Dear Parents,

Greetings!

Disruption is one word that we get to hear a lot these days. The term disruption is often accredited to Clayton Christensen and Joseph Bower, in a paper for Harvard Business review in 1995. Today the term disruption is used synonymously with innovation and transformation. Regardless of overuse of the word there’s no denying that we are in the era of disruption. The education landscape is dynamic and new disruptors in education are continuously emerging. They often bring about positive changes, innovation, and increased accessibility. The question is whether we can do without disruption especially in education in today’s rapidly accelerating and changing world. The answer lies on various perspectives, goals and on our adaptability to turn these disruptors into huge eruptors of favourable outcomes in education for students benefit thereby fostering a generation of students ready with skills of life- ‘Ready for the World’.

“ Disruptors don’t have to discover something new, they just have to discover a practical use for new discoveries ‘ Jay Samit.

Some advantages of Educational Disruptors are- 

1. Increased Access: Disruptive technologies, such as online learning platforms provide 24x7 access to education for students.
2. Personalised Learning: Technologies like adaptive learning systems and AI-driven classes  have tailored educational experiences to individual needs, promoting personalised learning.
3. Automated Grading Systems: AI technologies now efficiently grade assignments, quizzes, and exams, giving fast , reliable assessment outcomes.
4. Global Collaboration: Disruptors have enabled global collaboration by breaking down geographical barriers thereby allowing students and educators to connect and learn from diverse perspectives.
5. Innovation and Engagement: Gamification, virtual reality, and other disruptors  have made learning more engaging thereby fostering innovation in teaching methodologies.

Striking a balance between embracing innovation and addressing potential pitfalls is crucial. Education can certainly continue without disruptive technologies, but leveraging these tools thoughtfully can enhance the quality, accessibility, and inclusivity of educational experiences.

The last term of the school began post 1 month December break on January 8, 2024. Though senior students started the term with pre board exams and are busy fighting the academic stress and rigour, the mid-schoolers have been working towards the thorough preparation and syllabus completion for upcoming annual exams in March.

Tamil Results for IB Year 2 -2024 cohort were released by IBO on January 5, 2024 and Hindi results for IGCSE 10 were released by Cambridge International on January 18, 2024. The students have once again done us proud with stupendous outcomes. Intervention strategies and one to one feedback sessions were shared with parents during PTM sessions done by invitations on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 for grades 6-12. 

Our Senior students emerged in the top category of winners for the third consecutive year in the Company of the year event organised by Junior achievement Singapore. Our GIIS-COY team of 2023 demonstrated exceptional prowess, competing against formidable opponents from the following institutes in Singapore. Their product’ Infoair’ made waves during the competition and was loved by the audience and judges alike.

Watching an athlete push themselves to conquer a seemingly inhumane feat is inspiring in itself and it was indeed inspiring to see the dedication of young budding sportsmen and sportswomen towards overcoming the difference between impossible and possible during the sports award ceremony organised on January 24, 2024 for all their outstanding mettle and winning streak in  external intra -school sports events.

Indian Republic day was celebrated on site, with flag hoisting on January 26, 2024.  Students adorned in the attire to suit the theme, showed their respect and reverence to significance of the day. In addition our students dance performance at Indian High Commission to mark the celebrations on Indian Republic day on January 26, 2024, was appreciated by all. 

As part of PEP- Parent Engagement Program, we conducted a parent Engagement webinar series with 6 sessions during this academic year. The last session on ‘Helping your children with Anger Issues was conducted, on January 20, 2024. The highlight of the session was to teach students what Eleanor Roosevelt believes in that -Anger is one letter short of danger. The session saw an overwhelming response from the parents with the opportunity to have their questions answered by the session expert. 

We hosted an Open House for our prospective parents looking at joining the school for the new Academic year. The hands-on activities in the skill based studios provided students with deeper insights into levels of learning giving them good engagement experiences.

The career counselling department organised sessions by university experts from EU Business School, Barcelona, Ritsumeikan University Japan and St George’s UoL Clinical Pharmacology. Many of our students have got conditional offers from leading universities across the globe. 

The theme for January’s wellbeing programme “EVOLVE, EMERGE, ELEVATE” was “Take Notice”. Our students  ushered in the New Year with renewed energy and they found time to notice things around them. The wellbeing theme for the month of February 2024 is “Keep Learning” At school, for the kick-off activity for “Keep Learning”, students will try to teach each other a new concept, skill or language. We encourage you to remind them to try this at home too.

It is rightly said ,” Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” — William Pollard. 

As we continue on this exciting journey, we want students to hold this maxim close to their hearts and pave their way to converting the educational disruptors into their favour for enhanced learning experiences and favourable learning outcomes. 

Wishing everyone a great month ahead.

Regards,

Deepika Sodhi

Academic Supervisor, GIIS SMART Campus