Our Schools

itplccacoordinator / November 28, 2019 Posted by : editor

The students of Ekya ITPL over the past few months have been collaborating to make a range of products in order to raise money for a good cause. Sankara Eye Hospital has been conducting operations free of cost for the past few years which inspire us to donate for the same. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The students have been working hard on various products ranging from lip balms, body scrubs, t-shirts to paper mugs, mud pots and colorful tote bags, perfumed candles, dreamcatchers, chocolates.  

The zeal and enthusiasm of the students encouraged us to work harder to produce reliable and useful products through recycling and upcycling. 

Our wonderful students put up a variety of food stalls too. From chaat corner – pani puri to fresh fruit juices, salad counter, sumptuos cholle puri, cupcakes, delicious chocolates, healthy sandwiches and salads, we had it all….

Students attending Saturday Clubs and After School Activities put up a great showcase.

The club display included Visual Art Club, ICT, Junior Masterchef, Rangmanch Theater club, Basketball club, Cricket Club, Football Club, Dance club, Math Club, Film Making- Bioscope Club.

After school Activities included display for Chess, Basketball team and Mass Coaching, Skating, Karate, Fitness Dance, Keyboard.

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itplccacoordinator / May 07, 2024

5 Things You Need To Know About The IGCSE

Introduсtion The International General Certifiсate of Seсondary Eduсation (IGCSE) is a globally recognized curriculum and qualifiсation for seсondary school students. First offered in 1988 by Cambridge Assessment International Eduсation, the IGCSE board allows 14-16 year old students across the world to develop skills for further aсademiс рrogression or рrofessional life. Over 5,000 schools in 160 countries offer IGCSE subjeсts sрanning languages, humanities, sсienсes, mathematiсs, and voсational skills. Read on as we exрlore 5 key asрeсts of this globally foсused curriculum framework.

Globally Reсognized Qualifiсation

First and foremost, the IGCSE board is an international qualifiсation that is recognized by universities and сolleges around the world. Unlike state board сurriсulums that focus on sрeсifiс geograрhies, the IGCSE emphasises global relevanсe suited for today’s increasingly borderless world. With aссeрtanсe across Ivy League institutions, Russell Grouр universities, and aсademiс рowerhouses both in North America and Europe, the IGCSE signals readiness for tertiary education abroad. So, for students who are targeting internationally oriented сareers or рlanning their higher education outside their country, IGCSE serves as an ideal foundation. Its globally foсused рedagogy also рreрares students well for multicultural workрlaсes.

Curriсulum  

Central to the IGCSE’s global recognition is its well-rounded curriculum сovering сore subjeсts like maths, science, first and second languages as well as a рlethora of eleсtives sрanning humanities, social sсienсes, teсhniсal voсations and сreative arts. This exрoses students to diverse subjeсts aiding aрtitude identifiсation while keeрing further education and сareer oрtions oрen. Allowing sсhools flexibility to offer any mix of 70 subjeсts encourages individualised subjeсt сombinations tailored to evolving student interests. This is augmented by loсalized teaсhing сontent adaрtation рermitted to ensure relevanсy. Suсh сustomization opportunities make the IGCSE framework agile to institutions’ aсademiс рriorities.

Age Grouр

As an internationally benсhmarked qualifiсation aimed at seсondary education learners, IGCSEs are most suited for students in the 14 to 16 age group sрanning grades 8, 9, and 10 or equivalent national grades. However, enrollment flexibility exists for those falling slightly outside standard age рarameters based on individual capabilities and сirсumstanсes.

Certifiсation

Uрon сomрletion of the IGCSE examinations, students receive individual сertifiсations for each subject they have taken. The number of subjeсts required may vary from sсhool to sсhool, but students have the option to pursue a minimum of five subjeсts and a maximum of 14 subjeсts.

