us at Loreto Elliot Road this was a momentous occassion.It was the first time that we were hosting this event.

A lot of communication went on for the past few months . We spent a lot of time on getting this organised behind the scenes and now finally the Day had arrived.

With support from the school Principal, Sr A Nirmala, the event was a grand success . The thirty two participating schools were happy with the organization and conduct of the competition.

The day began with a short prayer by the Principal. The senior coordinator spoke on the great personality of Albert Barrow while the middle school coordinator introduced the supervisor of te event, Mrs Ishita Chatterjee.

The light refreshments made by our Home Science girls was indeed welcomed as there were many participants from outstation schools as well.The accompanying adult too was well taken care of.

The Supervisor, Mrs Ishita Chatterjee from Frank Anthony Public School was a great help under whose direction the whole event took place

The half an hour of preparation went well . The participants were evidently busy jotting down all the cue points once the sealed envelope was opened and the four topics were written down for them to choose from.

With their grey cells at work, the participants were engrossed in writing their 500 - 750 word piece.

At the end of sixty minutes ,the scripts were taken up  and the children were released .

The entire event was a time when our organizational skills were tested and at the end we were quite happy with the smooth turn of events.

This day was a much awaited day and it finally arrived after months of excitement and working behind the scenes.

The day Sr. A. Nirmala agreed to host the above, there was a feeling of excitement. As days drew closer, flurry of activity kept us busy.

The eleven schools ,St Josephs and Mary's school, Calcutta Girls' School, Jewish Girls, St. Josephs school Siliguri, Akshar, Sunrise Eng medium siliguri, Assembly of God Church school, Burdwan, Julien Day, Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar, St. Clarets School ,24 Parganas, Loreto Convent Asansol, participating were in constant touch with us and it added to the excitement. We were ready for the twenty two participants with preparations completed a day prior to the event.

For us, 15th July was indeed memorable as this was the first time that we were hosting this event. The sealed envelope was opened at sharp 9:30 a.m. and the topic read as “Competition leads to death of relationships”. The one hour preparation time soon started, and before participants realised sixty minutes just few by.

We were fortunate to have Mr Barry O Brien as our moderator while the three judges were Mr. Pradeep Gooptu, Ms. Oindrilla Dutt and Mrs. Anjum Katyal. These eminent personalities added to the aura of this prestigious inter - school debate competition.

Our recently renovated school hall seemed a perfect place to have this debate. The stage had the moderator and participants seated while the audience, judges and esteemed guests were seated on the floor of the hall.

Mr. Barry O Brien with his erudite, charming and articulate speech and views engaged the audience completely while the three judges were might pleased with the standard of debate.

The four minute speech by each speaker was followed by a two minute immediate rebuttal and this was certainly quite impressive. To see young minds at work and hear them speak so confidently was an amazing experience. Moreover, the rebuttals were apt and well tackled.

At the end of it, when the placements were about to be announced, there was a hush around the hall - all eagerly waiting for the results.

The results were no surprise but it was astonishing to see the minor difference in tallies of the various schools. The competition was well fought and close. The winning team from AKSHAR had AUNTORA MITRA & ABHIMANYU MILAN, while the 2nd best team from CALCUTTA GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL had RIJOTA RAY & ANUSHKA BOSE as team members. The BEST SPEAKER prize went to AUNTORA MITRA while the 1st Runner up position went to SHAMIM SHEIKH of Julien Day School.

With the powerful Vote of Thanks by the Principal, Sr A Nirmala, the day came to a grand end .

A programme was organized by the junior school on the 17th of June, 2015 to welcome to Sr.Clare & Sr.Sudha into the Loreto, Elliot Road family.

The programme began with a prayer dance by class V. It highlighted our trust in God that strengthens our relationship with them. Next a skit was put up by the amateurs of Class I. This skit depicted the importance of Mother’s love in a child’s life. Following this was a recital of the “Our Father” and a hymn “You are my all in all”.

As tokens of love, cards & girts were presented to Sr.Clare & Sr.Sudha, who were then invited to address the children. They expressed their appreciation over the efforts made by the children & said that they had thoroughly enjoyed the programme. This short programme ended with a vote of thanks rendered by the Principal Sr. Nirmala.

St.Xavier’s Collegiate School, Park street (Primary section) organized a two day inter-school programme to commemorate “Vanmahotsav” on 29th & 30th of June. Our girls from classes III to V participated in the various events. Their parents dropped and picked them up from the venue. On the 29th Ms.Aruna Mondal & on 30th Ms.Mavis Partridge accompanied the girls during the events that took place between 9 am to 10:30 am.

Our children participated in pairs, as instructed, in events like “Petal Attraction” (Flower Arrangement) – Sonia Khandakar (V-I) & Laaibah Feroz (V-II).?

• Tee Dye (T-shirt painting) – Shanza Sharif (IV-II) & Shrija Roy CHowdhury (V-II)
• Rags & Riches (Best out of waste) – Pari Saraff (III-I) and Divya Agarwal (IV-I)
• Crazy Pot (Pot painting) – Torsa Chakraborty (III-II) & Bipasha Das (IV-I)
• Floor Magic (Rangoli) – Rishita Basu Roychowdhury (IV-II) and Arunima Biswas (V-I)
• Power Peepal (PPT) – Indrakshee Das (V-I)and Sadaf Ali (V-II)

Our girls shared the 1st place with St.Xavier’s in “Floor Magic”. The children might not have been very unsuccessful but what matters is their participation. It was truly a learning and an enreaching experience for each one of them.

On the 2nd 3rd & 4th of July, the students of Loreto Day School, Elliot Road had participated in X-Uberance 2015 – the fest at St. Xavier’s Collegiate school. Out of twenty five onstage & offstage events, the school participated in seventeen events. The event began with the inaugural ceremony on the 2nd. What followed was three days of fun and learning where the students took part in various events and also attended certain events as an audience in order to cheer their school. The fest ended with the losing ceremony on the 3rd of July after which there was a great performance by Mr.R.K.Bose – A renowned DJ. The school was placed 2nd in carron, spray painting, T-shirt painting, model making as well as Antakshari. The school has also placed 3rd in Hindi creative writing and fashion show. Overall it was an entertaining a well as educative experience.

On 29th June 2015 we went to Loreto Day School Bowbazar to attend a talk organized by the Cyber Crime Dept of Lalbazar. The representatives of the department, Mr. Kuntal Sidhdhartha, Mr. Alok Majhi, Mrs. Madhuri Sarkar, sub inspectors of the Lalbazar Police Station, discussed at length about the various types of cyber crimes like online hacking, stalking, "phishing" etc through a power point presentation. They informed that about 63% of the netizens -.I.e. People who use the net, suffer from cyber crimes. . They enlightened us on the various techniques through which we can protect ourselves online, like not posting personal photographs on social networking sites, checking the authenticity of the site during online banking and the likes. One such precaution is to always log out of our accounts even if we are using internet through our Smartphone. The event ended with a vote of thanks from the Principal. The session has indeed made us more well-quipped to deal with any problem that we may face in future while surfing online.

