“Teach children what to think and you limit them to your ideas. Teach children how to think and their ideas are unlimited.” Sandra Parks

 The Primary I wing offered this course of learning apprehensively by organising a week-long Bridge course. The objective was to revisit fundamental topics in various subjects to achieve a high level of excellence. Teachers apprised students with Videos, Interactive Worksheets and activities like – Calligraphy, Reading Skills, Mathematical Operations, Concept of various festivals which were covered during this course. Students participated actively and enhanced their skills. The altered way of learning and communication helped students to experience a whole new way of mastering the portions taught.

 Primary II block also worked on clarifying the basic concepts in all the subjects. This course helped students to recapitulate the fundamental topics of the previous year and connect it to the present year’s syllabus in an innovative and fun filled manner.

The students were under no pressure and were free to clarify their doubts and ask questions which were relevant to the topic. Online games, Videos and PPT’s proved to be very helpful for the students which not only boosted their confidence but enabled them to refresh their syllabus. Infect, this format of learning concepts was thoroughly enjoyed by the children as it moved away from the normal routine of virtual learning.

 In the Middle Block, this course was meticulously planned to cater to the students who might not have been able to grasp the concepts otherwise taught in class.  Fundamental topics were taken up so as to brush up the skills in key areas of every subject, with special focus on Reading, Speaking and Writing in Languages. However, keeping in mind the main aim of clarifying the concepts in an engaging manner, the same topics were covered using innovative and out of the box methods. Teaching pedagogies like Story Telling, Experiential Learning, Art Integration and Learning by doing, were used by teachers. Students gained new insights into the learning process through the new techniques and methodologies, adopted to teach the basic concepts in the languages such as Letter Writing through Juxtaposition and Flipped Classroom, Story Writing through Spin a Yarn and Podcast, Mind Mapping, Comprehension and Tenses.

The Secondary Block had an immensely fruitful session with students whereby, the foundational course gave exposure to the students of the higher classes to get clarification and better understanding of concepts. This was a wonderful way to assist children acquire skills required to achieve the necessary learning outcomes especially in the senior classes. In English a recapitulation of tenses, vocabulary building, common errors omitted during attempting papers, were all done to enhance the LSRW skills of students. Innovative methods like the usage of word clouds to describe characters in Literature were introduced in the course.   Hindi had teachers making PPTs, and worksheets to enable students to get various aspects cleared in an easy manner. In Maths, the students were able to bridge the chapter and the concept with the previous classes and the upcoming exams. Further, the You Tube videos helped students in a novel way. The students had a clear picture of frequency distribution, bar graph, central tendency, different types of angels, parallel lines, all taught through PPTs.

In Science, the course started with pre knowledge testing in which students brainstormed to recall what was taught to them in the previous classes. Children were shown GIF’s which were most fascinating. Apart from this, quiz was conducted on each day to assess the learning of the students.

In Social Science, PPTs, preparation of a Flipbook, Mind maps, Charts and discussion-based teaching helped students in numerous ways. Students gave positive feedbacks in which the majority expressed the desire of having more such courses in the near future. The parents were greatly appreciative of the steps taken by the school to further learning of the children and doing whatever it took to cater to the academic requirements of the students.

The Principal Ms. Monica Chawla, appreciated the teachers endeavours and said that she firmly believes in the words of Robert John Meehan who said.” Everything we do as teachers must ensure that the child’s inherent desire to learn is kept alive.” She added that it gave her immense pleasure and satisfaction to see that the Bridge Course not only lived up to but also managed to surpass everyone’s expectations in achieving its main objective of ‘bridging the gap’ in the learning process.

‘An investment in knowledge pays the best interest’