HM Desk

ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008

Good Evening

Honourable chief guest of the evening Shri. D.Jagannathan, Director of School Education, the guest of honour Shri Prabhu Deva, Actor, Director and our proud alumni, distinguished guests, members of staff and dear children, I extend a warm and cordial welcome to all of you this evening.

Santhome offers a diverse range of learning opportunities for our students. As lifelong learners, we are continually involved in a process of learning, reflection and renewal to prepare our students for an unpredictable future in an ever-changing world. We encourage our students to be a knowledgeable person with deep understanding, a complex thinker, an active participant and a creative person.

The academic year 2007-2008 has been a very purposeful and fruitful one. The year witnessed many milestones of excellent achievements in Academics, Co-Curricular activities, Sports and games, which aimed at improving the quality education and all-round development of the students. I feel proud and privileged to present before you a brief report of the achievements of the school in the academic year 2007-2008.

The major events and functions held during this Academic year include:

Investiture Ceremony

The Investiture Ceremony is the first and the most solemn occasion in our School calendar. Our Motto “DUC NOS” a Latin term inscribed in our emblem envelopes the entire philosophy, aim and objectives of this Institution as envisaged by our founding fathers. The nearest English translation to “DUC NOS” would be “Lead Us”, some translate it as “Teach Us”. Hon’ble Thiru. Raja, Union Minister of State for Communication & Information Technology, was the Chief Guest for the Ceremony.

St.Thomas Feast

St.Thomas feast is yet another important day for us. St.Thomas is our patron Saint.

Sports Day

Santhome promotes Sports and Recreation to enhance team and individual capabilities, foster participation in regular physical sports and games and promote Santhome Higher Secondary School as an ideal sporting destination. We have engaged Coaches for the following sports and games at Santhome: Cricket, Basket Ball, Volleyball, Athletics, Table Tennis, Chess, Carrom, Boxing, Skating and we also have students who are swimmers and Tennis Players etc. The facilities available at our School include; The Montfort Indoor Sports Stadium and a well maintained Fitness centre-The Montfort-IOB Fitness Centre. The Annual Sports Day was another grand celebration and Shri. D,Mukherjee, I.P.S., Director General of Police was the Chief Guest.

Independence Day & Republic Day Celebrations

We at Santhome, take great pride in saluting our beloved tricolor. We recall with pride the great sacrifice of our freedom fighters, whose undying love for India secured us our freedom. On this happy occasion all assemble to salute the hard work of all our citizens who have, over these 60 years, helped build a new India. We bow our head in memory of all those brave jawans and all our brave citizens who have sacrificed their lives for the cause of our unity, integrity and progress.

Jubilee celebrations

We the santhome family we happy to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of our beloved Rev.Bro.Packia Raj and the Silver Jubilee of Rev.Sr.Daisy and Rev.Sr.Mercy.

Teacher’s Day Celebrations

Teachers’ Day is a special occasion for our students, a time to pay tribute to all the teachers for their hard work and dedication.. We the teachers, look forward to the day not because of anything else, but to enjoy the cultural fiesta that our students come up with every time. It's great to get pampered by our students, this year too was no exception.

Education Day

The Birthday of the former Chief Minister and Freedom Fighter Late Shri.K.Kamaraj was declared as the Education Day and we at santhome celebrated the day as a mark of respect for the great leader.

Boost- Santhome Inter School State Level Volleyball, Basketball and Badminton Tournaments for Boys and Girls.

In order to develop a balanced personality, the school gives much importance to co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. Besides Academic excellence, we promote Sports and Games amongst students in a big way.

The “Boost - Santhome Higher Secondary School State Level Inter School Tournaments 2007 for Basket Ball , Volleyball & Badminton” for both Boys and Girls was held between 12th and 14th November 2007 at Santhome Higher Secondary School. Nearly 225 Schools from Tamil Nadu participated in the tournament, conducted by Santhome. The highlight was the record number of 100 entries in the Volleyball Boys category. For the first time in the City the tournament was conducted in a league-cum-knock out basis in 8 newly laid courts.