 -As written by Amreen Naaz of XII C 

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Twelve girls from our school accompanied by a teacher went for an orientation on Cyber Crime to the host school, Loreto Bowbazar. The orientation was being conducted by the Cyber Police, Lalbazar. For us, it was an added plus point as our school had inducted Parents Day on this very theme. We were thus keen to know more, especially from the horses mouth. 

A lot of what we were told were familiar to us like cyber bullying, fake profile, picture morphing, stalking and many other.  What was new to us were the measures or preventive steps that we were made aware of and that was an aspect which was an eye-opener. simple things like, logging out of all applications, avoid putting ones picture as DP. Enhancing the privacy options, not accepting friend requests from friends friend, not using https on address bar, copy paste link to open it, use 2 step verification for Email , not using public wifi for personal chats. Avoid joining what's app groups, are some aspects which we were made aware of. Certain tips were given like using a strong password, avoid having a great number of friends, having a different password for every application, using a licensed anti- virus were possibly factors known to us but many of us seldom adhered to them.

With these insights and action plan if we are ever faced with cyber crime were something that we brought back to the school and shared with the others at assembly.

This also certified that this burning issue of cyber crime is here to stay and the faster we learn to be alert and take precautions , we will escape being among the 63 percent netizens who have faces cyber bullying in the world.

The easy conversational approach and talk by Shri Alok Majhi. Shri Kuntal Siddhanta and Ms Madhuri Sarkar made the session far more lively than only showing a power point presentation.

We thank the Principal and teachers of Loreto Bowbazar from the bottom of our hearts for inviting us for this talk and needless to say but for the support from Sr Nirmala we would have missed out on this golden opportunity.

 -As written by Amreen Naaz of XII C 

 It was an honour when our school was invited to participate in the celebrations of International Yoga day on 21st June 2015 at Sports Authority of India. Sr Nirmala was definitely the motivating factor here.

For us, we were surprised to learn that the reason this particular date was chose was because it is the longest day, Summer Solstice, in the Northern Hemisphere .

The last segment of our one hour programme wS the dance recital. - two Indian dances with the sole western dance in the middle.

The two of us  were the representatives who were chosen to be the anchors for the event.The event commenced at 6.30am when the chief guest, the highly respected Honorable Minister of Telecommunications, Post and Information Technology , Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad entered.

After a short round of prayers and introductions, the chief guest and Yoga gurus were honoured. Thereafter, the compelling words of the Hon.  Minister kept us all glued. Finally, the demonstrations of the asanas were an amazing feat to watch.Each person in the audience felt that he/ she  was a part of the family as all were encouraged to take part in it  and not be a mere witness.

For us, being MCs of this huge prestigious event was a dream come true. After doing extensive research, we prepared  the script which was then edited. Only then , did we rehearse for hours on end . Some lines were then translated in Bengali keeping the 6000 people that were present.

Since we had to wear white, keeping the theme in mind, we chose to drape white sarees and do the anchoring. On the said date, we arrived at the venue by 5:20 am, rehearsal with the full team for the first time, felt confident and then when the time came, we took the stage with self confidence . Afterall, this wasn’t a small programme- people came from whole Bengal and some from neighbouring states too.

Shri S. P. Pattnayak, Zonal Director NYKS ( Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan), Dr Radhakrishnan , the SAI authorities were all extremely helpful and cooperative. We felt a sense of pride when it was announced that our age old tradition of yoga was now placed at the International level. Due to the efforts of our Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the United Nations has declared June 21st as the International Day of Yoga.

The organisers, NYKS, the Bengal chapter did a wonderful thing by celebrating this special day with much fervour . After all, Yoga is a part of our heritage. It is not a religious practise, rather an Indian system for achieving peace of mind and living in harmony, it is the  epitome of spirituality. The science of Yoga imbibes itself the complete essence of the Way of Life.

This Way of Life in turn helps us to focus and concentrate and attract positive vibes . The two of us were certainly influenced and are convinced that Yoga does show us true light and thus is integral to growth and development.

We would like to thank Sr A Nirmala, or Principal without whose support we would not have got this exposure.

As written by-

(1) Sweta Biswas , class XI (H)
(2) Sohini Niyogi, class X (1)

The anti-drug campaign is an annual event launched by the Kolkata police that assumed serious significance with the involvement of a lot of schools and school children in order to spread awareness about drug abuse and it’s detrimental impact in our society and increase of crime rate.     

The campaign began on June 11, 2015 and culminated on June 26, 2015. The Kolkata Police along with the Narcotic department in association with Women and Child Development And Welfare Society of West Bengal Government conducted several events like Bi-cycle rally, foot rally, interschool essay competition, debate competition, poster competition, sit and draw competition.        

      The culmination of the campaign was held on 26th June celebrating world drug day at Rabindra Sadan  with the main event being the prize distribution ceremony. The actual event started with the lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries present there, Surajit Kar Purkayastha (  Commissioner of Kolkata Police), Pallav Ghosh , Soumen Mitra, Rashmi Seth, Dr. Shashi Panja ( Minister of women and child development and welfare society), the Tollywood actor Dev. the entire event was anchored by Mir Afsar Ali. Our school participated both in the interschool essay competition and interschool poster making competition, with Crystal Valencia Sayter class XI Humanities achieving  the second prize for the essay competition.  Riyan Banerjee, class XI Humanities was invited to the event at Rabindra Sadan and was handed over the first prize for the essay writing competition by Dev and Alkama Sohail of XII C was awarded her prize for placing third in the poster making event.The prize distribution ceremony was followed by speeches delivered by the dignitaries. A special guest Aninda Chatterjee (Actor), shared his experience about how he recovered from drug addiction. The event ended with Rupam Islam and Surajit teaming up to compose a new song synchronizing the theme of drug abuse with a sand artist portraying his art in the background and Surajit Kar Purkayastha delivering his official speech.

On 24th June 2015, the students of Loreto Day School, Elliot Road took part in a competition organized by Little Messenger at Abhinava Bharati High School. Little Messenger is a teen magazine that inspires the youth to come forward and express their views on various issues of importance. We participated in a number of events.

Amreeta Das of of Class - XII won the trophy for creative writing, Aneesah Ukani and Tuba Wasti stood first “Dubsmash”, Saumya Chandra Haneeya Shahnawaz, Saida R. Fatima and Ashmita Dam won the first prize for the quiz. Alifya Bamboowala of class XII stood second in the online selfie contest.

