WELHAM GIRLS' SCHOOL

An Inter School Hindi Debate Competition was held at Shri Ram Centennial School, Dehradun. Our school was represented by Vibuti Arora and Vanshika Gupta. Vibuti was adjudged the Best Speaker and the team stood second overall. The girls were escorted by Dr. Jyoti Verma.

A group of 32 SCs attended a panel discussion by Ms Malvika Rajkotia and Ms Maya Mirchandani as part of the Dehradun Community Literature Festival at World Integrity Centre. The engaging talk on Indian Women and their battles and success stories, elicited insightful questions and responses from the panelists and audience. The talk, which lasted for over an hour, was moderated by Mr. Daleep Akoi and Nazia Y Izuddin. The students were escorted by Ms Neera Kapoor, Ms Swati Singh and Ms Aarti Seth.

The school Hockey Team participated in the 6-a- side Hockey Tournament at St. Agnes School, Dehradun. The defeated Moravian Institute in the finals to win the trophy. Prerna Kejriwal was awarded the prize for the Best Player of the tournament and Gunchica Bhalla bagged the prize for the Best Defender.

Chetna Agarwal participated in the All India Finals of the Young Chef Competition 2017 and was among the top 8 finalists. She had to cook an Indian meal by choosing the ingredients from the basket given to them. The results will be announced in June after compiling the votes and the judges\' scores. The voting lines are now open so you can vote for Chetna on http://iihm.ac.in/contestants/chetna.

Seven girls represented Welham at The Suryodaya IT Fest which was held at The Scindia School, Gwalior. The topic for this year’s fest was “The Internet of Things”. A total of 6 schools participated and Aastha Sarraf won the First Prize in the Computer Whiz Kid Event. Yashvi Agrawal, Eti Rastogi, Shreya Bahukhandi and Sakshi Goyal bagged the third position in Digital Photography and Editing,

Cartooning and the Online Quiz respectively. They were escorted by Ms Asmita.

In commemoration of the School\'s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, Welham began its Lecture Series by an enthralling talk on Business Ethics and Finance by Dr. Reena Mithal. The talk was followed by an interesting Q&A session.

The Welham Girls\' Shooting Range was inaugurated by Mrs. Dayita Datta and Mr. Arijit Banerjee, Member, Board of Governors, Welham Girls\' School. The students are most excited as they now have a new sport to try out.

The students of Welham Girls\' School bid farewell to the legendary Vice Principal, Mrs. Datta, who retired after 30 years of dedicated service. After an enjoyable cultural programme and speeches by the Principal, Mrs. Sambasivam and the students, everyone surrounded her to get that perfect parting shot.

Arshi Singh from the Batch of 2013 won the Academic Excellence Award at the University of Toronto. She received a certificate, memento and an award of $1000. After graduating from University, she will be working with HSBC Bank, Toronto. We are proud of her achievement.

The students and teachers were treated to a melodious Sitar recital by noted instrumentalist Pt. Purbayan Chateerjee. He was accompanied by Ustad Akram Khan on the tabla. A torchbearer of the Senia Malhar gharana, the virtuoso, who has participated in various fusion projects all over the world, mesmerized the young audience. The concert was held under the aegis of SPIC MACAY\'s Dehradun Chapter.

O-325 Vibhuti Arora, F-252 Radhika Sachet Prakash and Sonika Bhardwaj went to the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology to participate in the Hindi Essay Writing Competition on the occasion of National Science Day. Sonika Bhardwaj was awarded the Consolation Prize. They were escorted by Dr. Jyoti Verma.

Tanvi Trehan and Hansika Nath, represented the school at \'The Poetry Appreciation Hour\' held at The Doon School. Budding poets from The Doon School, Welham Girls\' School and RIMC read out self composed and some famous poems in both Hindi and English on the themes of love, spirituality, childhood and patriotism. It was a delight to listen to the beautifully composed poems which were recited with emotion and passion. It was truly an enriching and enjoyable experience.

