The British Council Creative Commissions invited countries from all over the world to submit their applications for a climate crisis project. Study Hall Educational Foundation is proud to announce that among 480 applications from all over the world, 17 global projects were selected, Shef being one of them. Our project “Phone Call To The World” is a collaboration between 5 countries namely South Africa, Palestine, United Kingdom, Scotland and Study Hall Educational Foundation representing India. Commissioned by the British Council our project explores climate change and environmental crises through art, science and digital technology. 

45 students from Study Hall School in collaboration with Prerna Girls have formed a team of “Climate Warriors” who are engaging with climate change issues that impact them at a local level,  coming together  to consider the wider global climate challenge. 

Using the simple holding framework of Phone Call to the World , young people from Scotland, South Africa, Palestine,  England and India are creating digital performance work that will inform, question, confront and make demands of its different audiences to make a difference to one of the most pressing issues of our time.  

Related website links:

https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/opportunities/open-call-creative-commissions

Date: September 15^th, 2021                                              Day: Wednesday

Study Hall school hosted the much- awaited Investiture Ceremony of the Student Council on Wednesday, 15^th September 2021. The day began with heavy winds and a light drizzle,  with some luck perhaps, the sky cleared as the students assembled on the ground in their respective positions. As the drum beats echoed throughout the school, the new to-be-invested cabinet marched across the crowd of proud parents all the way to the stage where they halted with elite elegance. The host of the day Mrs Ritika Asrani welcomed everyone. First, she called upon the Principal, Mrs Meenakshi Bahadur to honor the proud recipients with their badges. One by one, marched up the Head Boy- Nishant Misra followed by the Head Girl -Ridhhi Uppal then the Vice Head Boy- Nishchal Srivastava and finally the Vice Head Girl- Kavisha Masand. Quick in succession, came the Sports Captains- Sidhharth Shah and Radhika Shukla, and the Vice Sports Captains- Kapil Yadav and Vrindaa Parashar. Afterwards, the Vice Principal, Mrs. Meenakshi Shah was called upon to present the honours to the Hindi Editors,-Hariom Singh and Rida Fatima followed by the English Editors- Arman Yusuf and Anoushka Mathur followed by the Inter-School Coordinators-Mohammad Ashhar Mehdi, Aarushi Sharma, Divyanshi Kaul and Abhuudit Singh. Then, for the first time ever, in the challenging digital era of Covid, a new technical team appointed to oversee the digital events comprising Shivansh Singh and Tanushree Ghosh was invited on stage. Next in line were the official photographers- Aryan Kacker and Jigisha Singh. Continuing on with the event, the investiture of the captains of the four esteemed houses of Study Hall was done by the respective House Masters/Mistresses and the senior most teachers of the house alike. Beginning with the Yellow Cypress House, the new house captains were Satyam Singh and Fariha Rahman with the Vice House Captains, Dron Pande and Aadrika Dikshit. Moving on to the Red Fireflame House, the new house captains were Haleema Nisar and Kashvi Srivastava with the Vice House Captains, Anshumaan Vikram Singh and Devanshi Chandwani. In the Jacaranda House, the new house captains were Adhiraj Pratap Singh and Ilma Abbasi with the Vice House Captains, Advait Mishra and Ritwika Sinha. Last but not the least was the Silveroak House, the new house captains were Devansh Mishra and Vani Krishna with the Vice House Captains, Prabuddh Dubey and Nimra Junaid. With the glistening sashes and badges in place, the council was invited to take the oath of service.  After the principal’s speech of blessings and good luck, the four heads of the school student  council  spoke on the occasion.  Following them, the parents were also invited to say a few words. In the end, the Principal, Vice Principal, the council members along with the sports teachers-Mr.  Raj Kumar Dubey and Mrs. Preeti Singh were invited to participate in the annual tradition of releasing the colourful balloons in the air. With a single drum beat, the whole gathering came to a standstill for the singing of the National Anthem as the Flags of the school and the Houses were fluttering high up in the sky. The ceremony ended on a solemn note with the Thanks giving by The Vice Principal, Mrs. Meenakshi Shah.