The students of Class XII were taken for an educational trip to Sunderban as a part of our ISC Environmental Science curriculum, from the 10th to the 12th of May, 2013.

Forty three students (including four Non-EVS girls) under the supervision of three teachers undertook this trip. The supervising teachers included the subject teacher, Mrs. A. Ganguly assisted by Mrs. K. Chatterjee and MS. S. Handa.

The students were required to collect data for their EVS project titled “Implications of Technology Triggered Anthropological Activities on Ecology and Environment of the South Sunderbans.

We had prepared our questionnaires for the purpose of our survey. On the first day we went to the first village and after our survey we headed towards our hotel. Two researchers were arranged for us by our EVS teacher. They gave us a lot of information about Sunderbans and Man – Wild life conflict existing here.

The next day, we left early for the Museum then we went to two watch towers and finally to the second village for our survey. It was a comparative study of two villages.

Although it was an educational trip but it was also our last class trip. We had a lot of fun doing our survey as we interacted with the villagers. We got to know about the problems they face every day. On the 12th May, 2013 we left for Kolkata.

It was a very memorable trip and a great experience!

Van Mahotsav is an annual tree – planting festival in India, celebrated in the first week of July. This year, on the 15th of July, 2013, Classes III to V had organised a beautiful Programme. The children were buzzing with excitement as they had prepared themselves for the forth coming event. The hall was decorated keeping the events in mind. The programme began with the lighting of the lamp, which was placed on the traditional alpana. Mementos were distributed to everyone. The programme began with a meaningful prayer service which had readings from The Bible, The Gita and The Quran. This was followed by a dance recital. Next, there was a skit based on the importance of trees in our lives. After this, a Hindi song was sung while the Principal, Sr. A. Nirmala, coordinators and the teachers came forward to plant saplings. While this was on, the children were ready with their handmade, colourful and attractive rackis. They accompanied the Principal , coordinators and teachers to tie rakhis around the trees.

The programme ended on a happy note with a very encouraging address by the Principal. It was a very fulfilling day indeed !

The Award Ceremony to felicitate the ISC and the ICSE toppers was held on the 6th of August, 2013. I was excited at the prospect of coming back to school. As I entered, I was flooded with memories of my school days when I had walked past those gates clad in my uniform. I had taken it for granted then that walking in and out of these gates was a regular thing for me and that I would continue to do so, but today as I walked in, I felt different ........................... I am a part of my school, yet I am not.

I met a few other friends of mine, both from the ISC and ICSE batch and we were made to sit at the rear of the hall. The programme commenced with a beautiful hymn, prayer service and a prayer dance. Being a Loretoite, I was acquainted with this process of getting into a focussed mode. As I watched the entire programme, I realised that a lot of effort had been put into it- just to make us feel special.

When finally the award ceremony started and I was called forth to receive the Lipika Mitra Award, I felt immensely proud and honoured and before I could get back to my seat, my name was called out again and again to receive more and more trophies. I was overjoyed but at the same time I reminded myself to remain grounded.

What I liked the most was that the trophies and certificates I received for various subjects were given to me by my very own subject teachers. As the crowd cheered for me, I could feel that this was not only a happy occasion for me but it was a jubilant moment for my father, who was among the proud parents invited to this auspicious ceremony.

I am the person that I am due to my parents, Sr. Nirmala (Principal), teachers and school.

On February 2013, all the students of Junior School (Classes Nursery – V) were taken on a school picnic to Belilious Park.

On 12th April 2013, all the classes of Class V went on an excursion to St. John’s Cathedral, Town Hall and GPO.

On 4th May, all the students of Class IV went on an educational Tour to BITM. The students were thrilled to be a part of the Children Zone.

The Bengali Elocution was held on 12^th August,2013 in the Junior School Hall at 11:35am. All the Bengali students of classes I-V participated in this event . The classes were divided into two groups Group A comprising of classes I,II and III and Group B comprising of classes IV and V. The two judges who honoured the occasion were Mrs. R.Ghosh and Mrs T.D’Souza.At the end of the event while Mrs. R. Ghosh congratulated participants with the encouraging words, Mrs. T DS’Souza announced the results.

Class III stood first from Group A and class IV stood first from Group B.

It is said that you never stop gaining knowledge and so did it happen at the QUIZIXX 2013 held at the Asian International School. We always felt welcome under the great shadow of their hospitality. The idea of participating in such a large competition with so many schools thrilled us.

The elimination round was preceded by a number of events like the registration, refreshments, performances hosted by the school and a photo shoot. The preliminary rounds were quite exciting with seventeen schools fighting to grab a spot in the top seven. After the tough priliums a wave of nervousness washed over us, when our name was announced like a ray of hope. Our girls gave their best efforts in each of the rounds.

Even though our girls were not able to get a spot in the top three and lost the opportunity by ten marks, none of us was disappointed. Winning or losing does not matter as long as you participate and gain a little more wisdom.

Flowers symbolise feelings of our life. The Junior Section of Loreto Elliot Road had joined their creative hands together on 3rd July, 2013 for Ikebana (a flower show).

Students from Classes III to V participated in it. Children were divided into their respective houses. They arranged the flowers in accordance with their themes. The students also prepared a caption and a short speech on the arrangement. The Students delivered their speech confidently in front of the Principal and teachers. The teachers invited as judges were Mrs. N. Barua and Mrs. R. D. OSta.

The activity acted as a mode of relaxation from the monotonous regular studies and gave vent to creativity.

A month back, when we were told that the school is going to take us for a three day trip to Puri, Odissa on the 13th of August, we all beamed with joy. We had finally got the much-needed break. Girls from Class IV to IX were a part of the excursion.

The day finally arrived and the 108 of us were told to gather at school at 3:00 p.m.. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 4:00 p.m. for Howrah. As the train departed, we were bubbling with excitement. We talked for hours and a little after midnight, we were off to sleep. We reached Puri at 5 in the morning and reached Hotel Vishal where we were putting up. Soon after checking in we made a beeline for the visit to the beach in the morning. After lunch, we visited the Konark Temple, a world heritage site. In evening, we once again visited the beach where a few of us sat on the sand while some decided to wet their feet.

The next day we left for Dhaulagiri, Udaigiri and Khandagiri early in the morning after which we had lunch and then visited the Nandankanan Zoo. The 12 acre open zoo enclosures and the various animals fascinated us. By the time we returned to the hotel we were exhausted. Nevertheless, it being the last night of our trip we danced, sang, played, talked and made sure to capture the good time on camera.

The next morning many went to the beach at 4 a.m. to see the sunrise while the rest went at 6 a.m. for shopping after which we returned to the hotel.

This trip truly turned out to better than we had ever imagined. We fought, cried, laughed, smiled, made new friends, shared secrets, had fun and realized that like our parents too our friends were most integral part of our lives. In time to come when we look back we all will have tears of happiness returning the joyous moments we shared.

