Dosco Newsletter Autumn Winter 2014 by The Doon School

The Doon School Newsletter Volume 2. Issue 1

DOSCO

AUTUMN / WINTER 2014

The

Forgotten this? We haven’t.

In this issue: Spotlight on Service New: Universities and Colleges Fair Creative life at Art and Media Centre Founder’s 2014

Introduction three term year, as discussed at the PTMs in the Spring Term; this is in line with most schools in India and almost all our peer group of schools internationally, many of whom boys have visited on their student exchanges in recent years. The school is also busy finalising the details of the plans for the school to offer IGCSE and once we are able to do so, I will write to parents about that too. I am very pleased to welcome you to the autumn/winter 2014 edition of The Dosco. This term, we were pleased to welcome some further curriculum initiatives such as our own first university and college fair,Invest in Your Future, which gave our parents a chance for the first time to meet representatives from Indian and international higher education institutions at school. We were delighted to see pupils from local schools join our boys for the day. At the British High Commission in Delgi, we also completed our launch and roll-out in India of the school’s teacher training programme led by the IOE, now ranked the No. 1 school of education in the world by QS University Rankings in 2014 and since early December merged with UCL, ranked fifth in the world. At present we are busy putting the key planning in place for the school to move to a

The term saw some of the best music and drama ever seen in school, including Tughlaq, a classic play in its own right, and a performance of one of the Founder’s plays The Complete Works of William Shakespeare being well received at St Stephen’s College, Delhi. I was encouraged to see progress by our swimming teams, to watch matches in a highly competitive soccer season, to see school records smashed in athletics and to host a mindfulness conference in October. However, and perhaps most importantly of all in these pages, is the update about what the school is continuing to do to support the victims of the Uttarkhand flood disaster of 2013. As a community we are honouring our promises to help the people still suffering in the region, many of whom feel abandoned after false promises made at the time of the disaster. We are, after all one nation,

and The Doon School is mandated by history to play its part in such tragedies. Further information about these events and other stories is also available to view on the school’s website at www.doonschool.com Happy reading to you all, Peter McLaughlin

Headmaster

The Doon School is a member of the Indian Public Schools’ Conference, The Headmaster’s and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC, UK), the International Boys’ Schools Coalition, the Boarding Schools Association UK and The Round Square Association. The Doon School is also an IBO World School.

SERVICE

SPOTLIGHT ON

School’s ongoing commitment to Uttarakhand - post 2013 disaster

Takshila Public School, Rudraprayag, was washed away during the Uttarakhand disaster in June 2013. The school had nine rooms and a play ground and washroom facilities for one hundred and seventy pupils. It is currently being run from tents.. The Doon School, as part of its social service curriculum and as part of its contribution to the people of hills hit by the calamity, has begun to rebuild the school. The land has been acquired and the site clearance has been carried out by the boys. During three mid terms, boys have gone and worked at the village. This work has included carrying material to the site (as it is not accessible by vehicles), building hollow bricks, clearing the site and making the retaining wall. The boys have also and will also continue to spend time with the school children to give them moral support and show solidarity as many are from homes which have been washed away during the disaster. In order to help fund the project, and with the support of the entire school community, we once again cancelled the annual Founders' dinner and contributed the cost of the dinner towards this cause. During December 2014, a number of the schools in Round Square have come forward to help in the project and thirty pupils from all over the country went to Rudraprayag to help in the construction work.

Oakham School UK continues its Social Service partnership with Doon A team of staff and pupils from Oakham School in the UK has returned to work with boys from Doon on the continuing project at Rasulpur and are establishing a village school there. This is their third annual visit and we are delighted that the project is flourishing, with Mr Anil Sarna inspiring and leading the Oakham team. Oakham is a fellow HMC and IB School.

Creative Life in the Art and Media School

Portfolio Development Workshop Tim Edgar, Head of Foundation at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) and a lead examiner for the national UK UAL Foundation award, came to the school and showed the boys how to create a quality Art portfolio. The full process that universities are looking for in portfolios was covered in the project – from idea generation to making the book, to photographing it and providing notation. A general presentation on UK portfolio requirements was also made. Boys came away with a completed concertina book, photographs to use in their portfolios and a much better idea of what it takes to get admission directly to creative BA courses in the UK and elsewhere in the world. AUB is a specialist creative university offering courses in Art, Design, Media and Performance.

