Annual Day: Children’s Reflections on their Learnings

Following the Annual Day celebration, children at Jyotirmay International School participated in an assembly activity where they shared their thoughts and feelings about the event. As the final post in this series, some of these reflections, perceptions and learnings are shared here (it is difficult to pick from all these delightful write-ups so parents will also get to view them at the exhibition!) along with some pictures which were taken by the professional photographers.

Rukhsar who performed in the Hindi play reflected on her learning experience, “I liked the annual day it was so nice. I was so nervous for my act but when my turn came I went confidently on the stage and I said my lines properly. The most enjoyable act was the seniors the fairy tales of peter pan. In the make-up time I liked my make-up. The small ones act was also so nice.”

Another  student Shruti Naik shared her own feelings and feedback from her parents: "I was a little nervous. I don't really know how well I did, but I hope it was nice. The Peter Pan was the best, Fatima didi and Ziad rocked the stage. Zumba was very nice they all were very enthusiastic.

Fatema and Ziad as Wendy and Peter Pan

“My father thought Fatima was the best. My mother loved Patil’s part in the radio. I loved the food that was the thing I loved the most. I loved my makeup.”

Aditya who was mostly backstage as part of some of the performances and missed out on watching the others, penned these words: "Complaint: we didn't get to see other plays except for Peter Pan act. Feedback: Zumba - The Zumba dance was great. Hindi play - I don't know. Agaabai - I don't know. Radio show - Great.

Part of the cast from the Radio Haldi show

Krisha Rao expressed his feelings about the event, “I was feeling very excited for our Zumba dance and Radio show, the Peter Pan play was cool but I didn’t see the full play. I wanted to watch the full play. I felt very sad.

“But my mother was saying, the Zumba was the best show and Aditya’s mother also said, the Zumba was the best. I was very happy.”

Rhona, who performed in the Zumba and the radio show,is a bubbly and humble child with lots of good things to say about other students in her reflections, “The Annual Day was amazing. The little ones were so cute and their performance was outstanding. But the best part was the Peter Pan act; we enjoyed sitting in the VIP seats and watching the act. I loved dancing in front of everyone. And I loved the radio show. Because everyone was laughing a little. I had amazing experience.”

Also, 13-year old Arya Naik has graded the performances with percentages in a pie chart! Along with his figure he shared an exuberant feedback filled with adjectives; he has even created a couple of them! “The annual day was excellent, spectacular, amazing, awesome, cool, unbeatable, unspeachable. Omygod there are so many adjectives which I can’t write.” 

Harsh.S who performed in the Hindi play on Child Labour, had this to say in his reflection: “The Annual Day was very good, unique and special. I just loved the Peter Pan show. It was just the best and especially the Dance of Peter and Wendy it was composed very well! And the background song “Lost boys” was very good. All the other acts and dances were pretty good. I liked the Zumba Dance which was performed by Clover and Iris. All of it was great.

“It was also great waiting for our turn in the ground floor. The show was just the best. I hope everybody liked the show. And the bonus part was that it was in an auditorium. The whole program was looking excellent in the auditorium especially from top the view was just amazing.” 

Compared to the middle school students, the seniors had a somewhat different perspective and learning as many of them dealt with stage fright in their own ways; here’s what they had to share. 

Manas, who played Wendy’s father as well as Captain Hook in ‘Chasing Neverland’ has displayed very important life learning in his reflection: “Performing the play in front of a live audience is pretty nerve-wrecking yet we managed to perform and had gotten a very positive response. We had gotten a golden opportunity to perform with professional equipment like: gun-microphone, spotlights, lapel mics etc. we also had professionals managing the audio as well as the lights.

Manas as Captain Hook

“There were a few mess-ups like forgetting props and a dialogue or two, but these were covered up with improvising on the spot. ‘Improvising’ is a very important skill set that we had acquired which allowed us to adapt to the changes in the script on the stage itself. This can be very helpful as not everything goes according to the plan and one should adapt to the changes and still succeed in delivery of the content. Overall it was a wonderful experience, a tiring one though.”

Ziad, who is a fairly new student at the school, played Peter Pan in the adaptation and reflected: “I got lots of good feedback about the annual so it was obviously a hit. The Annual Day’s name was ‘Breaking Free’ which was given by one of our students.

“I didn’t see any of the other programs but I know our play ‘Chasing Neverland’ was really good. I loved acting with everyone. I also got to know a lot of people in my school. I am sure everybody also liked it as it was directed by our very own Somishala Ma’am. With her acting was a breeze.And also special thanks to Divya Ma’am for teaching me some new dances and performing in them was also amazing.” 

Janhavee summed up the event best in her feedback and reflections: “Without a doubt, I can assure that this event was a total hit!!! It was actually a change as the event was held at a different venue rather than school. This change gave us an opportunity to perform on a huge stage, in front of a larger crowd which helped us gain confidence. After interacting with some parents, we realised that they had enjoyed a lot more than any year.

“Right from the pre-primary till the 12^th graders, everyone had put a lot of effort in all parameters such as: props, backdrop, costumes and especially acting and dancing in front of their parents to entertain them.”

Jyotirmay International School did not spend on elaborate professional costumes and neither did parents: if the children didn’t already own the outfits, these were borrowed from other students, parents or teachers.

Being a part of the Annual Day event meant total involvement of all the children, as well as the entire management and faculty with the aim being to give everyone a deep learning opportunity:besides the students seen performing on-stage there were others who joined rehearsals as motivators, helped in making the props as part of their art class and even preparing the costumes.