Feedback on Glorious- Festival of Harmony

Dear School and Dear Ms Salome

It was great to watch the Inventure choir perform at the Festival of Harmony. And it was superb as a maiden effort. A big thank you to all who have made it happen. Its a wonderful experience for the children and Varun felt really good about participating. The other learnings that happened along the way to this performance on stage would have also made the students realise their own potential, importance of team work and the fun they can have whilst doing something like this.

Thanks for providing this opportunity.
Warm regards
Tanya Bali

Mother of Varun Bali (Grade 3)

I would like to thank all the teachers who went the extra mile to make this possible. This is what's so great about Inventure, that kids get an exposure to variety of activities to expand their horizons. I was so very proud as well as surprised to see our choir performance, everybody was out of this world. The hard work you all put into it really showed in the flawless execution. So congratulations to all the students and teacher and administration. What can I say, keep up the great work...

Rupal Desai
Mother of Rohan Desai (Grade 9) and Anika Desai (Grade 5)

Inventure Academy in Deccan Herald- Metrolife!
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/91629/

Team Inventure Rocks At The Urban Stampede 2010

The Urban Stampede (gotta love the name!) is an annual relay race in August in Bangalore and organized by the excellent Runners For Life (RFL). Four runners form a team, with each runner completing 5K, for a distance of 20K for a team. The event is primarily aimed at Corporates, as the concept of a relay run appeals to the team building aspect that companies love so much. However, RFL also kept the event open for non-corporate teams to participate, which meant that any group of runners could form a team to participate in the event. The 2009 edition of the Urban Stampede was a really successful event with around 159 teams taking part. I participated in the 2009 edition of the Stampede in the Corporate category, and it was so much fun that I knew that this was an event to be repeated annually.

As 2010 rolled around I asked Megha, who has shown some interest in distance running, whether she would be interested in getting a team together with her friends in school and running in the 2010 edition of the Urban Stampede. Megha loved the idea. When I broached the topic with Kishen he loved it too and blessed the idea of an Inventure team for the Urban Stampede. As the registration deadline approached I asked Megha to finalize the Inventure team with Kishen’s help. It was a pleasant surprise when Megha told me that there was so much interest in the event that two teams would participate from Inventure for the event! Megha was most excited that Maya, a girl that Megha admires hugely, was one of the runners.

The teams formed were:

Team 1: Maya Sanaba, Tanish Kharab, Tej Rekhi, Megha Srinivas
Team 2: Anish Sen, Anusha Ramji, Deeksha Verender, Pranav Prakash

I registered the teams and a couple of days later picked up their race day kits which consisted of a really cool T-shirt for each runner, and a timing chip for each runner (the timing chip is a huge innovation in a tiny package. It is typically fastened to a runner’s shoe lace, and it allows the runner to be timed at the start and finish of a race automatically, eliminating human error and increasing overall accuracy). ArvindKrishnan (or A1 as he is affectionately known) – the founder of RFL – was thrilled that a bunch of middle-schoolers was going to be at the Urban Stampede. I was informed that our Inventurers were to be the youngest runners in this year’s Stampede.

The day before race day (Aug 8) brought a change to one of the teams. Tej was down with the flu and running high fever. He kept trying to persuade his parents to let him run on Sunday, but he was obviously in no shape to be straining himself. Tej’s mom called to say that Tej was going to have to pull out of the race (against his wishes!). By prior agreement with Megha, I agreed to be Tej’s standby runner. I was also running as a part of one of my company teams, so I was lining myself up for twice the fun!

We were up at 4 AM on Sunday, and were on the road at 4:45 AM for the venue. We reached the venue at 5:45 AM, as dawn was breaking. It was a crisp, cool morning that looked perfect for a running event! The venue - Clark’s Exotica - is a sprawling property close to the new Bangalore International Airport. The usual RFL suspects were at the scene – Atul MC’ing the event, Arvind Krishnan (A1) and Arvind Bharathi (A2) making sure of last minute details without really breaking into a sweat.

