Tarapore School offers a number of useful co-curricular activities parallel to its academic curriculum. These are designed to help students develop in a holistic manner.
WebQuest training
The value of inquiry or powerful questioning is now well-established and is becoming even more relevant, given today's hyper-competitive, fast changing and complex environment. Even the National Education Policy 2020 encourages an Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) approach. This approach helps in motivating students and teachers respond to the diversity in the classrooms.
In an effort to incorporate the concept of IBL, Tarapore School in collaboration with TEEP to organise a summer workshop for the students of Std. IX named ‘WebQuest.’ WebQuest is an inquiry-based learning activity designed for learners.
It is enabled through technology and allows learners to create artefacts using various ICT applications, leading to knowledge deepening in school subjects. It adopts a constructivist pedagogical framework and emphasises building higher-order thinking skills, such as problem-solving, research, creativity, critical thinking and reflection. WebQuest allows teachers to be creative by designing problems related to real-life situations. Moreover, its broad scope enables interdisciplinary linkages, allowing learners to go through a deep and enriching learning experience!
In a three day workshop the students of Std. IX were trained to focus on research work. The students were introduced to the Web Quest through the topic
"Understanding and Appreciating the Indian Constitution". They were given a real life situation of being an NGO worker and were asked to research on Articles from the Indian Constitution related to child labour and human trafficking. The students seemed quite interested and involved. Their project would also be evaluated and the top three artifacts of the students will be published in the school website. All participating students were recognised for their efforts and were awarded participation certificates.
We hope to take this pilot project further and involve more students in such informative and engaging projects.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Ankur Gandotra from TEEP ( Tata Steel Excellence in Education programme) and Ms. Varya Singh, intern at TEEP from TISS ( Tata Institute of Social Sciences) for heading the project and guiding our students and teachers to understand the nuances of Inquiry based learning.
Critical Thinking
The concept of critical thinking is developed right from the kindergarten, where students are given easy puzzles and brain teasers to increase their reasoning ability. This is added to the timetable as a weekly class from Std. I onwards. The critical thinking classes also help students prepare for competitive examinations in the future.
Art And Craft Education
Most children have an artistic tendency but they need the right outlet to explore their creative side. These activities are therapeutic and stress relieving. Art education is held once a week for all classes from Kg. to Std. VIII.
Socially Useful Productive Work (SUPW)
Socially Useful Productive Work (SUPW) is a subject where students participate in a number of vocational education activities like stitching, gardening, painting, carpentry and other crafts and hobbies and community service.
Yoga
A unique feature of the curriculum at Tarapore School is a weekly Yoga class for all classes from Std. I to V. These classes are conducted by trained yoga teachers and have proved to be very beneficial for the students.
Physical Education
Children are given a couple of periods in the week where they get out of their classrooms and spend time developing team building through various sports activities on the field. The school now has started specialized coaching for certain games, details about which can be found in the sports section.
Mental Mathematics
In the Junior Primary department, students practise mental Mathematics once a week to sharpen their minds and strengthen their base in Mathematics.
Life Skills
In line with the mission of Tarapore School which believes in making their children morally upright, thoughtful and tolerant, life skills sessions are held for all class levels where students interact with the counsellor and the senior leaders of the school. These classes talk about tolerance, coping with stress, goal setting, decision making, coping with emotions, self-esteem and related topics. Apart from this, teachers also conduct Value Education classes where they spend time imbibing the core values of the school in the children.
Singing
English and Hindi singing classes are held for students of kindergarten to Std. VII. These classes help them develop rhythm, calm themselves and learn aspects of music, both English and Hindi.
Marching
The students of the Junior Primary are taught how to march once a week in order to make them smarter, improve their posture and help them practise self discipline.
Activity Clubs
On Fridays, Std. III to V have Activity clubs -Band, Cubs and Bulbuls, Fitness, Art, English Scholar, G.K.- conducted by faculty members and allotted according to the choice of the students. The students of the Middle School are divided into nine clubs – Computer, Science, Go-Green, Safety, Interact, JYOTI, Literary, GK and Entertainment Clubs, which are allotted according to the choice and ability of students. Inter-house competitions are conducted by the students of the various clubs to enhance their skills as well as their managerial capabilities. The Interact Club was started in the year 2013-14 and the Jyoti Club was started from 2015-16 for the students of Std. VIII onwards.
Games
After school hours, optional games classes are held thrice a week for football, kho-kho and volleyball. This is free for all students of Stds. III to X. Kathak dance classes are held by an organization named Kalatrayee for all class levels for a fee. In 2013-14, the Kalatrayee troupe introduced western dance classes to motivate boys and girls to learn dance.
Pace (Cooperative Projects)
TS is one of the initiators of the joint Principals’ Meetings in 2005 with 28 other schools in Jamshedpur, which started with the objective of sharing syllabi, good practices and training for faculty.
Ukieri
The school had entered into a collaboration with 4 schools in Bristol, U.K. and 5 other schools in Jamshedpur, India, as a part of the British Council UKIERI initiative from 2007 to 2010. Visits to our partner schools in Bristol over the three years resulted in various initiatives in the classroom like VCOP, Carroll diagrams, attractive display boards, amongst others.
Face To Faith
The school had registered as a Face to Faith school and had initiated its foray into the various interschool and interfaith discussions with schools over the world. It also submitted an entry for the Face to Faith short film competition in 2012.
British Council Schools Online
The school had registered with British Council Schools Online and as a result, was an Olympic twin with Padiham Primary School, Lancashire, England. It also partnered a project with the Mahanama Junior School in Sri Lanka, through which the students shared information about the various festivals celebrated in their countries.
School Enterprise Challenge
The school had submitted a business plan for the School Enterprise Challenge in July 2013, which is an international competition for schools to start and sustain any venture, economic or otherwise, with the help of students and teachers. This competition encourages and guides students through the process of developing their business plan and launching of a social enterprise, thereby, giving the children hands on business experience.
The Bis- kids company was formed in July, 2013, as a part of an International School Enterprise Challenge. Bis-Kids won the prize for the Best Name, the Best Executed Business Plan and the third prize for their Logo, and were recognised for their achievements at function at the British Council, Kolkata on the 16th of November, 2013.
