A Heritage Walk was organized for the students of Class-X (Section A & B) on 27 December 2013 to Hauz Khas village in association with INTACH (The Indian Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage). The walk included a visit to 13^th Century reservoir which has now been revived, the buildings of a renowned Madarsa beside which is also the tomb of its royal founder, Firoz Shah Tughlaq. The archaeological remains at the complex provided a glimpse of the Sultanate period in India, specifically the reign of Tughlaqs & the Lodis. The buildings in the complex present a clear contrast in the architectural styles employed by the rulers of the Tughlaq & Lodi dynasties. The walk was a huge learning experience for students. The students got an opportunity to look at the past through the Lens of material remains.

As part of the Chemistry Department initiative to improve students knowledge of chemistry, a series of enrichment programmes were held in December. The session conducted by Mr. S.K. Munjal on 16^th December dealt with strategies on tackling the preparation of chemistry for the CBSE exams. He discussed the marks distribution in question paper and highlighted the most frequently asked questions in the paper. Throughout the orientation he emphasized on solving board question papers of last few years. The session conducted by Mr. R.D. Shukla on 26^th December dealt with tips on time management and elaborated on the three parts of chemistry. To aid students to handle solid state, he explained the basics with the help of 3-D models. Overall the sessions were informative and interactive.

Artificial wall climbing camp 2013 was conducted by Air Force Adventure Cell at TAFS wall climbing range from Dec 02 to Dec 23, 2013. Approx. 250 students (both Boys & Girls) from three Air Force schools practiced for wall climbing during these days. Depending upon their performance, top 20 students in both categories from each school were selected for semifinals round of competition and finally 10 students from each school were selected for final competition. Final was held on 23^rd Dec 2013 which was also witnessed by Director, Air Force Adventure Cell and final standings were as follows:-

a)   Fastest Climber in Boys Category       – Deepanshu X B   – TAFS

b)   Fastest Climber in Girls Category        – Shehnaz X B       – TAFS

c)   Overall Champion school in Boys category – AFGJI

d)   Overall Champion school in Girls category – AFGJI

A special Christmas assembly was put up in the Jr school on 23 Dec 2013 by the children of classes I B and IC, to celebrate Christmas. Along with the depiction of nativity scene the children also danced merrily to the tunes of Jingle bells and some other peppy music. The choir sang the Christmas carols melodiously and many little ‘Father Christmas’ also appeared to add to the fun and frolic. The huge X’mas tree and the wishing wall in the school added to the festive spirit.

The children thus celebrated this festival of joy, sharing and cheer with their classmates and teachers.

The students of Class V participated in an English Recitation Competition on 20 December 2013, on the theme ‘Narrative Poems – Poems that tell a story’.

This competition was unique in two different ways. Firstly, the use of props and costumes by the children all but transformed them into surreal characters from the poems. Secondly, the “paired recitation” (reciting the poems as a pair), brought out great team coordination.

Though each pair of participants recited a divided poem, they surely managed to capture the audience’s undivided attention. Every poem had a story in it, some sober, some humorous, but each enthralling. As usual, our judges had a tough time deciding the winners.

The outstanding performers were-

I Position

  1. Yatika Rathee and Snehil Smirti V B   

II Position

  1. Trisha Banerjee and Syna Rajput V D 

  2. Anhad Sharma and Raktim Banerjee V E

  3. Sakshi and Sanjana Tandon V E

III Position

  1. Pranati and Sanya Sharma V E

  2. Sia Kumar and Shirin Shakir V B

Consolation Prizes

  1. Kartik Rai and Harshu Gohain V B  

  2. Utkarsh Kumar and Aditya Jha V D

  3. Keerthana H. and Vanya Garud V E

  4. Mansha Rathee and Siddhi Katyal V D

  5. Archashi Kamal and Stuti Shukla VD

An educational trip to the National Museum was organized on 17 Dec 2013, for Class IV Students, in association with ‘Flow India’, on the theme ‘Our Rich Heritage’.

The programme started with an orientation on 16 Dec 2013 during which a power point presentation was shown to the children making them aware of the diversity of India. Children were given worksheets on the programme theme and various individuals and group activities were conducted for them at school.

On 17 Dec 2013 the children visited the National Museum where the Flow facilitators took them around and showed them the museum displays on different art forms like dance, music, sculpture and painting and explained how these were interrelated. They also learnt how traditional musical instruments are made and saw different kinds of Indian Traditional Paintings. Children were excited to learn about our heritage and actively participated in all the activities.

An Eco-Adventure Day Camp was organized for the students of class III at Najafgarh (Mitraon) on 16^th Dec 2013, in which 166 students participated.