A group of 8 students attended a two day workshop at the Wildlife Institute of India. The first session of the seminar began with an enriching glimpse into the life of a world renowned scientist, Dr. George Schaller, who has over six decades of experience in the field of wildlife research conservation. The day ended with a session by Mr. Bikram Grewal. The next day, the girls visited the Forensics Laboratory at the Institute. Even though the session after lunch by Ms Rita Banerjee was an interesting one, the best was yet to come. Mr. Dhritiman Mukherjee’s brilliant photographs of the snow leopards at Leh left the audience mesmerised. The girls, who were escorted by Mrs Richa Pant and Mrs Reema Pant, had an unforgettable experience.

On 4th February, the school held the Investiture of Captains and awarded the School Colours. The team of Captains for the year 2017-‘18 were formally administered the oath of office by the Principal, Mrs. Padmini Sambasivam. School Captain: Rinchen Angmo, Games Captain: Pritha Singh, Bulbul House Captain: Aastha Sarraf, Flycatcher House Captain: Ishani Poddar, Hoopoe House Captain: Urvi Seth, Oriole House Captain: Sakshi Mangily, Woodpecker House Captain: Bhakti Bansal. The Principal’s Award for All-Round Excellence (Academics, Sports and Co-curricular Activities) was earned by 2 students this year: Pavni Gupta and Vanshikaa Savla. The Chief Guest on the occasion was our former Principal, Mrs. Shanti Varma.

The students of Grade 9 and 11 staged a satire ‘ Tender se Udhghatan Tak’ on Friday evening. The play was divided into five acts and each House was given an Act to perform. They were judged on their Acting Skills, Diction, Use of Space, Innovation in Costumes and Overall Impact. The judges for the competition were Mrs. Shanti Varma, Former Principal, Welham Girls’ School, Mr. Rajiv Shukla, Theatre Personality and Mrs. Nalanda Pandey from the Department of Hindi. The results were as follows: First Prize: Flycatcher House; Second Prize: Oriole House; Third Prize: Woodpecker House. Mrs. Gunmeet Bindra, Principal, Welham Boys\' School, was also present on the occasion.

24 girls from Grade 9 and 11 went to Asan Conservation Reserve to celebrate World Wetlands Day. At the Conservation Reserve, the girls were explained about the significance of wetlands and the Ramsar convention. They did waterfowl identification and also spotted about 21 species of birds. They worked in close association with Waste Warriors and collected 15 kilos of garbage. They were accompanied by Ms Reema Pant, Mrs. Vatsala Dubey and Mrs. Anchal Sondhi.

Amity University Lucknow Campus and Institute for Career Studies, Lucknow honoured Mrs. Padmini Sambasivam for \"exemplary leadership\" in the field of education at a conference of Educator Leaders at Lucknow.

Our girls,attended the \"SPIC MACAY National Convention\" in Kolkata New Town School. They learnt their respective dance forms in five days and performed on the last day of the convention. Areena Makker (F/154), Odissi Dance; Maitreyee Sayyonee (W/624), Kathakali Dance; Mahima Chaudhary (B/035), Odissi Dance; Sonika Bhardwaj (B-46), Kathak Dance and Anjali Middha (H-159), Sattriya Dance. It was not only a great learning experience but they were also treated to back to back live concerts. The girls were escorted by Mrs Upma Shukla.

A group of girls, escorted by Mrs. Rajlakshmi represented the school at the IPSC Dance Festival at the Sharada Residential School, Udupi. They participated in the Creative Choreography, Western Dance, Folk Dance and Indian classical Solo. Aryashree Kunhambu won the 1st Prize in the Indian Classical Dance (solo) for her Bharat Natyam item depicting Durga.

As part of the Student Exchange Programme, Welham Girls’ School was represented by Sakshi Manglik and Gunchica Bhalla to Scone Grammar School, Scone, New South Wales, Australia. They spent a delightful three weeks with O’Brien family at Scone, four hours north of Sydney. Besides attending school from Monday to Friday, they participated in an adventure camp where they did kayaking, mountain biking, high ropes, table bouldering, and abseiling. The trip was packed with fun, learning and adventure. It was an experience of a lifetime.