We thank our Principal and all the teachers who went with us without whom this trip wouldn’t be possible. We are eagerly waiting for such trips in the future too.

AMREEN AHMED
IX (ii) s

My Alma mater, Loreto Elliot Road, was invited to be a part of Golden Jubilee celebrations of ‘Loreto Delhi’ as they completed 50 glorious years. The fest was christened ‘ALMA FIESTA ‘14’. 10 girls were selected from the current batch of XI humanities to attend the fest and to participate in the event named ‘Encore’ which was a one act play to be staged the theme being humour, I was honoured to be a part of this group. Our journey began on 5th February the mode of conveyance being Poorva Express. We were accompanied by Mrs. Nandini Bhattacharjee. On our arrival at Delhi we were warmly welcomed by Loreto Delhi teacher and students. They displayed genuine bonhomie it was touching. On reaching the transit camp we were several with much needed breakfast as we were hungry souls, we devoured it. Later on we moved to Loreto Convent Delhi where we have a privilege to meet Sister Sr. Antoinette. After this we were served with sumptuous lunch to our great pleasure, later on we were taken to a famous shopping place “Delhi Haat” and to use a cliché we shopped till we dropped. Most of us made purchases from here, some for their near and dear ones and some simply for memories to take back as souvenirs. The next day, the most awaited day as it was our ‘The Day’, the ‘Encore’ day. Myriad plays were performed by different school. Some very interesting some mediocre. As the event was a non-competitive one however from each school the best actor was chosen and awarded a prize, from our school it was Atufah Nishat who was awarded the ‘Best Actor’, She deserved it completely. After this event sightseeing was on our agenda as we had to explore a lot of magnificent city. The citadel of our nation’s glorious past. We began with beautiful ‘Akshardham Temple’, the following we visited the ‘Janpat’ which is considered as ‘blue blooded’ amongst the pathway in our country because of its political significance. The climax of our trip was the ‘Bonfire’, temperature has dipped to freezing 8˚C and it was chilling. The warmth of Bonfire and the freezing weather was a sort of heavy cocktail for the sencer. It was a pleasant and paradoxical experience. There was a talent hunt event and we preformed the street play which was applauded by all. Naina and Khizra sang a solo song in their mellifluous voice. They did hog all the limelight. We came towards the end of our trip by visiting the beautiful ‘Jama Masjid’ and the imperial enigmatic ‘Red Fort’. We had our lung in the bus and headed off the station. As all good things come to an end this trip also did leaving behind plethora of nostalgic memories which will be cherish by us forever. We were appreciated with mementoes and certificates for the outstanding performances which was icing on the cake.

- Sumaiya Ahmed.
XI (H)

LTS – First meeting for the session 2014-2015 was held on 5/5/2014 in the class 12 classroom, classes involved IX & XII. Animators present – Mrs. J. Banerjee, Mrs. S. Saha, Mrs. R. Ghosh. The nominated names for the LTS Election were put. All the girls present & were asked to vote for the office bearers. The counting of the votes was done as well. The following are the names & positions of the office bearers of 2014-15.

President – Ayesha Javed
Vice President – Saloni Seth
Secretary – Upasana Dey
Vice Secretary – Arwa Bharmal
Treasure – Saria Seher
Correspondent – Aneesah Uhani

Girls were also made aware of the fact that attending camps outside the school is compulsory this year. The serial Oath was taken by the entire group at the end of the meeting where Mrs. J. Banerjee read the prayer & the members recited after her.

THE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT MEETING:

Candle will be lit & the LTS Oath will be taken formally.

Certain actions to maintain the cleanliness of the school will be discussed about in the next meeting.

On 8th February, 2013, all the students of Junior School (Classes Nursery – V) were taken on a school picnic to Belilious Park.

On 12th April, 2013 all the students of Class V went on a school excursion to St. John’s Cathedral, Town Hall and G.P.O.

On, 4th May, all the students of Class IV went on an educational tour to BITM. The students were thrilled to be a part of the Children’s Zone.

The above outings taught our young ones a spirit of going out together and bonding. This is true ‘learning’

Loreto Day School, Elliot Road hosted a fest on the 9th of April, 2014, “YUKTI”. Mr. Atul Bhalla, the General Manager of ITC was invited as the chief guest for the event.

The schools participating included Loreto House, Loreto Entally, Loreto Sealdah, The Franck Anthony Public School, Our Lady Queen of the Missions, Salt Lake, Jewish Girls’ High School, St. Agusutine’s Day School apart from the host school. The day began with prayer songs and a prayer dance, according to Loreto traditions. There were judges from the respective fields for each events.

Fashion Parade was the first event of the day. The participants put up a good show portraying their talents. The skills of the students were seen in Interior Designing, where they made their dream homes, the colourful Rangoli, the creative Accessory Making, the knowledgeable Presentation on “Banking”, the appetizing cooking, as well as the innovative wall painting. The judges included people from the fashion world Mrs. S. Bhattacharya and Mrs. M. Ghose while culinary experts Mr. H. Singh ITC 2nd Chef and Mrs. B. Sarkar; Mr. P. Das and Mr. G. Maitra from the banking sector and Mrs. A. Dutt, looking after the Interiors of the Taj Group of Hotels and Mrs. U. Ray.

Although, it was a close competition, the host school, Loreto Day School, Elliot Road emerged as the winners. The trophy was passed onto the runners-up, Loreto House. The day’s events ended with the different folk dances of India depicting the diverse culture of this country and the theme song being sung by the other schools as well. The effort and organization was appreciated by one and all. “Sr. Nirmala and the team, many congratulations on the splendid show put up today. Keep on inspiring the young minds-they are the future after all!” were the generous words of Sr. Anita, Ms. Linda and Mr. Cajie.

It was an enriching experience and a great learning process. It was a platform for the students to showcase their talents and it brought out the best in them. We would like to thank our Principal, Sr. Nirmala and our teachers for giving us this wonderful opportunity.

- Halima Ahmed and Amreen Ahmed
- Loreto Day School, Elliot Road.

“THE DOOR OF FAITH IS AWAYS OPEN TO US” – POPE BENEDICT XVI

As we are aware 2013 has been declared as the “Year of the Faith” by the Catholic Church, therefore, Loreto Day School, Elliot Road organized a day’s programme on 28th September 2013 focusing on the same.

The Chief Guest for the day was Fr. John Mohandas, Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Ripon Street. The schools that participated were St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, Loreto Day School, Bow bazar, St. Mary’s Ripon Street, Loreto House, Loreto Convent Entally,St. Anthony’s High School and the hosts.

As part of the celebration various interschool faith events were organized like Gospel Expression, T-shirt painting, Photography and Slogan Writing based on the theme “The Faith we believe is the Faith we live.”