The World Senior Citizen Day was celebrated on 21^st August, 2021 by the children of Junior School Study Hall with great enthusiasm. A Special Assembly was conducted on Zoom by the little ones of Class 2. They highlighted several reasons as to how the Senior Citizens play a vital role in our lives and why they are precious to all of us. We are proud to mention here that the children put in a lot of hard work to make this program a resounding success.

The programme began with a prayer which was followed by a conversation amongst the children who informed the audience about the importance of Senior Citizens in our lives and why we celebrate the Senior Citizens Day.

Several interesting poems, some in Hindi and some in English on the importance of the grandparents in our lives, were recited by the children. Some melodious songs, sung by the children touched the hearts of the audience. 

There was a series of very interesting questions asked by our adorable children which were answered with immense patience and love by their grandparents. The children took a vow to take care of the senior citizens living at their homes, neighbourhood and society.

Many grandparents became very emotional as they addressed the audience. They praised the efforts of the teachers as well as the school management for keeping alive in the children, the tradition of respect for their elders.  

The programme was concluded by our dear Urvashi Aunty blessing the children and reminding them of their responsibilities towards their grandparents. This was followed by our Principal, Meenakshi Aunty and the Headmistress of the Junior School, our dear Bani Aunty blessing the children.

15^th August, 2021

– Dron Pande

The function began with the hoisting of the National  flag by the  the Founder of SHEF, Dr. Urvashi Sahni. The Principal Mrs. Meenakshi Bahadur, Vice Principal, Mrs. Meenakshi Shah, teachers, staff along with the newly elected cabinet members, were present. The flag hoisting was followed  by the administration of the National Pledge.  Thereafter, Dr. Urvashi Sahni graced us with her kind words where she talked about the real issues that we as a nation should strive to address. The festivities  commenced with  an introduction by Zoya Sheikh and Anjaneya Raj Garg of class XII. The events included a song composed by Study Hall’s very own music teacher, Narmada aunty. The song talked about the homecoming of warriors  covering all themes surrounding the 75^th Year of Free India. The program also  had speeches by the Head Boy, Nishant Misra and Head Girl, Riddhi Uppal.

Part 2 of the festivities was a panel discussion, a long standing tradition, in which panelists from all units of SHEF participated. Aman Rathaur and Tanjul Singh from CFL, Akshara Tiwari and Kushagra Singh, from Vidyasthali Kannar Inter College, Mahima Maurya and Anushka Gupta from Prerna Girls, Shallu Rawat and Laxmi Sen from Prerna Boys and from Study Hall School, Zoha Aseem and Nashrah Fatima were the active participants. The expansive panel also included special panelists, teachers and the audience present in the meeting  The discussion was moderated by Shubhanjali Dwivedi, Kavisha Masand, Vice Head Girl and Nishchal Srivastava, Vice Head Boy. The tech team composed of Dron Pande. The discussion was also managed by Suparna Chatterjee and Prachi Saxena, both senior teachers of Study Hall School.

The topic of the Panel Discussion was “Education in active democratic citizenship is good for a robust and effective democracy”. The Panel was posed 7 main questions with 3 videos explaining active citizenship and democratic processes. Urvashi aunty also pitched into the discussion with her views and also her questions. The panelists as well as the audience answered enthusiastically. The teachers were also looped into the discussion.

The discussion ended with a question dealing with methods to bring about active citizenship in the students and the public. The festivities were over and all those who attended were left with a thought:are we really taking advantage of our freedom or are we just taking it for granted?

With that, Jai Hind and we shall hope for a better and New India!

This year, just like any other, the students of grade 12th were anticipating the announcement for elections. The school upheld its values and gave every student a fair chance to nominate themselves for the posts and thus, the election process began via e-platforms. This was followed by the teachers shortlisting the students for the interviews. This time, two interview rounds took place. The shortlisted students had their first interview with a panel of teachers, which included the Founder and CEO of the school, Dr. Urvashi Sahni, the principal, Mrs. Meenakshi Bahadur and Vice Principal, Mrs. Meenakshi Shah. The students were further shortlisted for the second round of interviews. The selected candidates then prepared their speeches, and were voted upon by the students of classes 8th to 12th on 2nd August 2021.

Riddhi Uppal was elected as the Head Girl and Nishant Mishra was elected as the Head Boy for the academic year 2021-22. Kavisha Masand and Nishchal Srivastava were elected as Vice Head Girl and Vice Head Boy respectively.