The running order within the teams was decided, and we setup the Inventure runners with the appropriate running bibs and timing chips. With the bibs pinned to their chests, and the timing chips secured to their shoe laces, the Inventurers started to feel like runners, and their excitement grew. Here’s what the running order looked like:

Team 1: Megha, Tanish, Mahesh (substitute runner for Tej) and Maya

Team 2: Anish, Deeksha, Anusha and Pranav

As the 7:00 AM start approached, the organizers announced a staggered start to the race, with the Corporate Open category runners going first, with the other categories following shortly after. Since I was the first runner in my company’s team I headed off at 7:00 AM when the starting gun went off. I decided to pace myself for a finish just under 30 minutes, since I had to save enough when I ran third with the Inventure Team 1. The course was an out-and-back one, with a turnaround point at the 2.5K mark. I reached the turnaround point in 13 minutes, which was faster than I had planned, so I decided to go easier in the second half. A little while later I spied Megha motoring on. We did a quick high-five, and I was glad that she was looking strong and ready to take on the course. Some time later I spotted Anish on the course, also looking strong and determined. The kids in bright orange and blue were doing us all proud!

I crossed the finish line in ~27 minutes, where my baton was grabbed by my impatient teammate Manav, the next runner in my company team, who was then out of there like a bat out of hell. After catching my breath for a couple of minutes I positioned myself to get pictures of Megha and Anish as they came through. They did soon enough, and I was happy to see them both looking great at the finish, hurrying on to pass their batons to their waiting teammates – Tanish in Team 1 and Deeksha in Team 2. Anish’s T-shirt was soiled from a fall he sustained during the run, but he just picked himself up and hit the trail again – what a trooper!

It was now time for me to change from being a runner in my company team to being an Inventure Team 1 runner #3. Changing to the Inventure race bib and swapping my timing chip for the one that was a part of the Inventure team completed the transformation. Being in the team with these wonderful, bright-eyed and eager seventh graders magically turned me into one too. Actually it didn’t, but never mind. Soon enough Tanish burst around the corner, his face flushed and happy as he passed the baton to me. Off I went for the second time on the course, this time as an Inventurer. This time the run was more difficult, as the sun had broken through the clouds and there was no tree cover to provide any shade. Maybe because of this I saw more people walking than during Leg 1 of the event. A while later I spied Deeksha heading in the direction of the finish line, with her Dad Viru pacing her. Her face broke into a smile as we exchanged a high-five, and off she went towards her rendezvous with Anusha. Sometime later, after I had made the U-turn at the 2.5K mark, I saw Anusha running by, paced by her Dad Ramji. Anusha had never run this distance before, but she was not going to let that stop her from taking on this challenge as well! She looked every part the determined runner! A quick high-five was exchanged, and I hurried on to finish my leg so I could hand over the baton to Maya, the fleet-footed anchor of our team. The final uphill leading to the finish line was lined with Viru (Deeksha’s Dad) and Kamal (Deeksha’s uncle) cheering me on, as I crossed the finish line. I ran the extra few meters to the Inventure holding area to see Maya eagerly waiting to begin the final leg of the relay. I had barely handed over the baton to Maya, and off she went on the trail, speeding like a bullet.

At this point I headed off to join my company people. I managed to catch the finish of the last runner in my company team, but missed the finishes of both Inventure teams. Later, I was told by the parents who watched till the end that both Maya and Pranav, the anchors for the two teams, finished the relay for their respective teams brilliantly!!!

Some of the kids had to leave right after the race, but those that were there got on stage and got to pick up their finisher’s medals and pose for pictures. It was a proud moment for all of us to see our little champions – the youngest in the Stampede – get acknowledged. They did everything right on Sunday morning – they ran their hearts out for their teams, they supported and cheered their fellow Inventurers on, and they had the time of their lives soaking in all the energy at the Urban Stampede 2010!

A Personal Account By Mahesh Srinivas (An Inventure Parent)

Inventure Academy Choir at `Glorious- Festival of Harmony'

From an inspiring “Lord, make me an Instrument of your Peace”, a prayer of St Francis of Assisi, through the harmony of “We go together” to a frolicsome “Rockin Robin”, 63 tuneful voices from as many smiling singers, captured the hearts of a large audience last Saturday.