Art Trip to National Gallery of Modern Art & Craft Museum, Delhi In August, the new D-formers visited the National Gallery of Modern Art. Its collection hosts more than 14,000 works, including pieces by artists such as Thomas Daniell, Raja Ravi Verma, Abanindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy, Amrita Sher-Gil, as well as foreign artists, all these apart from its many sculptures by various artists. The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum (NHHM) in New Delhi, commonly known as National Crafts Museum, is one of the largest crafts museums in India and was also visited by the D Form.

Art@Founder’s 2014 This year’s exhibition was titled Imaginarium and featured, amongst many, the following pieces in a large exhibition of work that also showcased board examination art work: A creative piece using metal construction techniques and representing the world’s population was a mesmerizing experience for those who saw it by day and night:

Sashwat Arya S Form Yash Mittal B Form Amartya Tirtha Bhowmick Aakar Gupta C form Ojas Kharbanda C form

Smoke Firing Workshop hosted in the Art and Media School ‘Everything around us is related to art in some way or the other. One form of art, which cannot exist without nature, is the art of smoke firing. Smoke firing is an ancient process of giving simple pots a completely different look. The usage of this process dates back to one of the oldest and most renowned civilizations, the Indus Valley Civilization or the Harrapan Civilization. The Harrapans are said to

be the first people to actually introduce this form in the world and used it in order to decorate the pots they made. Since then the process has been used by many tribes in India. As far as the process of smoke firing is concerned, it is a rigorous task where a number of things are to be kept in mind. Once the pot is made, it is smoothly burnished with a stone, giving the surface a beautiful and a silky

glow, which comes from within. The piece is allowed to dry. Then several layers of fine liquid clay called Terra Sigillata are applied and it is polished after each coat. The piece is next fired in an electric kiln to approximately 1000 degrees centigrade and is ready for smoke firing. For the smoke firing the pot is kept in a metal or a brick container which is filled with various things like sawdust of different textures, dry leaves, dry twigs, etc., and is allowed to slowly smoulder for several hours. Thus, after some time one can observe that the polished, unglazed surface will be richly marked by the smoke and the flame, imparting sensuality to the pieces.’ Mihir Gupta 378 K

MUN 2014 Q. The largest ever? A. Yes. The Doon School Model United Nations welcomed its largest number of participants from South Asia and Asia-Pacific countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Singapore, Dubai and Oman. The event took place from 15th-17th August 2014.

Doon launches teacher training programme in India with the IOE at the British High Commission On 9th September 2014, Sir James Bevan, the British High Commissioner, welcomed distinguished guests from top schools and colleges around India to celebrate and consolidate the partnership between The Doon School and the Institute of Education, University of London at The British Embassy in

New Delhi. Speaking at the event, Sir James Bevan said ‘I am delighted to be hosting this event to celebrate the collaboration between what is widely regarded as the best boys’ school in India – The Doon School –and the world’s top education research centre – the Institute of Education at the University of London. I’m delighted

to be your host because I know The Doon School well: Janet and I have had the pleasure of staying there, and I oversaw the visit there late last year of a much more important person than me, namely HRH the Duchess of Cornwall as part of her India tour with HRH Prince Charles. I know that Her Royal Highness was hugely impressed by what she saw.’ By January 2015, nearly half of the teaching staff at The Doon School will be registered on this two-year immersive professional development programme. Through this strategic partnership with the Institute of Education faculty, The Doon School masters will have the opportunity to continue on to Master’s and Doctoral programmes. At the end of 2014, the IOE merged with the University College London, one of the top five universities in the world.

Q. Did boys here at Doon on student exchange participate as delegates? A. Yes (see picture)

Q. What does the final closing moment look like? A. This

Soundscape

The Doon School Orchestra & Choir In Concert 15th October: Invited Schools, Guests and D to Sc forms The Rose Bowl 6.30 pm 18th October: The Rose Bowl 7.00 pm

Founder’s 2014:

Celebrating a Century of the Main Building The school celebrated its seventy-ninth year with its annual event at the end of October 2014. The Chief Guest was Mr Kunal Bahl, the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Snapdeal.com. He is an engineer from the University of Pennsylvania and a business degree from The Wharton Business School.