The esteemed judges for the day were Fr. Gregory Montero, Sr. Mary De Souza IBVM, Mr.Maurice Menezes, Mrs. Melody D’ Rozario, Mrs. Aruna Gomes and Mr. Sunil Lucas.

It was heartening to see the talent creativity and enthusiasm of both the students and the teachers. Through the events held, Loreto Day School, Elliot Road hoped that the Catholic students would get an opportunity to be a witness to their faith and profess it with renewed conviction.

The message each one took home with them that day was: Christ invites us to be his partners in establishing and creating a new world where love, peace and goodness reigns.

MARY WARD WEEK

Mary Ward (1585-1645) was the founders of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM). She represented an era when the society was turbulent because of patriarchal dominance. In order, to pay her a tribute a Mary Ward week was celebrated in all the Loreto Schools.

In Loreto Elliot Road, the Mary Ward week was observed from 24th January to 30th January. Special assemblies were held with a lot of creativity. Our celebrations commenced with a spiritual service.

Keeping up with the maxim “God loves a cheerful giver” our school children happily donated woollens which were distributed among the needy children and parents of Loreto Elliot Road Rainbow Home and Loreto Thakurpukur.

A PowerPoint presentation was shown to the girls which outlined the life of Mary Ward. It made the students realise how determined Mary Ward was in her pursuit of God and her vision.

Throughout the week the various activities were held on the various maxims of Mary Ward for e.g. for collage making, wrapping paper, book marks, envelopes, cards, paper bags, mug and glass painting, Classes VI to XI were given one of the maxims of Mary Ward “Do good and do it well.” The creative writing on the maxims of Mary Ward was highly rewarding.

The Quiz that was held was an Inter-house activity and the questions were based on Mary Ward’s life.

The Mary Ward week celebration came to a conclusion on 30th January, our Founder’s Day, when a Mass was held in the morning. The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Zenith SJ, and the essence of the day was beautifully brought out. The last event of the day was the panel discussion and the topic was “India is free but women are not.”

The lively panel discussion was extremely enlightened and it was heartening to see how well our student panellists brought forth their views equipped with data, statistics, case studies and bar diagrams. The words of encouragement from Sr. Mary De Souza our special guest of the Day boosted our morale.

Mary Ward not only laid the foundation of empowerment of women through education but has also inspired the women of the society to be righteous through her inspirational maxims. We at Loreto are daughters of Mary Ward and so let us “do ordinary things extraordinarily and let us all bear in mind to do things well and cheerfully.

Written by Ms Munmun Nautiyal

On Earth Day 22nd of April, students from our school attended the earth day celebration organized by The Birla Industrial & Technological Institute accompanied by Mrs. Partridge.

We assembled there at 10 am. The event began at 10:30 am as scheduled. In the beginning we attended an interactive session with five resource people from big industries. Houses gave us concrete ideas about how to keep urban Kolkata green & gave us examples where in many different regions these were applied. We were informed about special bacteria which were being created for the well being of our state. It was an interesting session where we shared our ideas and these are more aware. After this session, the participants for drawing, painting & craft were sent out for their respective events. The second session we attended was about GPRS & navigation, map marking & satellite workings. This one hour session was very informative & detailed. It gave us the ground reality. The last event was the open house quiz on Mother’s Earth. We were shown pictures & videos & then we were asked questions.

Most of the prizes were won by our students and hence we were elated. We thank Sr. Nirmala for giving us the opportunity to take part & interact & thus opening new windows of growth for us.

SUMEDHA JAISWAL
CLASS - X

On 4th of May, the Catholic girls participate in the 7th Edition of the Bosco Chriz 2014. The day started with mass, followed by various events. The Catholic girls of our school took part in several events namely quiz, colorz, singing, dancing were won by the girls of our school. It was a great learning experience for the Catholic girls. They learnt to enjoy singing & dancing in a group. Team spirit & co-operation were part & parcel of the event. The Chriz ended up on a celebration with all the participants dancing to the tune of the band – Messengers.

- JESSICA MEGHANI
XII - COMMERCE

আজ ২৫ বৈশাখ আরেকটি রবীন্দ্র তর্পনের দিন সমাগত, তাঁরই সৃষ্ঠির মাধ্যমে। ছেলেবেলা থেকে কৈশোরের যাত্রায় রবীন্দ্রনাথ আমাদের কাছে নানা রুপে উন্মোচিত হন। প্রথমে তিনি সহজ পাঠের লেখক। বিদ্যালয়ের সদ্য আগত শিশুদের বাংলা ভাষার সাথে পরিচয় করিয়ে দিচ্ছেন। আবার কিছু পরে রবীন্দ্র সঙ্গীতের ছন্দে সেই শিশুমনগুলি দীর্ঘ বন্ধনে আবদ্ধ করছেন। এই ভাবেই রবীন্দ্র মননে প্রবেশ করার দ্বার ধীরে ধীরে উন্মুক্ত হয়। সময়ের সাথে শিশুমনগুলি বুঝতে পারে যে রবীন্দ্রনাথ কোণো দূরের তারকা নন। তিনি আমাদের চিরন্তন সঙ্গী। আমাদের প্রতিটি অনুভূতি আনন্দ, দুঃখ, বেদনা, বিচ্ছেদ- তাঁর সৃষ্ঠিতে এক অসামান্য সৌন্দর্য লাভ করেছে। তার সৃষ্ঠির আবেদন হৃদয়ের কাছে।

রবীন্দ্রনাথ এই চিরতরুন ব্যক্তিত্ব সমকালীনতা কে সম্মান জানাতে, তাঁর ১৫৪ তম জন্ম শতবর্ষে আমাদের স্কুলে সকল ছাত্রী ও শিক্ষীকাগন সমবেত হয়েছিল। অনুষ্ঠানের সূচনায় একটি Power Point Presentation এর মাধ্যমে রবীন্দ্রনাথের জীবনের কিছু অংশ তুলে ধরডি হয়।রবীন্দ্রনাথ আনন্দ চেতনা তাঁর সৃষ্ঠির এক অপূর্ব দিক। হৃদয় থেকে উৎসারিত এই আনন্দ প্রকাশিত হয়েছিল দুইটি নৃত্য পরিবেশনার মাধ্যমে। গান ও আবৃত্তি এই অনুষ্ঠানকে সমান ভাবে উজ্জ্বল করে তুলেছিলাম। তবে, এই অনুষ্ঠানের প্রধান আকর্ষন ছিল রবীন্দ্রনাথের রচিত নৃত্যনাট্য “চিত্রাঙ্গগদা”।আমাদের প্রধাণ অতিথি শ্রী শ্যামল দত্ত চৌধুরীর কাছে এই নৃত্যনাট্য পরিবেশনা উচ্চ প্রশংসা লাভ করেছে।