Examination

The IGCSE assessment is сonduсted by Cambridge International Examination (CIE) and involves a сombination of сoursework, oral exams, written exams, and рraсtiсal exams. This сomрrehensive assessment allows students to demonstrate their learning effectively, especially for those whose first language is not English.

IGCSE Core vs IGCSE Extended Oрtions

Many subjeсts рrovide twin oрtions – IGCSE Core and IGCSE Extended сatering to different skill levels within student сohorts. The Extended alternative integrates suррlemental content for advanced learners seeking greater rigour and higher attainment рossibilities. It leads seamlessly into tertiary рathways loсally and abroad. Conversely, the Core oрtion сovers foundation syllabus сontent for students still strengthening their grasр over subjeсts. It рreрares them for further skill-building required to ultimately transit to higher education through graduation сredentials. This built-in flexibility allows сustomization for сomрetenсy varianсes across learners by deрloying an aррroрriately сhallenging сurriсulum version benefitting them. Careful subject selection tailored to individual strengths and interests thus remains key.

Assessments

A robust globally standardised assessment methodology forms the baсkbone of the IGCSE curriculum. Rigorous written examinations test сontent mastery and aррliсation сomрetenсies while рraсtiсal assessments gauge exрerimental skills and deeрer understanding.   Certain subjeсts incorporate oral tests and сoursework рrojeсts demanding research, analysis, and synthesis abilities. Suсh multidimensional assessments aligned to international standards signal to universities that сertifiсate holders рossess well-rounded сomрetenсe. Exams are administered by the Cambridge Assessment International Eduсation (CAIE) division in June and November worldwide, with results deсlared next January and August, respectively. Over 10,000 institutions across 160 countries сonneсt students to these globally benсhmarked IGCSE assessments annually.

Different From Cambridge O-Level

While both the IGCSE and Cambridge O-Level are qualifiсations offered by Cambridge International Examination (CIE), they differ in their curriculum structure and assessment aррroaсh. The IGCSE curriculum offers a broader and more flexible curriculum, сatering to a wider range of students' interests and abilities.

Grading

The grading system for IGCSE exams follows a scale of A* to G, with sрeсifiс сriteria for each grade to indiсate the quality of aсhievement. Students are encouraged to read questions carefully, underline сruсial details, and use сharts and diagrams to enhance their answers for better сomрrehension.

Subjeсts

IGCSE offers approximately 70 subjeсts, inсluding 30 languages, сategorized into five groups: Languages, Humanities, Sсienсes, Mathematiсs, and Creative and Voсational. Students are encouraged to carefully seleсt their subjeсts based on their interests, talents, and strengths. Conсlusion As the IGCSE student community swells across geograрhies, standout рerformers continue enjoying рriority aссess to рremier universities in the US, Canada, and beyond. This signals the relevanсe of integrating this globally foсused curriculum as early рreрaration for tertiary studies internationally, even if initial higher education рlans remain loсal. So, for students and рarents seeking globally validated сredentials beyond home boundaries while keeрing international education рossibilities oрen, Ekya Sсhools, one of the best IGCSE sсhools, рrovides quality education and holistiс develoрment for students, ensuring they thrive aсademiсally and рersonally. Whether you're seeking a сomрrehensive curriculum, robust assessment structure, or the best IGCSE sсhools in Marathahalli, Ekya Schools delivers exсellenсe in education.    

itplccacoordinator / May 07, 2024

What Is IGCSE And Is It the Right Choice for My Child?

Every parent wants their child to have the best education, you are no different. However, when finding the right school for your child, you are often presented with a plethora of options. One such option that has grown in popularity in recent years is the IGCSE Schools in Bangalore. It is a globally recognized board and its curriculum is designed to foster holistic growth among students.  As one of the top IGCSE schools in Bangalore, we will explain what IGCSE is and help you decide if IGCSE schools are suitable for your child.

What is IGCSE?

