Respected Correspondent, Members of the School Management Committee, parents, staff, students and well-wishers, I am indeed happy to place before you the brief report of the School Activities of the academic year 2022-23.
St Mary’s English Medium School with its vision of presenting socially responsible and morally upright global citizens to our society greatly remembers its Visionary Founder Late Rev. Fr J.P. Tauro who established this school in the year 1984. We are also indebted to the noble service of Late Rev. Fr Mathew Vaz, the man behind this new campus a decade ago. With all its resourcefulness and preparedness, the school has emerged as the prestigious and well sought after educational institution of Udupi District.
The greatest asset of our school lies in our committed and dedicated staff. The total staff on roll is 120 which include 76 teaching and 44 non-teaching. We have 1665 students on roll.
Our students are our success story. Our school secured 100% results in G10 (AISSE) and 12 (AISSCE) Board examination held in May 2022. Out of 103 students who appeared for Tenth Board Exam, 24 students passed with 90% and above. Miss Kshama Jayachand and Miss S Harini are the toppers of the school in G 10 with an extraordinary achievement of scoring 97.2%.
In G 12, Master Anston Dsouza and Master Samson S Lewis are the toppers of Science and Commerce streams respectively with 91.6%. We congratulate students, teachers and parents for their laudable achievements.
The academic year 2022-23 was officially inaugurated on June 1, 2022 seeking God’s Blessings on all the activities of the school.
Child’s academic performance is measured in a series of Formative and Summative examinations with a lot of emphasis on Learning through doing process. Projects, seminars, workshops, preparing charts and power point presentations are some of the ways introduced to which our students have taken keen interest. Our digital classrooms have enabled our students to understand the concepts in depth. Parents are briefed about their ward’s scholastic performance at regular intervals.
With the purpose of providing the best education to the students of our school, the following initiatives were introduced in this academic year:
New Initiatives:
1. Maths lab is set up in school to make the concepts of Mathematics easier for students.
2. Celebration of various subject weeks, so that the children can develop interest in and love for all the subjects by participating in the activities conducted on the occasion.
3. St Mary’s Spell Bee has been introduced to sharpen the spelling skills of the students.
4. House wise uniform is introduced with theme colours- Synergy with Red, Melody with Blue, Elegancy with Pink and Serenity with Yellow to boost up the team spirit.
5. With an aim of educating each child who comes to our school, we have taken initiative and started the Education Fund to support those whose financial condition is unstable.
6. The Permanent Endowment Fund established with a purpose of appreciating the excellence shown by the outgoing students of G 10 and 12 in academic and non-academic fields and to encourage them and others to give their best in the future endeavors.
7. The 2022-23 senior secondary batch is given Competitive exam coaching to help them successively excel and attain their goals.
We are blessed to have students coming from various parts of our country. They enrich the school with diverse cultural and linguistic variety. To ensure that our students are well equipped to face the challenges of life, we have conducted sessions on Cleanliness, conservation of water, career guidance, handwriting skills and Avoiding Suicidal attempts. Remedial teaching is also provided to the needy students.
We here in St Mary’s strongly believe that spiritual life is at the core of our existence. We begin and conclude our days in school by Thanking and Praising God. The value education classes are being conducted twice a week to impart holistic education to everyone.
In keeping with the school’s policy of continuous up gradation of knowledge and skills, our teachers attended various in-service training programs organized under the aegis of CBSE and other educational organizations to improve their academic competence through Happy Classroom, Anatomical Structure of Human Body, Physical Education workshop, Mathematic Workshop.
To build a good and strong rapport between the school and the parents, Parent teachers’ interactive sessions were conducted for various classes. Parents have shown keen interest in visiting the school for Open House days, sports day and Talent Show and other similar activities.
Co-curricular activities are significant for enriching students on an emotional, cognitive, physical and social level. Along with academics, we had various activities conducted for the students at different occasions.
India’s International Movement to unite nations (IIMUN) was organized in our campus in July 2022 to provide a platform for the budding talents to excel in public speaking and it has broadened the horizon of our students.
We hosted the AICS Chess Tournament – MINDATHON for the CBSE and ICSE Schools of Udupi and DK District on Tuesday, 23rd August in our school Auditorium. Prathibha Sinchana- St Mary’s Talent Show was organized to felicitate the student achievers and also to provide platform to the students to showcase their talents. Annual Outing for G 7-12 was organized which has served the educational needs.
Our school also facilitates students to excel in Karate, Bharathanatyam, Drawing, Band, Music, Abacus, Chess and Calligraphy. The Music Lab has been set up to encourage the blooming musicians of our school this year.
Clubs such as Consumer, Literary, Toast Masters, YSM and movements such as Bunnies, Cubs and Bulbuls, Scouts and Guides, training in ATL lab and NCC- Naval Wing give wings to the ideas of our students.
Our students have represented the school in various tournaments of AICS and CBSE and won laurels to their Alma Mater. We celebrated our annual sports day on 21st and 22nd of October. We appreciate the hard work of our students who are just entering into the competitive world and the teachers who are training and supporting them.