২৫শে বৈশাখ এক উপলক্ষ মাত্র। রবিন্দ্রনাথ আমাদের প্রতিদিনের সঙ্গী-বন্ধু। তাঁর চেতনা ও দর্শন শ্বাসত। সহজ, সরলভাবে রবিন্দ্রনাথ সাহিত্য ও সঙ্গীত সমস্ত স্তরের মানুষকে বাঁচার রশদ ও শক্তি যোগায় সকল বন্ধনের মধ্যে স্বাধীনতা বোধ এই উুপলব্ধি দৈনন্দিন জীবন যূদ্ধের গ্লানি দূর করে প্রতিটি মুহূর্তকে করে তোলে উৎসবমুখর।

অমৃতা দাস
শ্রেনী-একাদশ

The Derrich Hines Memorial Quiz organized by the Calcutta Anglo Indian Service Society (CAISS) was held on 3rd of May, 2014 at Christ the King Parish Hall. This quiz is held every alternate year and this was the seventh edition. It was an open competition in which anyone above the age of 15 could take part. Loreto Day School, Elliot Road sent in two teams comprising six students and two teachers. The six students were Upasya Bhowal, Zainab Udaypurwala, Celeste Williams, Umme Kangroo, Chaity Sarkar and Sasha Aaron and the two teachers were Mrs. Ireland and Mrs. G. Ali. The quiz was conducted by Mr. Andrew Scott an eminent member of Derek O’Brien Associates. There were 23 teams in all, out of which 6 teams qualified for the finals. In the preliminary round, Loreto Elliot shared the sixth position with two others teams. We could not reach the finals because of the rule that the team which answered maximum numbers of consecutive questions would be eligible.

Once the quiz began everyone watched in rapt attention. The questions were varied, full of lighter moments and informative too. It was a memorable experience indeed.

- Mrs. Ireland

On the 1st of May, catholic girls of class 10, 11 and 12 had assembled at the church of Christ The King, Park Circus, for a career counseling session. We assembled there at 8:30 am. As we entered we were given a book which compiled all the ideal career options. There were five resource people who were very informative.

We started the event with a prayer service where the Vice General of the archdiocese of Kolkata, Fr. Dominic Gomes led us in prayer. We began with the General Manager of C.M.R.I. hospital. He gave us valuable information about various scopes of medical sciences. He also made us realize that working in a hospital is not only concerned with medical science. There are many more scopes.

The next resource person was professional working at the Oberon Grand Hotels. He told us about the formalities to enter into the Indian Institute of Hotel Management (I.I.H.M).

He also gave us essential tips as to how we could successfully pass an interview before being recruited for a profession in hospitality. His speech was followed by a short break where we sang action songs.

The fourth resource person was the famous photographer Mr. Sunil Lucas. He gave us information about film- making and Photography. He also suggested idea institutes for training.

The last person was an Entrepreneur who told us about how we could set up our own business. This session was very informative and motivated many of us.

Sonali and Shasha
X-i

This commitment day was held on 1ST May and was organized by YCS’ers of different schools. We were a group of 350 students from 12 different schools. We had a short seminar at our schools. We had another seminar in which we saw an inspiring movie and danced to action songs. In spite of the heat, we all were patient listener and came to know that being an YCS’er takes a lot of pride and it changes our lives completely.

ZINIA CHANEL

9-ii

Crowning of ‘Our Lady’ was observed on 2nd May, 2014. This is a Loreto practice which has been passed down over the years. By tradition, the month of May is dedicated to ‘Our Lady’, the mother of Jesus. Therefore we honor her by crowning and garlanding her.

The ceremony began with the blessings of the newly installed grotto by Father John Mohan Das. This was followed by a prayer service prepared by the junior school students in honor of Mother Mary

Getting to know about our Mother was inspiring and encouraging. It is also an added privilege to have the opportunity to turn to her in times of great distress and need.

Prayers seeking blessings upon the school were offered and hymns dedicated to Mother Mary were sung. Three girls dressed in white walked up with flowers and a crown to garland, and crown the statue of ‘Our Lady’ while the choir sang the hymn, ‘Bring flowers of the rarest’.

After the concluding hymn, Father John Mohan Das, in his prayer invoked the blessings of the Almighty on our school. He , then, along with the assistant priests blessed the entire school campus. Each and every person present felt blessed and peaceful at the end of the ceremony.

NIRMALA BISWAS

On the 22nd of April 2014, the students of Junior, Middle and senior school were taken to BITM to participate in the Earth day celebration.

The Event was inaugurated by Helen Lo Flave. She spoke about ways and means of keeping our city clean. There was a panel of eminent speakers who spoke at length on how to create a green city, rain water harvesting and use of solar energy. The girls participated in “the Open House” discussions. The girls spoke confidently during this session.

Students of the junior, Middle and senior school participated in the painting competition too. The topic given was “Green City”. Some of our budding artists were awarded prizes. From the junior Section Sanjukta Pal of class V (i) stood first and Shreshta Das of Class V (ii) stood third. Shanza Sharif of class III(i) and Zubea Kulsum Khan of III(ii) were awarded special prizes.From the senior section Shalbany Manna won the third prize. Ankita Pal and Nehaw Parveen were awarded special prizes.

Heena Kruplani and Namira Ahmed participated in the workshop related to recycling of waste material. They were taught how to make bowls out of strips of paper. This activity enhanced their creative talents.

All the students participated very enthusiastically in the quiz. The questions were based on “Mother Earth” and “Nature”. The children answered the questions confidently and won many prizes.

It was a great learning experience for the students as it increased their self confidence. These events provide the much needed exposure for children at all levels.

Teacher,

Mrs. M. Patridge

Penitential Service- On 11th April classes IV-XII attended a penitential service in St. Mary’s. Sr. Nirmala and Fr. Mohandas organized this service for us. Fr. Mohandas, Fr. Mandi and four other priests were present to hear our confessions. Sr. Nirmala conducted a short meditation before the students started their confession which was followed by singing of hymns and reciting of Rosary.

Collections:- Dumb Boxes were collected from classes 6-8. Seva Kendra Cards were also collected from class 9 and 11. This was done for the distribution on Good Friday to help the poor people.

On good Friday, 18th April, Sr. Nirmala , Mrs. Rocha , Andrea and Cherie had gone to visit 10 poor families to distribute ration. These families were the parishes of St. Mary’s church. It was a very touching experience to see people in such difficult situations yet they were happy. Sr. Nirmala prayed for them and handed over the bags which contained rice, dal, sugar, tealeaves and Milk powder etc. As we left each home, we were blessed by those happy faces.

Cherie Stephen

X-2

On the 27th of June, 2014, Friday, a few students from the school participated in an elocution competition, “The Guilded Rhymes” at the Frank Anthony Public School (FAPS). There were eight participating schools. Though the host school was not a part of the competitive segment, they put a few phenomenal guest performances.