The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an internationally recognized board created by the University of Cambridge in England. It caters to 14–16 year olds (usually grades 9-10) and prepares them for further university studies worldwide. IGCSE courses offer a rich curriculum that tailors to individual strengths and nurtures the skills and competencies of students. Here are some of the benefits of IGCSE schools for your child.

Student-Centric Approach

The IGCSE curriculum is student-centric and fosters creativity. Teachers and students contribute equally to the class, making it an enriching experience. Learning is practical, allowing students to understand concepts better through real-life applications. IGCSE schools encourage students to ask questions, share ideas, and learn collaboratively with their peers. This approach nurtures logical and creative thinking skills in students. 

Preparing for the Universities

One of the major advantages of joining IGCSE schools is that the students here are well-prepared for further studies. This is made possible by the extensive knowledge and benefits that come from a globally standardized education. The students are encouraged to become independent thinkers and learners which is crucial for university studies. IGCSE schools focus on understanding and grasping the concepts rather than just memorizing. These are the traits most universities look for in a student. 

A Community Worldwide

The IGCSE program brings together students from all over the world in a global community. Children learn how to be inclusive and empathetic towards different people and cultures. This helps them develop a broad perspective. The program also allows each child to become a part of a diverse and comprehensive global community.

Inquiry-Based Learning

IGCSE courses foster curiosity in students by emphasizing real-life experiences, exploration, and expression. This encourages children to ask questions and research answers, helping them gain a better understanding of their communities and the world around them.

Rigorous Assessments

Top IGCSE schools in Bangalore such as Ekya Schools offer a rich experience for students with thought-provoking assessments. These include a variety of modes such as oral, written, coursework, and practical assessments. These assessments offer questions of different difficulty levels, enabling students to challenge themselves and discover their strengths and weaknesses. By instilling confidence and boosting morale, the IGCSE curriculum empowers students to plan their future educational journeys. 

Choice of Subjects that Cater to Different Abilities

The IGCSE subjects are designed to meet the needs of different students. With over 70 subjects to choose from, including 30 languages, schools can offer a combination that suits each student. Students must select at least 5 subjects, which include: 
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Humanities and Social Science
  • Languages
  • Creative, Technical, and Vocational Subjects Students also have a wide range of 30 languages to choose from, including their mother tongue.

Recognized by Universities Across the World

The IGCSE is the most recognized examination qualification across the world. Students with these qualifications are accepted into several countries like the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. Many universities acknowledge and accept the IGCSE curriculum as part of their entrance criteria. The IGCSE opens up opportunities for further vocational education and serves as a strong foundation for employment. Students with IGCSE backgrounds have the necessary abilities that employers value in potential employees.

Conclusion

In conclusion, choosing the best school for your child can be a daunting task considering the number of options today. However, if you think a strong syllabus and robust curriculum are best for your child, IGCSE schools are the way to go. To find the best IGCSE schools near Bannerghatta Road, look no further than Ekya Schools in JP Nagar. Our goal is to give students a well-rounded education that nurtures critical thinking, and creativity along with academic excellence.Join us and allow your child to delve into the stimulating realm of IGCSE subjects, nurturing their personal growth and development along the way.. We're here to shape future leaders with an inclusive and inspiring learning environment.      

itplccacoordinator / May 06, 2024

Common Mistakes When Making A Class Presentation

A successful school presentation demands a lot more than just good content. Presentations are more about expressing and explaining things in a creative manner which involves two important parts- the content in an understandable form and its way of presenting it. The second involves speaking skills, presentation skills, voice modulation, and more. Many aspects of class presentation should be taken into consideration. However, there are a few common mistakes that are often committed during its preparation: 

Not Doing Your Research

Whatever topic you choose to present, you need to have a good knowledge about it. Well, that will only come with good research skills. You can do that by getting help from your teacher, the school library, or the Internet. Research not only helps you with better presentation but will also prepare you to answer the questions asked during the question hour.  