The selection of the Sports Captains (from grade 12th) and Sports Vice Captains (from grade 11th) was carried out by the teachers themselves. The students were evaluated on the basis of their athletic potential and their participation in the school’s sports events. Leadership and team-work are qualities a good captain possesses and the candidates were reviewed on the same as well. Radhika Shukla and Siddharth Shah were chosen as the Sports Captains while Vrindaa Parashar and Kapil Yadav were selected as Vice Sports Captains.

The World Chess Day was celebrated on the 20^th of July, 2021 by the children of Junior School, Study Hall with great enthusiasm. A Special Assembly was conducted on Zoom by the students of Class 5, highlighting the importance of playing chess. We are proud to mention here that the invites were designed the children of Class 5. The slide show at the beginning of the presentation displayed the creativity of our young artists who had made beautiful pictures on this theme.

The programme began with a prayer which was followed by a child who shared her views on the benefits of playing chess. A couple of children shared their ppt’s on the history of this magnificent game. Another child explained the game in detail….the two participating teams, the moves of the pieces and the final objective….leading to the victory of one team over another. Two children enumerated the several benefits one could achieve while playing the game.

How can a discussion on the game of chess be complete without mentioning the Grandmaster, Vishwanathan Anand? The children proudly told the audience about his great achievements. Koneru Humpy and Abhimanyu Mishra’s achievements were also highlighted.

Two interesting poems, one in Hindi and the other one in English were recited by two children on the game of chess. A student of Class 5 interviewed a student of the Senior School who motivated the audience to try their hands at the game of Chess.

The programme was concluded by our dear Bani Aunty praising the children’s efforts and reminding them of the several benefits of learning to play the game.

12 June 2021: On the internationally recognized World Day against Child Labour, a virtual assembly was organized by the Commerce Department of the Study Hall Education Foundation (SHEF).The assembly commenced with a meditation followed by an address by the Principal, Mrs. Meenakshi Bahadur. The assembly was ably co-hosted by Kashvi Srivastava and Ishan Kalra. Two beautiful poems on the concept and gravity of child labour was recited by Manya Singh and Abu Bakr. A compilation by students expressing their views against this social evil was presented through slogans and shayari. The song ‘Mad World’ was rendered by Maria Hashmi, who was accompanied on the guitar by Ishan Kalra. It was followed by a self composed nazm by Zohaib Sami Khan. Dr. Urvashi Sahni CEO, SHEF highlighted how poverty makes child labour inevitable.

Mock interviews were conducted to highlight the plight of the child labourers. The assembly concluded with a presentation on the existing laws against child labour and a pledge to fight this evil, by lighting candles.

The ‘World Day Against Child Labour’ was celebrated on the 12^th of June, 2021 by the children of Junior School, Study Hall with great enthusiasm. A Special Assembly was conducted on Zoom by the students of Class 4, highlighting the problems of Child Labour and some solutions so as to eradicate it from the society.

The programme began with a prayer which was followed by a Power Point Presentation. Along with it a child recited a beautiful poem in Hindi reflecting the plight of child labourers in India.

A few students tried to spread the awareness of the social evil – ‘Child Labour’, through their art pieces. The art pieces of the children raised some questions which gave words to their drawing.

A thought provoking discussion – ‘Paricharcha’ was held, wherein the students emphasised the problems of child labour and they came up with innovative solutions to bring about a change in their lives.

A child sang a captivating and emotional song on this issue.

The programme was concluded by our dear Urvashi Aunty- Founder and Chief Executive of Study Hall Foundation, praising the children’s efforts and reminding them of their responsibilities towards the eradication of child labour from the world. This was followed by our Principal, Meenakshi Aunty and our Headmistress, Bani Aunty blessing the children.

Our parent orientation for class 1 began at 8.30am on 7th June 2021and 124 parents attended the same. We began with the welcome speech of our school principal Mrs Meenakshi Bahadur aunty followed by a brief discussion by our Junior school Head Mistress Mrs Bani Malhotra aunty with a virtual school tour. The class teachers introduced themselves one by one and touched various aspects of our school and its functional methodology. The orientation reached its conclusion with thanks giving by Bani aunty.