Five students from Class 11 spent an evening amidst eminent authors like Mr. Ruskin Bond and Ms Nayantara Sehgal at the launch of Ms Namita Gokhale\'s \'Things to Leave Behind\'. They were excited to read the book after listening to a few select passages that were read out and even interacted with Ms Gokhale over a cup of tea.

Our school was represented by Shristi Khemka, Mrinaal Sehgal and Rajlakshmi Das at The Doon School Chukerbutty Debate 2016.

We won two rounds of the Preliminary debates, and Rajlakshmi Das was adjudged the Best Speaker in one of the Preliminary rounds.

Twenty students participated in the All India IPSC Athletics Meet that was held at Punjab Public School Nabha in the first week of November. The Welham Athletics Team scored a total of 91 points and bagged one Gold, four Silver and six Bronze medals. We lifted the March Past Trophy along with Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya,Gwalior.

The School U-19 Basketball team participated in the All-India IPSC Girls\' Basketball Championship held in YPS,Mohali. A total of 15 Schools participated in the Championship. Welham Girls\' School qualified for the Semi-Finals but lost to Modern School,Barakhamba,New Delhi, We stood 4th out of 15 teams that participated in this mega event.

Bhakti Bansal and Diya Anand represented the School at the first Lit-Fest hosted by The Lawrence School, Sanawar and emerged as the winners in the Literary Quiz.

In the \'Book Review\' Event, the girls presented a critique of the book ‘The Place of Illusions’ by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni,and secured the Second Place. They were commended for their performance by the judges and received trophies,certificates and books as prizes.

Our young athletes did us proud by winning a total of 44 Medals at the Wynberg Allen Inter School Invitational Athletics Meet 2016. Sneha Chauhan was awarded the Most Promising Athlete Trophy while Shreya Bhaukhandi and Jyot Kaur Thind were awarded the Individual Championship Trophy.

The Founders’ Day Celebrations commenced with the Annual Sports Meet involving the March Past, Athletics Track Events, Karate and Aerobics Demonstrations. This culminated in the Prize Distribution by the Chief Guest Mrs. Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu, OSD, P. N. S. Mountaineering Institute, Munsyari.

After an interaction with the teachers during the Parent Teacher Meeting, the parents and guests witnessed an enthralling production by the students of Junior School, ‘Beauty is a Beast’.

The Exhibitions this year were different as they ensured involvement of all the students of Classes VI to XII. Through these exhibitions they established that there is a symbiotic relationship among all subjects. The Nukkad –Nataks; live dance shows and art demonstrations made the Exhibitions literally come alive.

Her Excellency Ms. Melba Pria, Ambassador of Mexico to India, was the Chief Guest this Founders’ and gave away the awards. Her inspirational speech to the girls left the audience spellbound. This was followed by a dance performance ‘Krishnaya Tubhyam Namah’ an artistic rendition featuring various antics of that Universal Teacher – Krishna.

The celebrations ended with a grand dinner for parents, guests, staff and students, accompanied by the students’ Live Band.

The J.L.D\'Souza Memorial Inter School English Debate took place at St. Joseph\'s\'s Academy,Dehradun. It was an extempore debate followed by Turncoat. Shrishti Khemka was adjudged the first Runner-up in the Extempore Debate and the Best Speaker in the Turncoat. She also got the prize for Best Rebuttal. Welham Girls School was adjudged the second best team in the Debate.

Our young swimmers did us proud at the Swimming Meet held at Wynberg Allen School, Mussoorie. In the Sub junior category, Anushka Prakash and Amber Singh won the gold medal in the Freestyle and Breast Stroke event respectively. Ishita Bhargava, won three gold medals and also bagged the individual championship trophy in the Intermediate Category.

On the occasion of Independence Day, the school hosted the joint Welham Boys\' Welham Girls Incredible India Quiz. There were eight teams of four members each, with two members from each school. The questions were jointly set by the teachers of both schools and comprised rounds of Current Affairs, Science, Sports, History, Geography Awards and Honours, a video round and a final buzzer round.