Various activities for development of life skills such as leadership qualities, self –reliance, team work and self confidence were conducted there. The children enjoyed the camel ride, rappling, tractor-ride, bullock-cart ride, tug of war, wall climbing etc. under the supervision of qualified and experienced team of instructors and trainers. They also enjoyed the sumptuous meals and snacks provided there. Other major attractions were the magic show and the dance with DJ.

It was one of the most memorable days for these little ones!

Air Marshal BBP Sinha AVSM, Director General (Works and Ceremonials) was the Chief Guest at the 58^th Annual Khel Utsav of The Air Force School, Subroto Park held on December 11, 2013. This was a culmination of the athletic events held over the past week. Speaking on the occasion he spoke about the need for physical fitness and to wean children off the internet and the other media.

In her welcome address, the Principal Mrs Deepika Thapar Singh paid tribute to Nelson Mandela and his ideals of peace and brotherhood. She spoke about the strong sports culture of the school.

The theme of the programme was Pragati – the Human Evolution. It traced man’s journey from being a hunter– gatherer to the modern day man, the inventor of the latest technology. The programme commenced with an impressive March Past by the five houses. The Pratap House bagged the best March Past Trophy. The second Best House in the March Past was the Subroto House.

The best house in co-curricular activities conducted throughout the year was the Latif House.

The overall championship trophy for sports was bagged by Pratap House.

The Junior school presented various drills like the Jungle Cats, The Forest Custodians, The Kiplings and the Corbetts, The Country Colors, The Mean Machines and the Future Forward.

The programme ended with a grand finale presented by the students of classes IV and V, called the Happiness Harbingers.

The athletic events included the Senior A Boys relay and the Senior A Girls relay races.

The prize distribution ceremony was held to award medals and trophies to winners & champions in a variety of sports such as Tennis, Taekwondo, Football Boys and Football Girls.

An enrichment session for Physics was conducted on 9^th Dec, 13 for the benefit of the students of Class XII. The key speaker was an eminent Physics Scholar Dr. Suraj Prakash, former Principal CRPF Public School, also associated with CBSE and a resource person at Bal Bharti Public School.

The main focus of the session was to minimize the stress of the students regarding their subject related queries and to provide tips to attempt the Board Question Paper. He emphasized that Physics is the only subject which has real life applications & explain all the natural phenomenon occurring around us and therefore is one the most interesting subject.

The session was highly interactive and the students were motivated to plan an efficient time management and be regular in their effort to secure well in their board exams as well as competitive exams thereafter.

The outcome of the session was fruitful and was highly appreciated by the students. The session increased the sense of confidence amongst the students.

It was one of those rare opportunities that come knocking at your door .The students of The Air Force School had an interface with NDA cadets at “SEE AND EXPERIENCE THE LIFE OF NDA CADETS” organized by the National Defence Academy Khadakwasla, Pune. Only seven  handpicked schools from the whole country experienced this wonderful opportunity and it was a matter of great pride that TAFS was one of them. It was a four day stay for the students at academy .

A total of 28 students were taken for firing on the very first day of the trip. Firing was a life time experience for the students and getting training to fire from the army men was exhilarating.  The evening was highly thrilling as the students watched different drills by the Army, Air Force and Navy.The miltary police displayed great accuracy and precision on motorbikes. Watching the paratroopers land was enthralling.In addition the spectacle of the Gymanastics, Horse Show and Taekwondo was inspiring. In the evening the students got a chance to meet Cadets who shared their life at academy –a life utterly disciplined but extremely enjoyable. It was certainly a matter of great pride when the group met many TAFSIANS at the academy, who with their hardwork had made a name for themselves.The next day the students were invited to go horse riding. After horse riding they were taken for ‘Academy Darshan’ where they got an opportunity to know about the details of aeroplane flying and technicalities of aeroplane. The War museum, Sudan Block were also amazing places to visit.

The stay culminated with the piece de resistance of the National Defence Academy-the passing out parade.The visit proved to be a once-in a lifetime experience.

An interactive session was organized for class 9^th on 27 Nov 2013 with a reputed lawyer, Mr Samiron Borkatary. Mr Samiron Borkatary is a Law graduate from the prestigious Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. He holds the membership of the Bar Council of Delhi as well as Delhi High Court Association. He gave a valuable insight into the judicial system of our country & familiarized the students with the functioning of the legal world. He showed documents like waqalat-nama & threw light on a few recent court cases such as the Aarushi Murder case & the Tarun Tejpal case. The students also raised relevant questions related to law as copyright laws, PIL & the like The students interacted enthusiastically with Mr Samiron Borkatary who keenly addressed all their questions.