The Inventure Chorus made its debut at the 19th Festival of Harmony, on August 21st, 2010, sponsored by “Glorious”, Bangalore’s most celebrated Choral group. Under the baton of Ms Salome Rao and with accompaniment from Sub. Major Ravinder and his pupils at Inventure, on flute, guitar, keyboard and drums, this group of students from Grades 1 to 6 made a huge impact on an audience which celebrates the human voice in a variety of musical forms, year after year. There were participants from many schools and some groups of adults from the city and Hyderabad. Awesome...!

Complete entertainment...! best school choir of the evening...! excellent debut performance... were some of the comments from the audience, who were completely awe-struck by our choir!! A brilliant confident performance, full of spirit; it was hard for people to believe they were onstage in public for the first time.

The energetic dance moves, rock and roll jibes, splits and cart wheels got the audience cheering, screaming and clapping for our students.


Thanks to our talented music teachers, Salome and Ravi, Inventurers have been acclaimed in yet another area of learning and performance. The support of our colleagues, Mrs Meenakshi R, Ms Smith and Ms Priya, Mr Donovan was invaluable. They kept spirits up and indiscipline down! This takes some doing in such a large number of excited, keyed up, animated children!


Those who supported and inspired deserve a mention and a heap of thanks too…


We want to thank Nooraine for all the support, Shaheen and Mallika Ma'am for organizing time for practice, Jagrithi Ma'am and Mrs.Benjamin for the constant guidance and support.

Heartfelt gratitude to all the enthusiastic parents especially to Shikha Rana who stepped in to help us get the kids ready to go on stage.

Want to thank Preet especially for ALL the help in coordinating with the parents, your assistance allowed us to focus more on the music while we could rest assured knowing that you would take care of the rest. BIG thankyou to Varsha for taking care of ticket sales !! Also want to thank the grade teachers and subject teachers for sending the students for choir practices that were held durings their class time.

Last but not the least where would we be without our amazing and talented kids who exceeded all expectations with their phenominal performance. We hope that this is the first of many more such performances in the future!

The Inventure Chorus
Grade 1 Anvita Vishwanath, Mukul Jha, Arushi Menon; Grade 2-Sahil Kuchlous, Amisha Deb,Eshan Tripathi, Rohan Malvi,Manvika Satish, Nikhil Niranjan, Diya Abrol, Anushree Arora, Advaita Dubey, Rosalyn Mathews, Anushka Athreya, Anjali Mallampooty, Taamara Kellappan, Niharika Ghose, Megan George; Grade 3- Sheryl Thomas, Pranav Mishra, Anusha, Ananya Bharadwaj, Varun Bali, Agastya Rana, Yash Podar, Anay Mehta, Mihika Birmiwal, Alina Ahmed, Nikita George, Roshini Senthil Kumar, Aashna Parekh, Sunaina Bose; Grade 4- Sanjana Bakre, Ananya Parthasarathy, Inika Kandwal, Samyukta Rajagopalan, Sadhana Chellapa, Natasha Aji, Rivka Aarons, Armani Vikram, Rohit Rangan, Bharatha Ramaswamy, Maigun Rekhi, Rudri Mehta; Grade 5- Stuti Sen, Aryaman S, Rajshree Mahabalesh, Tanya Thatha, Karan Buntval, Dhruv Bhatia, Anika Desai, Ishi Tripathi, Aditya Narayan, Aryaman Dubey, Riddhi Bhatt, Samhita Ramji; Grade 6- Anirudh Bakre, Nikhil Sharma, Abhay Rao, Soundarya Chellappa, Maya Shenoy, Anarv Mathur, Yun Seohyum.


Soloists: Anvita Vishwanath, Anushree Arorra, Rphit rangan, Ananyya Bharadwaj, karan Buntwal , Anika Desai, Rivka Aarons.

Accompanists: Keya Vishwanath and Abhay Rao (guitar), Dhruv Bhatia (drums), Yun Seohyum (flute), Anarv Mathur (keyboard) and S Ravinder (Base guitar and flute),

RTE Letter to Parents from The Head of the School

Dear Inventurers,
Thank you very much for attending the meeting on the RTE on the 19 Aug 2010. On behalf of the team, I would like to place on record a big thank you to Divya Mundkur, Ramanand Mundkur (parents of Inventure)and Debaleena from Mundkur Law Partners for investing considerable time on developing and delivering a very insightful presentation on the RTE.