The Tournaments were inaugurated by Hon’ble Thiru. T.P.M.Mohideen Khan, Minister for Sports, Youth Welfare and Environment on 12th November 2007. Hon’ble Thiru U.Mathivanan, Minister for Dairy Development was the Chief Guest for the Valedictory ceremony held on 14th November 2007 and gave away the trophies and prizes to the Winners and Runners.

EURESAN – an exclusive Science and Arts Exhibition

Santhome has also been consistently bringing out the best of the cultural and creative side of its students. We ensure that our students have every opportunity to develop new skills and enhance existing skills. Our core belief is that all students can, and must reach high standards in both Education and Sports. In order to provide our students an opportunity to exhibit their hidden talents and tap their creativity, we organized Euresan, an exclusive Science and Arts Exhibition between 12th and 14th November 2007.

Hon’ble Thiru. Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for School Education, inaugurated the Science Exhibition and Hon’ble Thiru. Ma Subramanian, Worshipful Mayor, Chennai Corporation, inaugurated the Philately and Numismatics Exhibition in the presence of Dr. M.Palanisamy, CEO,Chennai on 12th November 2007. Hon’ble Thiru U.Mathivanan, Minister for Dairy Development was the Chief Guest for the Valedictory ceremony held on 14th November 2007 and gave away the prizes.

The BIOLOGY, PHYSICS, MATHEMATICS, CHEMISTRY, COMMERCE & ECONOMICS, FRENCH, TAMIL, LITERATURE, PHYSICAL EDUCATION, CRICKET Departments of Santhome Higher Secondary School and Montfort Academy Matriculation School participated in the Exhibition. Nearly 75 students from others Schools participated in the Exhibition and exhibited their displays. Around 15,000 students from other schools visited the Exhbition between 12th and 14th November 2007. Several Government and Non-Governmental Agencies and other Departments and Institutions participated in the event.

Children’s Day Celebrations

On Children’s Day tribute is payed to all children in the world. Children are loved by one and all. They win over our hearts with their angelic eyes and innocent smiles. It makes one realise that maybe that’s the way God wanted us to be. Children's Day is a day for children to engage in fun and frolic. As a part of the celebrations we held various cultural competitions for our children.

Christmas Celebartions

CHRISTMAS is the festival of joy and cheer. Faith makes all things possible, Hope makes all things work, Love makes all things beautiful, Christmas is a season which brings us all these and more. Christmas brings family and friends together in celebration. Christmas is a special time at Santhome and this year too we celebrated together with wonder and joy.

Students Retreat

Webster's defines "retreat" as "a period of retirement or seclusion, especially one devoted to religious contemplation away from the pressures of ordinary life. The retreat environment provides one with time to experience the peace and joy of meditation and contemplation in his quest for the Divine. It is a place where one is re-energized and more aware of the body, mind and soul connection. It is a vacation from the stresses of life. With this in mind we organized a special retreat for our Students and Staff between 14th and 16th January 2008 at Santhome. The response we received for the retreat was beyond our expectations, nearly 1000 children from Santhome and other schools alongwith Staff participated in the retreat.

334th Birth Anniversary of St.Montfort

The Society of the Montfort Brothers of St.Gabriel was founded by a 17th century French Saint called St.Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. We celebrated the 334th Birth Anniversary St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, at Santhome, in a manner befitting his services.

Child Rights Seminar for Teachers

Children's rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young. School is the place that promotes academic, social, and personal development for students, everything hinges on the presence of intelligent, passionate, caring teachers working day after day in our classrooms. Teachers have a colossal influence on what happens in our schools, because day after day, they are the ultimate decision makers and tone setters. Hence we organized an exclusive Child Rights Seminar for teachers on 2nd February 2008 and around 400 teachers participated in the seminar.

Patti Mandram

For the first time an interesting Patti mandram was conducted in Santhome on 8th February 2008. It proved to be an instant hit as it was humourous, informative, educative and lively. Jugded by Thiru Nanjil Sampath, several prominent Patti Mandram speakers participated and debated in the event.