Kunal serves on Unilever’s Global Digital Advisory Board and the Board of Governors of The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. Mr Bahl is also featured in the 2014 Fortune Global 40 Under-40 List. The Hindi Play, Tughlaq, dazzled the audience with its rich sets and costumes, as well as its dialogue, much of it in Urdu.

The music concert was a daring and deeply creative performance of fusion music entitledSoundscape. The English Play was (photo) the popular comedy, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. The Chandbagh Debates saw the school team beat the Old Boys in the debate, ‘This house would

question its traditions’; the Old boys chose to speak for the motion, but were beaten in a close contest by just one point. The exhibitions featured Art, Photography and Design and Technology, as well as a celebration of the centenary of Main Building. There was also a look at how languages are studied in school,

and how they have been effected by and contributed to the history of India and the world from 1914 to2014. The English Department mounted an exhibition centred on First World War poetry and writing to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict.

CAREERS

SPOTLIGHT ON

NEW

Invest in your Future: Doon Launches Universities and Colleges Fair, 2014

One year on, The Dosco interviews Stephen Magee: Q. Where were you pre-The Doon School? A. I was Pro-Chancellor of the University of St Andrew’s for ten years and oversaw the internationalisation of Student Recruitment and Admissions, with particular emphasis on the USA, and ten more years in all areas of admissions and wider and before that headed the university’s admissions, careers service and wider communications and human resource and development with fundraising. Q. How have you found the first year in the department at school?

The school organized its first large scale careers and university fair. It featured a cross-section of excellent university and college institutions, combined with first class presentations on a range of topics from scholarships and visas to the value of doing the research into the course and the institution from country to country. The fair was open to invited schools from the region as part of the school’s aim to support the wider community, and to parents of boys at Doon.

A. The team here is very impressive and I can say that as I have worked with many College Counselling offices in prestigious US high schools. Q. What travel and training opportunities have you had and why is this so important? A. At the school’s request, I have been able to attend the CIS Conference in Monaco, the OACAC Conference in Tampa and most recently visited a range of prestigious US universities from Georgetown to Emory via UVA and Duke, amongst others. These interactions are absolutely vital in building sustainable long-term relationships with universities, as well as keeping up to date professionally with current

trends in admissions and financial aid. Q. What have been the biggest challenges? A. Introducing some different perspectives into the ambitions of Doscos and parents alike – getting across the message that there are many excellent universities which have exceptional brand names just not so well-known yet in India, alongside the knowledge that there are really incredibly few places available to applicants from outside the USA in the top institutions and that success can be measured realistically in terms other than Ivy League!

The Doon School is a member of the Indian Public Schools’ Conference (IPSC),The Headmaster’s and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC, UK), the International Boys’ Schools Coalition, the Boarding Schools Association UK and The Round Square Association. The Doon School is also an IBO World School and a member of OACAC (Overseas Association for College Admission Counselling), College Board and CASE (Council for Advancement and Support in Education).

The Indian Public Schools’ Society Registered office: The Doon School, Chandbagh, Dehradun, Uttarakhand Corporate Identification Number: U99999UR1928NPL002455

The Doon School Mall Road Dehradun India Pin : 248001

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HOW TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR CAREER: Contact Details:

Direct Telephone Numbers: +91+135+2526490 / 536 E: careercounselling@doonschool.com

It’s all about doing the work

2014-2015

Q. What are some key trends that you have observed about course and college choice, and why? A. While Engineering an Economics remain the most popular choices, there is a growing recognition of two things vis-a-vis the USA Higher Education sector: one, that other disciplines are not only important but essential to pursue a degree in US institutions with the prevalent liberal arts tradition, interdisciplinary and the declared major only really biting in the Junior year; and two, that there is a significant number of institution outside the US News Top 20 and particularly the Liberal Arts and Sciences Colleges themselves, many of which are absolutely first rate and from which so many go on to graduate school.