Not Making a Proper Introduction

 Whether the presentation is in front of a small group or you are representing your school, a small introduction about yourself along with the topic’s introduction is a must. This not only gives you a great start but also gives the audience an idea of what the presentation is about. To make your introduction a bit more interesting, you can start the presentation with a quote or some statistics to grab attention. 

Lack of preparation for the presentation

Not preparing well before the presentation day may put you in a difficult spot. It is possible that you will present well but you are internally not satisfied with your performance. Well, one of the best ways to prepare is to at least go through the content twice. Practice in front of the mirror or ask your parents to be the audience during the preparations. This way, you will get to know your weak areas and work more on them. You will be fully prepared to capture the attention of the audience with your confidence and speaking skills. 

Confident Body Language

Confidence is the key to a good presentation. It is not something that will develop overnight, we need to work on it. As per a study, poor body language affects your confidence. You need to understand that your language speaks a lot about your personality. With good content and strong body language, confidence reflects automatically. For class presentations, you can practise hand movements and voice modulation. Another important point that should not be ignored is maintaining eye contact with the audience. Before the final presentation day, it is advisable to practice in front of a mirror.

Not Being Engaging

 If you want your audience to understand the presentation well, then keep it engaging. A presentation full of text will make it boring so, to keep a balance between the infographics and text to make it more interesting and engaging. If possible, minutes of video related to your topic. This will keep your audience entertained. Remember whenever on stage  it is your responsibility to keep your audience engaged sensibly without going off-track. 

Inconsistent Slides

 Presenting slides in a good way demands a perfect framework that involves a lot of things and often focusing on one aspect might lead to ignoring others. Here are a few common slide mistakes made during the presentation. 
  1. Overcrowding the slides: It is one of the most common presentation mistakes often committed by students. You need to understand that for presentation “less is more” fits perfectly. Instead of too much text, visuals should be used. Instead of paragraphs, pointers should be used. Using different colours also makes the presentation interesting.
  2. Reading directly from the slides: Reading directly from the slides only projects you as underconfident and unprepared. Although it might seem a little tempting and an easier option, the best is to make small pointers of important topics on which you want to talk.
  3. Complicated data: Data should be presented in a way that the written content becomes more understandable. For this Pie charts or bar graphs in different colours can be used. 
  4. Not maintaining the hierarchy: Arranging the slides haphazardly
  5.  only confuses the students. It will distract them as there will be less clarity regarding the points. 

Going Off-Topic

Many times you might go off-topic to make your point more clear during the presentation. But as a presenter, you need to understand that class presentations and question sessions should be done within a time limit. For this students need to maintain the flow as per the hierarchy and should have an idea about which points need more explanation than the others. This will only come with a few practice sessions before your final day. 

Not being prepared for feedback and questions

 Once you finish your presentation, allow your audience to put their doubts in front of you. This way not only will your audience get a chance to clarify their doubts but you will also learn to tackle difficult questions. Sometimes, if you have no answer or are in doubt about the question, it is ok to accept and consider returning with better research next time.  As a presenter, you need to keep the flow of your presentation in a positive direction and end it on a positive note. It leaves a good impression on the audience. Keeping a way forward slide at the end is a good way to end. You can also present an idea about a drive you want to start in your school related to some global concern. But make sure everything is related to your topic of presentation. Nothing should go off-track.

Conclusion

If you are searching the internet with terms like- the best schools in Bengaluru or ICSE schools in Bangalore, CBSE syllabus schools consider Ekya Schools. We are among the leading schools in Bangalore, offering the best quality education. Our Understanding by Design (UbD) framework curriculum is designed in a way that caters not just to the academic requirements of a student but simultaneously builds the overall personality of the student.  We encourage students to actively participate in co-curricular and other group activities like presentations. This helps in building confidence and developing skills like speaking skills, presentation skills, tackling questions, and more. We have expert faculty that prepares our students for holistic development. At Ekya, different school clubs also help students develop different skills such as music, dance, coding, debating, and more.  Hopefully, the above information will be helpful.      
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Learning Chemistry at Ekya Schools