I, like several other people who attended the meeting, left campus on Thursday feeling very good about the type of parent, student and faculty body we have at Inventure. Particularly heartened by the open, inclusive, sensitive and reflective yet, action oriented culture which was displayed by the various participants.

Encouraged by the response we can move forward safe in the knowledge that we have our important stakeholders support, even if we may not agree on each and every point. I hope that this dialogue will lead to a more effective outcome for everyone either directly or indirectly impacted by the RTE.

As discussed, we will have a follow up meeting at 15:30 at our multi purpose room on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 (and not Wed, 25 Aug) to take decisions on next steps. Please note we are looking at the possibility of setting up an id and pw protected discussion thread on inventureacademyschool.blogspot.com. Will revert on the feasibility of that or another alternative by the 24th Aug.

For those of you who could not attend on the 19th we hope to see you at our next meeting. Please find attached a copy of the presentation which was conducted by Ramanand, Mundkur law partners. Key points covered include:

The constitution of India and the framework within which the laws are made (including acts and rules), what the constitution says about private elementary education, the Right to Education Act 2009 (which is indeed law as of 1 Apr 2010), the central government’s model rules and the Karnataka government’s draft rules.

Look forward to continue working with all of you to ensure that every child does indeed get the right to a quality education and all of us as educators, parents and students the right to choose the type of schools / education…. I am confident that we can work within the democratic structure we have the benefit of as Indian citizens or residents to come up with a win-win situation for everybody.

Thank you and best regards

Nooraine Fazal
Head of School
Inventure Academy

The government has made these rules available on http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/SSA/pdfdocs/rtedraftrules.pdf and has invited us as citizens to submit any feedback by 30 Aug 2010 on prabhaalexander@yahoo.co.in.

Please refer to links below for the RTE act, and Karnataka Government’s draft rules and some other relevant documents
http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asp
http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/SSA/pdfdocs/rtedraftrules.pdf

The RTE Act. Invite for Presentation & Discussion

Dear Parents,
The Right to Education (RTE) Act was enacted by the Indian parliament in Aug 2009. More recently the Karnataka government drafted rules in order to ensure that every child between the age of 6 and 14 in Karnataka has access to free and compulsory education. The government has made these rules available on http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/SSA/pdfdocs/rtedraftrules.pdf and has invited us as citizens to submit any feedback by 30 Aug 2010 on prabhaalexander@yahoo.co.in.

The RTE is bound to bring about many changes in all our schools, which will effect every single child, including yours.

The act in word and spirit promises to have a significant impact on Inventure Academy’s offering, education approach, admissions policy, student and parent body, student teacher ratio, human resources, curriculum, school calendar, fees….in other words every aspect of the school and your child’s education. While we wish to contribute as much as we can in terms of support, we need to discuss the pros and cons of the act.

Mr. Ramanand Mundkur, Managing Partner at Mundkur Law Partners, will present the Central RTE Act, the Karnataka draft rules and the information that is relevant to this act in the Constitution of India. Mr. Mundkur is a graduate of National Law School of India University and Harvard Law School. He has previously served as Counsel for the United Nations Compensation Commission and International Monetary Fund, and was Senior Consultant at Arthur Andersen for nearly 4 years. His daughter Kaavya studies at Inventure Academy in grade 1.

Your presence and participation at this meeting will make a difference so it is essential and earnestly sought. We request you to attend so we may understand, assimilate and discuss in order to decide our next steps. We intend to consolidate and forward our recommendations to the Government of Karnataka which has invited feedback by 30 August 2010.

Students of grade 8 upwards are expected to attend as well. It is important for them to understand what the effect of these changes will be and how they are a potent and vital contribution to the greater common good.

Please refer to links below for the RTE act, and Karnataka Government’s draft rules and some other relevant documents
http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asp
http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/SSA/pdfdocs/rtedraftrules.pdf

Look forward to interacting with you on the 19 Aug 2010. (since it’s a long weekend we are conducting this meeting on a weekday post our sports day dry run)
Venue Multi Purpose Hall (Senior Block)
Time 15:00 hrs
Transport will be provided for students if required.

Thank you and best regards

Nooraine Fazal
Head of School
Inventure Academy