Aanchal Negi also joined at the same time. Here are some of her thoughts on joining this busy department: ‘I got an opportunity to travel to the USA in July this year. Although I had travelled earlier to other countries in my previous role as a careers counsellor, going to the US this year was a learning experience in itself. I am seeing a change in the boys’ interests towards courses offered as part of the liberal arts and sciences, greater interest in the humanities and a move away from the traditional courses in business and engineering. One of the reasons for this change is that the boys now have a wider variety of subjects to choose from at a much younger age in school and they are not always sure of what they want. In these cases, the course

make-up at liberal arts and sciences courses works best for them where they study subjects in both arts and science in their first two years, and then specialize in their third and fourth years. They also have an opportunity to pursue their academic study side by side with their interest in art, drama, music and sport. These interests prepare boys for the professional world by helping them develop their interests and hone their communication and interpersonal skills. They are interests that they will take with them for the rest of their lives.’

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SPORTS NEWS New school record set for hurdles in October 2014 Rishavraj Das set a new record in the 400m hurdles with a timing of 1:02.41. Doscos selected for U19 squad 60th SGFI National School Games, December 2014 Congratulations to Siddarth Sarin in Tata House, Varun Narain Sinha and Rajkumar Vijay from Hyderabad House, all of whom were selected to attend the coaching camp at Ranchi (Jharkhand) from 8th -15th December 2014. Siddarth competed in the Shot Put, Varun Narain Sinha competed in the 400 metres and Rajkumar Vijay in the 100 metres.

Dosco Abhinav Bindra meets current Dosco shooter Samarjit Singh at The Abhinav Bindra Foundation

In late September 2014, Old Boy Abhinav Bindra took the lead in supporting young shooters in improving Indian sport with the establishment of the Abhinav Bindra Foundation and the Go Sports Foundation, a Bangalore NGO. The aim of the NGO is to develop a comprehensive programme of training and support for young athletes. Current national player Samarjit met him and heard more about his plans for the sport in India.

Punching above his weight Ruhaan Dev Tyagi from Oberoi House won a gold medal in the recently concluded Sub-Junior District Boxing Championship in the 60-63 Kg weight category held in November 2014.

Swimmers make a splash! The school swimming team participated in Aquatix 2014, an inter-school swimming meet held at Vidya Global School, Meerut, on 29th and 30th August 2014. A total of twenty schools from various parts of the country participated in this two-day competition. The relay

team comprising Anish Siddharth Bhide from Jaipur House, Nehansh Saxena from Hyderabad House, Zoraver Mehta from Jaipur House and Shiven Dewan from Kashmir House won the 4 x 25 metre freestyle relay. The U18 relay team comprising Agastya Shetty from Oberoi House, Tanmay Gupta from Jaipur House, Rishabh Goel from Tata House and Arunabh Uttkarsh from Oberoi House won the 4 x 25 metre freestyle relay and the 4 x 50 metre freestyle relay. Anish Bhide from Jaipur House and Arunabh Uttkarsh from Oberoi House won the trophy for the individual champion in the U-15 and U-18 category respectively.

Doon wins U17 Swimming IPSC 2014 The school swimming team participated in the 29th All-India IPSC Swimming Championship for Boys 2014-2015 held at Birla Public School, Pilani between 8th -10th October. The U-17 freestyle relay team comprising Tanay Gopal Agarwal from Hyderabad House, Rishabh Goel from Tata House, Anish Bhide from Jaipur House and Nihal Singh Mann from Hyderabad House won Gold in the relay. The U-17 medley relay team comprising Rishabh Goel from Tata House, Pratyaksh Parmar from Jaipur House, Raghav Kumar from Hyderabad House and Nihal Singh Mann from Hyderabad House won Gold in the relay. A total of 19 medals were won.

Doon selected to represent Uttarakhand State in 41st National Sub-Junior Basketball Championship in Nasik from 22nd November-28th November 2014 Congratulations to Naman Khurana from Kashmir House, Zohravar Bhati from Jaipur House and Ritwik Saraf from Tata House who represented the school and the state.

Doon wins school swimming competition The school hosted an inter-school aquatic meeting featuring ten schools on the first weekend in September 2014. In the junior races, from Jaipur House won Gold in butterfly, backstroke and freestyle events. Consequently, he won the best swimmer award in the junior category.