Aryashree Kunhambu,enthralled the audience with her first public performance ( Arangetram ) at Welham Girls\'School. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Padma Shri Smt. Geeta Chandran. The most touching moment was when Aryashree touched her guru\'s feet,Mrs. C.K. Rajlaxmi, who is also her mother, to seek her blessings at the end of the performance.

The school took part in the Literary and Drama Competition at Pathways World School \"Ek Pehchan\". The students had to read the novel \"Tamas\" and prepare a script, focusing on its contemporary relevance. From among the 10 schools that participated in the English event, Welham Girls\' School won the Best Performance.

The Hindi play was called Aahwan and the girls won the First Position in Script Writing and Second Position in the Play. Tara Katyayini Singh won the Best Actor Award.

The Inter-House Music Competition was held on 12th and 13th August,2016. The results were as follows: Instrumental Solo: 1st Flycatchers 2nd Hoopoes 3rd Woodpeckers. Classical Vocal Trio: 1st Flycatchers 2nd Orioles 3rd Hoopoes. Indian Choir: 1st Woodpeckers 2nd Orioles 3rd Bulbuls. Western choir: 1st Flycatchers 2nd Woodpeckers 3rd Hoopoes. The points from the Dance Competition, held earlier were added up and the final tally for the Inter-House Music and Dance Competition were as follows: Overall: 1st Flycatchers 2nd Hoopoes 3rd Orioles.

St. George\'s College Mussoorie held its annual \'Brother J.G.Masterson Inter School Debate for classes IX & X on Wednesday, 10th August. They also hosted the Brother C.J.Bergin Inter School Debate for classes XI & XII on the same day. Welham Girls\' School won the trophy for the Best Team in the senior debate. Akansha Naithani was adjudged the Best Speaker while Rinchen Angmo was adjudged the Second Best Speaker.

The third Welham Girls’ School Invitational Chess Tournament took place from 4th August to 6th August 2016 at Welham Girls’ School. Eight teams participated in this event. A total of 7 rounds were played in 3 days. The overall positions were as follows: The Doon School (Winner) Welham Boys’ School (Runners Up) Welham Girls’ School Team A (First Runners Up).

A group of 15 girls participated in the Global Round of the World Scholar\'s Cup at Prague from 21st July to 27 July, 2016 . Students from different countries across the world participated in the competition. The four competitive events were the team debates, Scholar\'s Challenge, collaborative writing and Scholar\'s Bowl. The two teams in the senior division won 12 gold and 25 silver medals.The three teams of the junior division won a total of 27 gold and 39 silver medals. All the teams qualified for the Tournament of Champions at Yale University to be held in November 2016.

Shri Sikkil C. Gurucharan, an exponent of Carnatic music, a Fulbright scholar and a Grammy Award nominee, enthralled the audience with his mesmerizing performance. His recital was based on the theme of women empowerment. Vidwan Sanjeev accompanied him on the violin and Vidwan K. Balaji on the mridangam.

As part of the Student Exchange Programme, this year Welham Girls’ School was represented by six students to Downe House School, UK, Millfield School, UK and Groton School, USA.

Lhachi Selden and Areena Makker went to Downe House School. Shreya Bahukhandi and Rinchen Angmo to Millfield School and at Groton School, Welham was represented by Sukhman Arora and Sejal Kapoor.

A gropu of thirteen students escorted by the French teacher, Ms Vibha Kapoor, went for a French Immersion Programme to Paris, Rouen and the Province of Normandy. The programme involved intensive French language classes, historical and cultural visits to places around Rouen and in the Normandy region of France, weekend visit to Paris, home stays with French families, and lectures and presentations on French history, art and culture.

Seven students participated in the Kai National Karate Championships organized by the Karate Association of India at the Talkatora Stadium from the 20th to the 22nd of May. Pritha Singh reached the third round and lost a very close individual bronze medal bout. The team comprised Srishti Prakash, Chandni Garg, Lavya Chadha, Pritha Singh, Kevika Singla and Arushi Bansal.

