NEW SCHOLASTIC YEAR – A
WARM WELCOME!
- Ms. Ashwini Gupte
Don Bosco High School,
Matunga,
15th June 2015
The first day of school
was the perfect opportunity to thank the outgoing Principal Rev. Fr. Bosco
D’Mello, and extend a warm welcome to the new Principal at the helm of affairs
at Don Bosco High School, Matunga, Rev. Fr. Bernard Fernandes; as also an
occasion for the staff and the students alike to pride themselves for bringing
a cent percent result at the S.S.C. examination, for the fifth time in
succession.
A bright day marked a
new beginning as students and staff alike cheerfully mingled after the
productive summer break. We celebrated the first Eucharistic Mass and Prayer
Service to give thanks to the Almighty for blessings received and to ask for
His continued help during this year.
The theme for this
academic year being, ‘Like Don Bosco, With The Young, For The Young,’ we were
reminded of the immense task entrusted to us educators as we follow in Don
Bosco’s footsteps to guide our youngsters in engaging with school life with all
its challenges. At the prayer service, Fr. Bernard Fernandes had this to say to
our young students: “Make the best of every opportunity that comes your way, so
you have no regrets in life."
As we embark on this new
journey, we pray that our school community may be a place of faith, of hope and
of love.
Rev. Fr. Wilfred D’Souza welcomed
the new Principal, Rev. Fr. Bernard Fernandes and gave the theme for the year
‘Like Don Bosco - With The Young, For The Young,’ reiterating the importance of
parents and teachers alike “being there for our boys, ‘Accompaniment’ being
the key word.”
Fr. Bernard then reminded the
parents about important rules and regulations of the school which needed to be
adhered to, along with details about special subjects and the examination
pattern. Fr. Bernard exhorted parents to dissuade their children from attending
coaching classes while instead, persuading them to take competitive exams and
to go beyond the scope of the class by joining the various clubs the school
offered, by reading periodicals and newspapers and keeping abreast of current
affairs.
To
make the students aware of things in their surroundings Std III celebrated All
Around Us Day on the 27th of June. The teachers along with the students
suitably decorated the classrooms for the day. 
The Student Council of Don Bosco HigSchool, Matunga went in for a
day’s workshop conducted by the Adhyayan 
group at St. Joseph’s High School,
Wadala on June 18. Council members of two other coordinating schools, viz. St.
Joseph’s Wadala and Don Bosco, Nerul also attended the training programme.
Vital leadership qualities of teamwork, thinking out of the box, fair play,
coordination, along with exemplary personal qualities such as presence of mind
and good concentration were emphasized and illustrated through entertaining
games.
Rev. Fr. Edison took the staff
through the entire gamut of the Myers-Briggs Personality Typing in order to
understand about the differing needs and areas of strength of each type. This
is intended to help teachers cater to the needs of a large body of students,
with a wide range of learning styles and potentials.
The programme focused on the need
for student collaboration in order to bring about necessary changes in the
functioning of the school. As part of the ‘I can’ strategy, teachers bring back
to their respective schools the four-pronged plan to effect changes to be
suggested by the students themselves. The steps involved in this include
Feeling, Imagining, Doing and Sharing about the intended design plan.