The day began with the lighting of the Inaugural Lamp after which the host school recited there poem. With this the competitive segment commenced where the participating schools reciting their poems- some were humorous, others provoked the listener to think on certain issues while the tabulation was being done. Frank Anthony Public School elocuted two poems “The charge of the light brigade” and “A dead man’s chest”. The poems were highly entertaining and received great applause from the audience. The day drew to a close after the declaration of results and distribution of refreshments.

It was an experience and a learning one as well as we learnt the different modes of recitation, voice modulation and we got this opportunity to hear some lesser known, but beautiful poems.

Overall it was an experience to cherish and we are so grateful to Ms. Myers and Frank Anthony Public School to have invited us. At the same time, we are thankful to Sr. Nirmala for encouraging us to participate in this as well.

- UPASYA BHOWAL

XI - Humanities

Vocation camp: On 12th April, Sr. Nirmala had arranged a Vocation camp for classes 9 to 12. Sr. Banisha, Sr. Gretta and Sr.Parveen organized this camp which started at 9:00 am. It was a wonderful experience as the Loreto Sisters had organized games, action songs and presentations. There were many questions put before us which were concerned about our future vocations. We were guided as to how we should choose our vocation and how should we follow the were provided with snacks, lunch and tea. The memorable camp ended at 4:00 p, with the distribution of bookmarks as souvenirs.

Cherie Stephen

X-2

On the 9th of August, Saturday the girls of class XI of Loreto Day School Elliot Road attended an Orientation based on life skills that was held in the school premises.

The orientation was organized by the Prayasan Organisation. They gave us a brief introduction on hoe they help children exposed to abuse and exploitation. They also told us how could we get ourselves nominated for the world leader award. The speaker tried to inspire us by encouraging us to share how we can help other children from being abused. The session was taken by two girls Milly and Anushra. They made us arrange ourselves into groups and then they made us aware of the complications existing in our lives which are caused by us.

The orientation needed at 2:30 pm nut it lighted in our hearts the lamp to serve people in need of our love and kindness.

On 27th august, 2014 around seventy students went to kalamandir to participate in the Horlicks Wizkid.

The students of middle school backed the second prize for the school. The nightingales of Loreto Elliot Road sang melodiously being accompanied with the guitar and synthesizer.

In the game ‘Searoh’ students got the first prize. It was a very challenging competition where students were given clues with the help of which they had to reach a certain goal.

Asmita Mondal of class VIII got the 1st prize for painting. Amtriya Muzaffar of class VI received the first prize in essay writing. Samruah Sahrish got the 1st prize for Bindi designing.

It was a learning experience for the students. The experience of this competition will encourage them to participate in more activities in future.

‘Razzmatazz’- Inter school Talent Contest was held on 27th and 28th of August at Rabindranarth Tagore Centre (ICCR). Many students from Junior School participated in solo bud group activities held on these days.

This event was an affective showcasing of their talents. It was also an enriching experience for one and all.

On 25th August, 2014 we participated in “All India Reseve Bank Of India Quiz” Known as the “RBI Q”. It was held at Bhasha Bhawan(National Library). The quiz was organized by Grey Caps Pvt. Ltd., one of the biggest quiz organizations of Asia. 150 schools participated in the quiz. The Participating schools were from Kolkata as well as from neighbouring places. There was a preliminary round where we had to write the answers for 25 questions. 6 schools qualified for the next round. Although we did not qualify for the next round yet we held the name of our school high as we gave our best and performed well.

To my greatest delight IIHM had hasted the ‘young chef India’ contest and my school was invited. This very news excited me. More than 270 schools have participated. 300 from about 3000 were selected for the semi finals. While we have to cook a main course from home, the tasting of it was done in school by IIHM. Five girls from class XI and three girls from class XII were chosen from one school. The first round took place on 2nd of September and the Semi-finals was on 10th of September. For the semi-finals we had to go to the IIHM campus. We had to cook a main course and an accompaniment from the Indian Cuisine. We got an hour time to cook. Extra 10 more minutes for collecting our ingredients and ten more minutes for plating was given. It was first time experience for cooking in an unknown place and that too in an unfamiliar surrounding . After plating we were taken to another room where four senior chefs tasted our food. We all were excited .Ten participants would be selected for the next level. Overall it was an overwhelming experience for all of us. We were presented with a certificate, a moments. To my delight we could take back our young chef caps and aprons. The grand participant with in participants will take place in London. To us we were all winners and it was one of the most memorable experience of our lives.

BLOGGERS MEET

On 16th January, Chaity Puja Sarkar and Upasya Bhowal attended a Blogger’s meet organized by The Times of India and Kolkata Bloggers. This meet began with a an introduction to blogging and why one should blog, by the founder of Kolkata Bloggers, Mr. Anirban Saha. It was followed by a number of other sessions on different aspects of blogging and how one can improve on his /her blog. It was a learning experience and those who missed this event truly missed something very informative.

CRIME FICTION

On 16th January, Chaity Puja Sarkar and Upasya Bhowal attended a talk on crime fiction at the Oxford Bookstore (as a part of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary festival). A panel discussion was held where eminent crime fiction authors like Hakam Nesser, Carol Ferry and Zack O’Yen were present and spoke on their experience of being a crime fiction author. After the panel discussion there was a round for entertaining questions from the audience. The day ended with a vote of thanks for the authors after which the students returned, having learnt quite a lot when it came to the sphere of writing which might prove helpful if any of them decide to pursue it as a career in future.

BLOGGERS MEET

On 8th December, 2014 the commerce section of class XI Commerce attended a career counseling held at the senior school hall by Mr. Ashwini Bajaj who is a C.A, C.S, C.F.A and F.R.M he is also a professor in a MBA college in Kolkata.

Jannat Shami
XI C

On 2nd of May, 2015, the Catholic girls of the school assembled at the Portico to celebrate the Crowning Of Our Lady. The event started with a Prayer Service conducted by class twelve’s. Father Mohandas the Parish Priest of St. Mary’s church had come to bless our school. During the Prayer Service Father gave his speech and then we sang the hymn “Hail Holy Queen”, the Crowning of our lady was followed by Prayer service. Father and some middle school students crowned and garland our lady while others sang the hymn “Bring Flowers of the rarest”. After the crowning, Father went around blessing the school and we sang the hymn “On the school your blessing lord”. While Father was blessing the school, student sat in the Portico, saying their rosary. At the end, our Principal, Sr. Nirmala thanked Father for coming and blessing our school and the teachers for preparing the event.