Chess: Checkmate at Doon Congratulations to Raghav Bagri from Tata House, who participated in the 12th A2H All India Fide Rated Chess Tournament held in Hyderabad from 5th-8th July 2014. There were one hundred and eighty participants and Raghav Bagri was ranked eighteenth with a score of 6.5 points out of nine rounds and received a cash prize of 7,000 rupees. He was also given the “best player award” at the 1st Asom International Open Fide Rating Chess Tournament held at Guwahati later in July 2014. There were one hundred and ninety participants and he was the best player in the 1800 and below ELO rating category and was awarded a cash prize of 2500 rupees. The school fielded a team and individual players in the Delhi Chess Challenge International FIDE Rating Tournament held between 1st and 5th October 2014 in Delhi. There were nearly four hundred participants and ten school teams; The Doon School were the runners up in the team event. The team consisted of Sarthak Gupta, Anuman Goel, Atharva Shukla and Amritansh Saraf. Individual success went to a Sarthak Gupta, who came thirteenth overall and was awarded a cash prize. The Doon team also won the school’s inter-school chess tournament.

Mindfulness at Doon

We win again:

Doon wins Chuckerbutty and Kamla Jeevan debates The school won both competitions again in 2014. The Chuckerbutty Memorial English Debates saw the Doon team beat Bishop Cotton School, Shimla in the final, and the Kamla Jeevan Hindi Debates saw the school beat RIMC in those finals.

The Ahimsa Trust, which has coordinated activities for the venerated Vietnamese Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, organized a workshop titled ‘Cultivating Mindfulness Education’ for teachers hosted by The Doon School from 2nd – 5th October 2014. There were nine monastic teachers from the US and Europe to train participants.

The mindfulness workshop introduced teachers and students to tools that could calm the mind, including applied ethics that helped one to handle stress and anxiety. Mindfulness was also discussed with regard to helping in effective communication with others. ‘Thank you for the inspirational retreat. I loved the Qigong exercises. I also enjoyed the talks-contemplative. I understand the importance of cultivation of mindfulness in oneself as the foundation and roots for inculcating it in others. The Doon School is an amazing venue for a retreat. Thank you again for the experience.’ (Anjali Sharma, a teacher at Woodstock, Mussorie.)

New Board Appointments The following board appointments have been made since Founder’s 2014: Mr. Ravi Arjan Bulchandani Mr. Arvind Kumar Nigam Mr. Alok Bhargava

AT A GLANCE Some advanced dates for the diary 2015 PTMs: AT/SCE: 14th February 2015 SC: 11th April 2015 A/B: 25th April 2015 C/D: 2nd April 2015 New C Form join the school: 4th February 2015 Test Week: 9th-13th February 2015 Prize Giving: Saturday 13th March 2015 New D Form join the school: 1st April 2015 Trials: 18th-27th May 2015

IN THE NEXT EDITION: • The MCC: Return to hone skills and add to cricketing enjoyment • Summer at Doon 2015: Apply now • Doon at 80: What do we look like now? • University and College Offers 2015: How did the boys do? • Trinity Board Music Results: The latest news report

Amazon’s best seller:

Naella Grew’s book: Teenagers Translated Teenagers Translated , co-written by Janey Downshire and Naella Grew, has been so popular it is already on to its second print run. Given the volume of other books on similar topics already in print, this is no mean feat.

Video Club and the AV squad: The boys behind the lens and the producers of sound

The Doon School Mall Road Dehradun India Pin: 248001

Direct Number: +91-135-2526400 Fax Number (HM Secretariat): +91-135-2757275 www.doonschool.com

Fax Number (Finance Office): +91-135-2753920 Head of Admissions: admissions@doonschool.com

All the information is correct at the time of going to press. The school reserves the right to make any amendments. This document is for information only and does not form part of any contract between the parents and the Society/School. The Doon School is not connected in any way with any other school that has the word “Doon” in its name. The Indian Public Schools’ Society Registered office: The Doon School, Chandbagh, Dehradun, Uttarakhand Corporate Identification Number: U99999UR1928NPL002455 © Copyright : The Doon School Dehradun 2015