The Cambridge School Winter Festival 2017
The Cambridge School Winter fest, the eagerly awaited annual affair, was held on November 25, 2017 at Uttam Mancha. As always, all members of the TCS Community- students, parents, teachers, administrators, well-wishers worked tirelessly together to present the evening’s programs, making it a resounding success.
The evening began with the Principal, Mrs Sunita Chowdhary’s welcome address to the audience. In her speech Mrs Chaudhary mentioned that the Winterfest has been an annual event for 15 long years – showcasing our students’ immense talents, providing opportunities of interaction with parents and guardians and developing collaborations between teachers and students.
Next came the announcement about several important events, both academic and co-curricular, at TCS for the 2017-18 term. These were:
A host of exciting co-curricular activities introduced this year in response to suggestions by guardians which include Sports – Cricket and Football training and practice which has found a number of takers , Chess which helps develop focus and concentration, Dance which is creative and entertaining, and also highly effective in improving flexibility, physical strength and stamina in children .
Another hugely popular activity introduced this year is Robotics imparting and honing valuable skills – through which our students learn to simulate and then construct. There are plans, said Mrs. Chaudhary, to add other important and useful activities like Self-Defence, Public Speaking, Yoga and 3D Printing. She expressed the hope that these arrangements will go a long way providing a much-needed platform for students to develop a wide variety of skills.
Apart from the above there have also been important events like a Dengue awareness drive, Independence Day celebrations with the British Deputy High Commissioner, Model MUN and Grandparents’ Day. The TCS Talent Shows, held once every month have also turned out to be immensely popular. More such plans are in the offing. Exciting times ahead for all, indeed!
Efforts to improve the quality of education imparted at the school continue and to that end Science 60 has been introduced in Middle school, an innovative program that brings Science to classrooms and allows young students to conduct experiments themselves.
In High School, Google Classroom has been introduced which allows for expansion of the classroom beyond physical limits and attempts to engage learners through the Net.
TCS students continue to achieve excellent results at the Board examinations.
The Video exchange program with Upper Iowa University remains popular and remedial English classes for Junior and Middle school has been ongoing. Mrs. Chaudhary urged parents to take advantage of such arrangements instead of sending their wards for expensive, time-consuming private tuitions.
After these important announcements, Mrs. Chuadhary warmly welcomed Dr. Rima Mukherjee, our chief guest for the evening and introduced her to the audience with a brief profile on her outstanding achievements in the field of Psychiatry and Mental Wellness. Dr. Mukherjee’s presence was indeed very welcome as she is a proud TCS parent and shares a bond with all of us at TCS.
After the welcome address, Mrs Chaudhary requested Dr. Mukherjee to award the prizes before the start of the show. The announcements for special cash prizes for our meritorious students sponsored by parents, guardians and well-wishers evoked loud applause as everyone in the audience acknowledged the generosity of the donors. The coveted TCS scholarships were also announced.
After the welcome address and the prize distribution, the much awaited annual concert began in earnest. The curtain rose on the inaugural item of the evening, an adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s epic novel Hobbit (The Battle of Five Armies), an item guaranteed to excite both the young and the not so young in the audience, presented with pomp and splendor by our students from Nursery to Class 8. It was a potpourri of riotous colors, movements that were both graceful and energetic and music that combined the thunderous noise of battle with a lively rhythm and lilting tunes, with eye-catc
hing sets forming the right backdrop. The clear diction, the lively tone of the speakers and singers, the enthusiasm of the young performers made it a showstopper and the inhabitants of Tolkien’s epic world of hobbits, elves, dwarfs, and dragons exploded on stage.
The next item was presented by students from classes 9-12, an adaptation of HG Wells’ famous science fiction The War of The Worlds, a story of a titanic battle between humans and invaders from the planet Mars, a battle that though won, shakes the people out of their complacency and forces them to regard the frightening prospect of destruction of their planet and realize that humans are not the most intelligent of beings. The actors performed with due seriousness in their effort to do justice to the theme, aided, like the first item, by elaborate sets and music.
Next on stage were some of our students singing the old school song. It was a rich experience listening to the song and recalling the way TCS has evolved.
The last item on the agenda was a farewell song and dance number chosen and choreographed by the A2 students to express their feelings about their school and the company of friends as the time for parting ways loom near. Our students displayed awesome talent, the way they sang and played the instruments. The audience watched this short but worthy performance with awe and rapt attention before breaking into thunderous applause as the strains of “We had joy we had fun/we had seasons in the sun” drew to a close.
Overwhelmingly emotional and touching.! A fitting finale to the evening festivities in more ways than one.
With this, the curtain came down on this year’s edition of our End of Year production.
As always, we thank all members of the TCS community for the tireless work and gigantic effort they made to make this year’s Winterfest, like other years, a huge success.
We wish everyone a wonderful Winter season and a Happy New Year!