On 19th of January, 2015 an inter house Hindi Extempore was organized in our senior school. It was inter house activity and classes IXs and XIs had taken part. The topics were decided by our senior school Hindi teachers Mrs. Luis and Mrs. Sharma. The topics were based on current affairs and on social problems which prevail in our society. The junior school Hindi teachers, Mrs. Patridge and Mrs. Osta were the honorable judges. The topics were given forty five minutes before the activity. The participants were helped by the Hindi teachers. The winners were:-

Shailja Sharma from Subhash Chandra Bose house.
Joshina Das from Sarojini Naidu house.
Shafaque Rahman from Kalpana Chawla house.
Aafreen Raza from C.V.Raman house.

On the 28th of April, 2015 students from class I to XII were taken to St. Mary’s Church for the Holy Spirit Mass which takes place every year at the commencement of the new academic session. The mass was held in order to seek the blessings of the Holy Spirit. The mass started with a prayer dance by the students of junior school followed by the gospel enactment. We were motivated and inspired to work hard and realize the true value of things by way of speech by Father. The Mass went off well and we returned back to school with positivity and calmness.

Mary ward week was held from 22-01-2015 to 30-01-2015. On the 22nd of January all the classes had assembly in their respective class. Class I – V saw a presentation on Mary ward’s life. From 27-01-2015 to 29-01-2015 special assemblies were held by classes III, IV & V. Sr. Mary D’Souza gave a small talk to the children which was based on Mary Ward’s life. An interactive session on child’s labour was conducted by Mrs. R. Ireland. The children participated well & enjoyed the session.

Class I made book marks based on Mary Ward’s Maxims. Class II made posters related to maxims & life of Mary Ward. Class III made language & number work, work cards & information cards on important personalities of India. Classes IV & V made teacher made book on various subjects. All the teaching aids prepared by Classes III – V will be presented to Loreto Thakurpukur. Class IV wrote a paragraph on the following topic: which qualities of Mary Ward would you like to imbibe and why?

A quiz on Mary Ward was organized by Mrs. R. D. Osta and Mrs. Khalko. The girls were well prepared and answered enthusiastically. Mary ward team stood first, C. V. Raman stood second and Kalpana Chawla group stood third. The Loreto Chorus was sung at the end of the quiz. The week ended with a mass which was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Gregory Monteiro. The various activities were a befitting tribute to our Fondress Mary Ward.

On the 19th of January,2015 an inter class debate was organized in the middle school portico. The participants were from classes VI, VII, and VIII, six speakers for the motion and six speakers against the motion. The motion was for the debate was School Fests are organized in schools as a learning process. Ms.M. Nautryal and Mrs. P.Quadra were the judges for the event. The participants debated with great vigor and conviction and it was a delight to be a witness to it. The moderator Ms. Shruti Handa was the brought the whole debate to a close. The best speaskers were awarded to Ms. Ashmita Mondal (VII-2) and Ms. Nishat Alam.

XI C

On the 14th of January, five students from class XI (Upasya Bhowal, Amreeta Das, Chaity Puja Sarkar, Anne D’Rozario and Saudamini Dutta) along with Mrs. Quadra went for a literary meet at the Modern high school. This literary meet was a part of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival. It comprised of three sessions. During the first session a student panel(including Upasya Bhowal) interviewed authors Piapadukone, Devdan Chaudhuri and Kanishk Tharoor. This was followed by a panel discussion dealing with the relevance of Jawaharlal Nehru’s ideas in today’s world. The day ended with a student from Modern High interviewing two other authors and having a rapid fire round with them.

Overall it was an enriching experience. What made it even more appealing was the presence of Justice Leila Selth as the chief guest of the occasion. It was truly an honor to be a part of such an occasion and this day shall be etched in our memories forever.

XI C

This year we thought of doing the Parents Day a little differently . Ours being the first Parents day of the new academic session ( on the 29th April) we were , in all honesty, positive and excited at the prospect. We had our own ideas and when Sister Nirmala discussed the issue, and suggested Social Networking as a theme, we were perplexed at the beginning.

Soon, the flurry of activity resulted in a lot of research on statistics, data on this topic and ofcourse the processed output had to be India-centric as well.

To the above, we added case studies from the City of Joy to make more topical.

This ninety minutes programme had all the 90 students taking part either in the prayer service, dance, welcome song or the four role plays. The parents were delighted to see their wards welcome them and perform.

The prayer service saw parents coming up and reading out a prayer for their children. Our teacher read out a special prayer for the parents as well.This was certainly handled differently and the parents were touched with this gesture. To have 98% attendance of the parents was indeed satisfying as we realized that the strong message that we were trying to send out to all will be well received and circulated.

The interactive session saw animated group discussions but in complete harmony and coming together of various ideas, problems and solutions was indeed exhilarating. The responses of the parents were exactly what we really hoped for and since the role plays were a reflection of that, the concept was re-enforced. The power point was just to strengthen out arguments and was in sync with what we wanted to say and included the discussions that took place from the floor of the House.

At the end of the programme, Sister’s message was strong and well accepted by the parents. Their feedback that the presentation and programme highlighted the issues that is prevalent today and that, it was an eye-opener vindicated the choice of the theme. The issue of SOCIAL NETWORKING plaguing the society is definitely a matter of concern and how one needs to maintain a balance , keeping in mind the precautionary measures was the integral point of the day’s event. We thank Sr Nirmala and the teachers for this memorable day … --- A consolidated report by the 2015 batch of

XI C

Loreto Day School, Elliot Road organized a programme for the parents of students of Class 8 on the 5th of May, 2015. The programme began with a speech by Mrs. A.Rocha, the middle school coordinator followed by an inspiring monologue. The students dance gracefully to a classical Bengali song. Prayers were said by the students for their beloved parents. A meaningful song sung by all the students which was dedicated to our parents and as a part of the prayer service a very meaningful power point presentation was shown to the parents called “LIFE IS MIRACLE”. A four role plays were performed by a few girls of class 9, where 2 positive & 2 negative aspects of social networking were highlighted. An interactive session with the parents followed the role play acting. Parents responded well to the questions asked and shared their opinions on how to tackle different situations. Slide show presentations on positives & negatives of social networking was shown to the parents by Mrs.J.Banerjee & Mrs.M.Mukherjee (Class 8-I & Class 8-II class teacher). The programme ultimately came to an end at 10:20 am with Mrs.Rocha’s presentation (winning the race).

XI C

Prize distribution for classes 10 & 12 began with a prayer service. The hymn Asatoma and its translation was read out in English to emphasize its meaning. It was followed by a prayer dance. There was another dance which was followed by a power-point presentation. The head-girl, vice head-girl, games captains, house captains, vice captains and prefects returned their badges and received certificates for their services towards the school.

The students were awarded for General Proficiency, high achievement in different subjects, regular attendance, general helpfulness and responsibility. The programme drew to a close by a few encouraging and inspiring words by Sr. Nirmala.