Welham Girls’ School beat Mahadevi Kanya Pathshala (MKP) by 5 goals to lift the coveted trophy.

• Best Defender of the Tournament was Sunita Rawat of SAS.

• Best Forward of the Tournament was Shruti Kaul of WGS.

• Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament was Preksha of Wynberg Allen.

• The Most Promising player of the tournament was Pema of MIS.

• The Most valuable player of the tournament was Prerna Kejriwal of WGS.

The Chief Guest of the finals was Mrs. Jyotsna Brar, Principal of Welham Girls’ School.

With a heavy heart the staff and students bid farewell to Mrs. Jyotsna Brar, who has been the Principal for sixteen years. Vanshikaa Saavla, School Captain, presented a memento to Mrs. Brar and every class put up a small presentation. Mrs. Sambasivam, who takes over the reigns after Mrs. Brar, addressed the gathering and presented a bouquet of flowers to her.

In the final match Welham Girls’ School beat Pinegrove School by 41 – 25 points. Sarah Chaudhary of WGS was awarded \'STAG\' Most Valuable Player of the Tournament 2016. The Highest Scorer of the tournament was Sarah Chaudhary from Welham Girls’ School with 94 points. The Highest Scoring Match of the tournament was the Semi final match between MNSS and PGS with 105 points. Ms. Vinita Bali,President of the Board of Governors of Welham Girls’ School gave away the trophies, tokens and individual prizes to the players and officials.

Ms. Vinita Bali,President of the Board of Governors of Welham Girls’ School gave away the trophies, tokens & individual prizes to the players & officials.

Welham Girls\' School participated in the IPSC Tennis Tournament held at The Daly College, Indore from 24th to 27th April 2016.

We participated in three age group categories,U-14,U-17 & U-19 .

In U-14,U-17 & U-19 age group categories we reached the Quarter Final stage of the tournament.

In U-17 age group individual category ,Roshini Singh played the Quarter-Final.

In the U-17 age group category the WGS team stood at 4th position out of the12 participating teams.

The Programmes began on the 22nd of April with 8 schools participating in the debates and quiz. The first event was the Miss Saroj Srivastava Inter School English Debate. The Topic was ‘These are the Worst of Times\'. Akshat Singh of Welham Boys\' School was adjudged the ‘Best Speaker’ For the Motion and Ishaan Kapoor from The Doon School won the award for the ‘Best Speaker’ Against the Motion. The prize for the ‘Best Interlocutor’ was won by Mrinaal Sehgal, Welham Girls\' School. The trophy for the ‘Best Team’ went to Welham Girls\' School.

The Mrs. Russell Nature and General Knowledge Quiz 2016 was held on the evening of 22nd April. 9 teams participated in the Preliminary Round and the top six teams went up for the main round. Springdales School, Pusa Road came 1st, RIMC, Dehradun was second, and La Martiniere Girls\' College, Lucknow was 3rd.

The Miss Linnell Memorial Inter School Hindi Debate was held on Saturday, 23rd April, 2016.Ena Asif , La Martiniere Girls College, Lucknow and Shikhar Trivedi, The Doon School, Dehradun were adjudged the best speakers For and Against the motion respectively. Neha Roshni Yushing, La Martiniere Girls College, Lucknow was adjudged the ‘Best Interlocutor’. Overall Positions were as follows: 1st La Martiniere Girls College, Lucknow; 2nd Welham Girls\' School, Dehradun; 3rd The Doon School, Dehradun.

W-516 Nitya Khanna, B-25 Navya Sureka, and B-403 Manishka Banerjee represented the school at the Rajeev Khanna Inter-school Quiz at Scholars Home on 23rd April. Twenty schools took part and the theme this year was on tribes of the world. The team made it to the final round. In the final, they were placed first. They received the trophy for the second year and got a cash prize of Rs 3000/-.

The Inter House Dance Competition was held on the 15th and 16th of April. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Mrs. Padmini Samabasivam.