What comes to the mind of a child when we say ‘Chemistry’? Formulas, equations, chemicals, laboratory and a text heavy chapter? Chemistry is so much more! Starting with the air we breathe and the matter we are made up of, Chemistry is present everywhere.  Chemistry is often referred to as the central science as it is one branch of Science which connects to all other branches. It can provide answers to any questions related to all that is ‘matter’ and even what is not ‘matter’. From cooking in the kitchen to the science of building good roads, the invention of plastic, construction of buildings and manufacturing of rockets, knowledge of chemistry is required everywhere.     It is this aspect of Chemistry that is brought forth by the Ekya Chemistry program. We make the teaching-learning process more meaningful and impactful, with students experiencing the journey from ‘what they are learning’ to ‘why they are learning’.  Our aim at Ekya is to make Chemistry a subject that children can understand, appreciate and apply. The main focus of the Chemistry program at Ekya is to:
  • Make Chemistry relevant beyond the classrooms (What gives colours to fireworks?)
  • Develop the confidence to question, assess and make scientifically sound decisions (Is it wise to replace all the plastic bags with paper and cloth bags?)
  • To develop leaders with capabilities to analyse, reason, strategize and collaborate to find solutions to real life problems. (Can a material as strong and light as plastic and as easily biodegradable as paper be built?)
  • Instill the habit of self-learning and making the students responsible and self-reliant
Therefore, the standards of Chemistry learning at Ekya are deliberately set high where the learning program, facilitated by the teacher, helps the students find the path to achieve those standards.  Middle School Chemistry focuses on the following:
  • Design and conduct fair tests, to help students identify and control variables and understand why these processes matters. 
  • Help students build a foundation of reasoning skills, which are applicable across many disciplines.
  • Provide multiple opportunities to develop models and investigate properties of matter at the particle level. 
  • Provide opportunities to understand  cause and effect relationships to identify, test, and explain chemical changes. Students investigate the principles of solubility, density and matter and identify substances based on their unique characteristics.
  • Provide design challenges that teaches students about the application of chemical changes in real life.  Students arrive at the understanding about the criteria and constraints for their design challenges.
In high school, students are exposed to multiple learning experiences to ensure the development of both concepts and skills.
  • The young minds are ignited with the spark of curiosity in the beginning of the topic which sets the rhythm for the rest of the learning process.  
  • The concepts are explored and experienced through discussions, hands on activities, skits, experiments, research projects, data analysis and much more.
  • Evidence based questioning, discussions, arguments and reflections are encouraged. (Debates on topics like Is biodegradable waste harmless to us? What about the methane it adds to the atmosphere?)
  •  Students get first-hand experience of the real life applications of Chemistry through lab projects, design challenges and field trips.
  • Students are updated with the latest developments in the field of Chemistry ( So, what is happening in the field of Nanoscience now? And why should we study that? )
  • Children are able to evaluate their progress and understanding  through multiple ways of assessments that cater to the individual strengths of different students.
  On the journey to achieve our goals at Ekya, chemicals are used as magical objects that bring the concepts alive. Chemical formulae and equations are transformed into a language that every child understands and automatically rely on when dealing with the subject. The content heavy textbooks are transformed into a resource, and the student’s understanding is used as a tool to develop new ideas and innovations.     Our children don’t just study Chemistry but actually work, learn and innovate with Chemistry. This lays the foundation for not just the chemists that will stand out in future employment scenario but also for chemists who will be instrumental in developing solutions to pressing issues of the future.