Morning assemblies are conducted by different classes in three different languages to develop love for the language. Birthday wishes are conveyed every day to create a child friendly atmosphere. Daily Meditation before the assembly helps the students to orient themselves fully to all the activities of the day. School Cabinet Members promise to join hands with the faculty to make St Mary’s family a happy family. All national and religious festivals are celebrated with the feelings of patriotism, integrity and harmony.
Academics:
The kindergarten educational program is designed for children of age 3 and above that makes them experience the transition from home to school environment. This environment plays a major role in developing their motor skills, social skills, and prepares them for elementary school.
Every child is considered as a unique divine blessing by the educators at our school who consistently attempt to nurture the amazing abilities of the children. Considering every student as an unpolished stone when she or he enters into the school, it is the school’s dedicated mission to shape them into dazzling diamonds in facing the futuristic challenges of the complex and competitive world.
We insist on making the learning environment conducive and productive with the help of audio-visual aids, computers, smart boards, etc. and constantly focus on faculty development through upgrading of teaching skills in terms of matter as well as manner at regular intervals.
The year began with an orientation program to the parents of KG Children so as to make familiar with the teachers and the method of teaching we are going to adopt. 242 children are in four section of each class both in LKG and UKG. Classes started in the first week of June. They were very affectionately welcomed by the teachers in a well decorated classroom, the children were fascinated and happy.
The initial days of June were for the teachers and children to get along and mingle with each other. A number of activities like palm print, painting, colouring, paper tearing, collage, stringing the beads, running, jumping, hopping and many more were given to the children to motivate and to initiate them to come to school, at the same time they improved on eye hand coordination, finger dexterity, concentration, fine motor and gross motor development.
They are also taught to identify and take care of their personal belongings and become responsible, to initiate reading, children are made familiar with letters, picture reading, sight word reading and sentence building. They are introduced to basics of writing readiness and exercise and graduate crayon scribbling to pencil scribbling, pattern formation and writing. Maths concepts are taught in simple interesting ways using day to day examples. Play-based learning helps the child to develop fine motor skills, communication skills, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It helps children tune into their natural creativity and encourages them to explore the world around them.
Reading and writing go hand in hand, rhyme reciting, singing and story narration is part of all children in kg life but what makes St Mary’s different, the numerous co-curricular activities, these activities make them what they will be in future, confidence, meticulous, logical thinking and goal oriented.
Various activities are conducted in the form of competition such as rhyme recitation, story narration, singing in any language, national leader’s fancy dress Flower arrangement and selfie with family, Sports activities and so on. Colours day was celebrated by the toddlers of Kindergarten section, which enabled them to recognize and identify the primary and secondary colours. My first pencil day was celebrated for the first time in St Mary’s. The purpose was to make kids happy and feel proud for transition from slate pencil to pencil. The students also observed Raksha Bandhan thus instilling in them the importance of the relation of brother and sister. Shree Krishna Janmashthami was celebrated and children dressed up as Krishna and Radha to mark the celebration. The students celebrated Grandparents’ Day to mark the importance of blessings of grandparents on their grandchildren and in their lives.
St Mary’s gives an opportunity for kids to develop their social skills. They build relationships with other children and learn to grow with them. They adapt to habits like sharing, taking turns, communicating their ideas to other people, and most importantly they become independent. And while curriculums vary from program to program, your child will learn many new academic, emotional, and social skills while attending a schooling at St Mary’s that will serve them well into the future. Kids develop a positive attitude towards learning when they are introduced to new ideas through fun and playful activities.
At St Mary’s, we put children at the center of their growth. We focus on each child’s individual journey, ensuring they can become capable learners with a curiosity and thirst for discovering new ideas to help them to develop the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
We all are aware that a child’s learning can greatly be enhanced by successful parent-teacher collaboration. I must acknowledge that our parents are inseparable entity of our institute. To build a good and strong rapport between the school and the parents, Parent teachers’ interactive sessions were conducted and parents have shown keen interest in visiting the school for Open House days, sports day and Talent Show and other similar activities. Dear parents today you are here with us which shows how affectionate and responsible you are.
We are happy to announce that St Mary’s Play School will commence functioning in our campus from June, 2023 to cater to the needs of Children between the age of 2.5 and 4 years.
St Mary’s progresses year by year.
We bow our heads to the Almighty and our Patron Mother Mary for all blessings. We remain ever grateful to V. Rev. Antony Shera, Secretary of Catholic Board of Education for his constant guidance and motivation.
We are extremely appreciative of our Correspondent V. Rev. Fr Charles Menezes for bringing new charm to the school campus by his expertise and broader vision. We thank all the members of school Management Committee for their unending support in providing necessary amenities from time to time.
We acknowledge and appreciate the generosity of the donors of Endowment prizes. We are indebted to our Vice Principal Ms Rita Quadros for her proficient way of handling the school activities. We extend our gratitude to our dedicated teaching and non-teaching staff for always trying for perfection in all their endeavours.
A special word of appreciation to our dear students for their sincere efforts and hard work to put up a sparkling cultural performance at the end of this programme.
We remain grateful to you dear parents and guardians for your benevolent support, indebted to our well-wishers and the public for your contribution to the growth of St Mary’s. May God bless us all!