The results were as follows: Kathak: 1st Bulbuls 2nd Hoopoes 3rd Orioles

Folk Dance: 1st Flycatchers 2nd Woodpeckers 3rd Hoopoes

Bharat Natyam: 1st Woodpeckers 2nd Orioles 3rd Flycatchers

Overall Positions: 1st Woodpeckers 2nd Bulbuls 3rd Orioles

The Swimming Pool was inaugurated on the 26th of March by Mrs Jyotsna Brar, Principal Welham Girls\' School. After the lighting of the ceremonial lamp, the School Games Captain, Sarah Choudhary, addressed the gathering. The ceremony ended with the junior and senior girls displaying their swimming skills.

On 23rd March Welham bid farewell to members of the staff retiring after putting in many years of dedicated service and commitment. It was a tearful occasion as we got together to express our gratitude to the pillars of the Welham community. They are Mrs Vijaya Lakshmi Jugran , HOD of the Hindi Department and HM of Senior Bulbuls , Mr J.P.Dangwal , Accounts Officer , Ms Pammi Kaur , Senior Librarian , Ms Zohra Nizami , Senior Crafts Teacher , Mr Anil Sharma , Stores In-Charge and Mrs Shashibala Chakravarty , Matron Senior Hoopoes. The Farewell Lunch was graced by the presence of a huge gathering of ex-staff members who took us on a trip down memory lane with their interesting anecdotes.

ZSL London Zoo\'s newest exhibit \'Land of the Lions\' was opened by Her Majesty and HRH, The Duke of Edinburgh on 17th March 2016. Dr. Gitanjali Bhattacharya (Ex-H 18) has been instrumental in the development of the newest exhibit at London Zoo which transports visitors to the colourful sights and scents of India and allows visitors to get closer than ever to London zoo\'s amazing pride of Asiatic Lions. Gitanjali had the honour of briefing Her Majesty and HRH Prince Philip about the project as well as the broad spectrum of excellent conservation initiatives in South and Central Asia.

On 28th February, A Spic Macay concert was organized at school. Kamala Shankarji enthralled the audience with her Shankar guitar which is a modification of the Hawaiian guitar. The programme concluded with an interactive session with the students.

A group of 30 students who are studying Political Science and History visited New Delhi on Saturday, 27th February. As a part of their educational tour, they visited Rashtrapati Bhavan in the morning followed by a walk through the Mughal Gardens. They also saw a collection of rare memorabilia belonging to the Nehru family at Teen Murti House and concluded the eventful day with a light and sound show at the Red Fort.

A Life Skills workshop was conducted by Miss Aarti Chandra and her team from Silverline for the students of grade 11. The aim of this four day workshop was to provide an insight into \'Employability Skills\' that are necessary for success in the world today. The activities and interactive sessions were enjoyed by the students.

The Prefect body for 2016-2017 attended a two day workshop on Leadership Management conducted by Dr. Manisha Sahni and her team. The students were engaged in a variety of activities which made them identify their strengths and work more effectively as a team.

Preksha Jalan and Jyot Kaur Thind made us proud by being selected for the National Athletics Meet 2016 held in Kerala from 29th January to 2nd February. They participated in the Under-14 category in 400m, 100m and 4*100 m Relay.

It is a matter of great pride that Welham Girls\' School, Dehradun was ranked the Number 1 boarding school for girls in the country in a survey conducted by Education World, a leading education portal in India.

The school participated in the IPSC Dance Competition hosted by Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya Gwalior on 2nd and 3rd September. The girls were placed First in the Choreography and Maitrika Kumari Rathore’s brilliant Bharatnatyam performance won her the First prize in the Classical Dance Category. Overall the girls were placed third.

It is a matter of pride that the school has been awarded The International School Award by the British Council for 2015-2018. To qualify for the award the school submitted an Action Plan for seven Projects, which had an international dimension. A detailed description of the projects, which covered a wide range of activities in both the curricular and the co-curricular areas, was submitted to an eminent panel of judges.