AI Workshop Intel Ai-Thon – AI4YOUTH

With the robot and human race walking hand in hand down the aisle of technology,the world is preparing for a technologically oriented future. With a digital future awaiting us, it has become very essential to adapt to these constant changes around us. Taking the current scenario into consideration, the CBSE board and Intel had joined their forces to organize a three day AI readiness workshop, AITHON in various cities of India. We, Aparna S J and Navya Suresh from grade 8 CMR NPS and Manya Jain and Nav Singhal from Ekya School ITPL, were given an opportunity to attend an Artificial Intelligence workshop held on 19th, 20th and 21st of June in JSS School, HSR Layout.  On arriving at the venue on the first day, we were greeted to a welcome ceremony that included an inspiring speech by the principal. Then, we were asked to introduce ourselves- after which we were distributed into groups. We really liked this as it was quite enriching to be in a group of people from grades 8-10 of various schools. Two people had come to Bangalore all the way from Tamil Nadu! After the initial introductions, we were made to sit in groups of three and were given a laptop.   Our instructor, Mr Akshay Chawla introduced us to the concepts of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL). We then played a game called Kahoot to check our existing knowledge of Python and AI. After that, we learnt what an AI Project Cycle was and each level of the cycle was explained clearly with the help of examples from identifying a problem to evaluating and deploying a model or the solution for that problem. We further delved into this by taking the case study: Rising price of Napa Cabbage in Korea. As the workshop was eight hours long, there were breaks of 15 minutes every two hours to allow our brain to process the information. We played various board games and also discussed the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) launched by the UN.  After that, we started with Python. We were asked to solve a worksheet on Jupyter Notebook where we had to answer the questions by writing codes. The concepts involved arithmetic operations, for loop and lists. These tasks were quite simple as we had studied these concepts beforehand, in our previous grades. Once everyone was done with these worksheets, we discussed the answers and moved on to the next topic. We ended that day by training an AI using Rule based approach (where you give the AI rules and data and it gives you answers) using Google Machine.com. The time seemed to fly by, as it often does when one is truly enjoying something. The first day of the workshop proved to be interactive and informative. Being introduced to the issues faced by people from different parts of the world not only helped us to recognise the field’s resourcefulness but also enhanced our problem solving skills.  On the second day, we discussed the various realms of AI through games:
  • Data Science - Science that deals with manipulation of data. This was explained through ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’, which was played against the computer. The computer analysed our previous moves in order to beat us. 
  • Computer Vision - Process of a computer using input from a camera to recognize its surroundings. We learnt this concept by playing ‘Emoji Scavenger Hunt’. In this game, the computer would show us an object (Ex: Phone) and we had to find the object and show it in front of the screen within a time limit so that the computer could check whether or not the object was the same. 
  • Natural Language Processing - Process of a computer recognizing human speech, similar to how Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri work. We had to ask questions verbally to the computer in order to guess a previously selected animal. It was a game very similar to ‘20 Questions’. This was an example of NLP as the computer had to recognise our voice and then process the question that we asked in order to answer it. We created graphs in Python using various sets of data. Data Science programming was really hard but fun and interesting. We also were able to change the colour scheme of a picture, make the AI recognize certain parts of the picture etc. We really enjoyed CV Programming as we were able to manipulate the picture to morph into another picture. We also explored many online chatbots such as Cleverbot, Eliza, Jabberwacky etc. The final day was actually the most fun as we were able to see the projects related to AI done by the students of some other schools in Bangalore. We were able to see the real-life applications of AI. Then we were asked to come up with our own ideas and pitch it to Mr. Chawla. Some of the ideas that were pitched included Farming using AI (Using AI to calculate the amount of water to be used in irrigation, using AI in irrigation and pest prevention, so as to remove human error), Fitness app based on AI and Reminder app that reminds people who are suffering from chronic illnesses to take their medicine. The workshop concluded on a pleasant note with an inspiring speech from a CBSE official and an aim of continuing to build upon our innovations. The readiness workshop provided us with a clear image to carve a pathway for a future filled with innovation.
We are glad that our school gave us the opportunity of attending this workshop. This has also inspired us to research on AI. We truly enjoyed the workshop, along with the scrumptious snacks and lunch given to us on all the three days. Our instructors were supportive and the workshop, on the whole, was really interactive. We look forward to other workshops like this in the future.

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