Medical Camp

Health is wealth is a familiar proverb. Regular medical check-ups will pick up any potential problems, allowing you to take steps in either preventing them or beginning early treatment. On 27th February 2008 we organized two medical Camp for our students in our campus.

Seminar for Std XII students

Jack Welch once said: “Confidence gives you courage and extends your reach. It lets you take greater risks and achieve far more than you ever thought possible”. This powerfully conveys the enormous role self-confidence plays in achieving greater success in whatever you do. In order to motivate and prepare our Standard XII students for exams, we organized an exclusive seminar on 28th February 2008. Dr.Peter, a renowned speaker and motivator addressed the seminar. We are sure our students have benefited from the seminar and would face the exams with confidence.

Prayer service for Standard XII students

Times of exams can be very stressful. There are a number of different things we can do to reduce the stress and to improve performance in exams. Prayer is the respiration of the soul, the intimate bond with one's Creator and Savior. It's a little like a plant needing water and fertilizer to grow and develop. On 29th February 2008, we organized for a Special Prayer service for our Standard XII students. We, the Staff alongwith Parents prayed and placed our wishes before God Almighty to help our students to do the best in their exams, to energize their bodies, mind and soul. The meet was well attended and was a memorable day for all of us.

Sports

We at Santhome believe that beginning at a young age, the experiences of involving in a sport will provide a source of recreation and simultaneously improve athletic skills, health and fitness as they offer experiences in teamwork, sportsmanship, fair play, cooperation and leadership. Santhome is committed to ensure that its students have every opportunity to develop new skills and enhance existing skills. Our School sportsmen performed extremely well throughout the academic year.

Basketball is another popular sport in Santhome and this year too our teams did us proud through their excellent performances. Our players also made to several teams from the City, District to the State levels.

Our School swimmers particularly Selvi, are creating ripples in the aquatic cirlce at the State and national levels.

Our Chess and carrom players are too not far behind, performing creditably at the various levels and age categories.

Table Tennis has its own pride of a place in Santhome. They have performed incredibly this year securing the first place in the State and National torunaments for Schools. This victory comes to us after several years and we hope that the rise of this sport continues to reach great heights in the years to come.

Viveka Sasidar our young lawn Tennis sensation, has been the District level winner for two consecutive years and represented the State in the nationals held at Gujarat and Mumbai.

Volleyball teams winning streak continued this year too, the team won NSN Memorial Tournament, The St.Bede’s centenary Tournament, the B Zone preliminaries, Buck trophy, SDAT District level Tournament, Little Flower Tournament and the Boost-Santhome trophy for Boys. Our prominent players went on to represent the State sides too.

The school athletic teams stunning performance in the Divisional Sports Meet ( winning overall championship with 24 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze) earned them a chance to compte in the State Meet and our relay team won the bronze. J.John Fredrick won the Bronze in 100 mts at the 5 State South Zone Meet held at Pondicherry.

Our young Mohammed Ali’s of Boxing made us proud by their achievements and perfomances. In the SGFI National Selections our boxers were placed 4th and 5th. Th team also won the Gold at the State meet held in Maharastra.

Santhome has long been the 'Home of School Cricket in Chennai'. Its importance is not merely historical. In practice Santhome remains, to this day, perhaps the most important single place in the history of Chennai School cricket. Santhome Under 15 team retained the Sumeru Soft trophy for the 7th consecutive year, the TNCA Under 15 Tournament for the 4th consecutive year and our Under 13 team won the Sumeru Under 13 trophy and finished runners up in the Don Bosco-MRF under 13 Tournament and the Vidya Mandir-Sportsstar Under 13 tournament. Our players represented various levels from City, State to Zone in 13, 15, 17, 19 and 22 age categories. A.R.Anand Kumar was declared the fastest and best fast bowler at the MRF Pace Foundation at the State level in Under 15 category and won the Gatorade Scholarship. We also have a happy news to share, our old student H.Gopinath who passedout in 2004-05 has been selected to represent Tamil Nadu in the Ranji trophy.

“Excellence can be obtained if you:
...care more than others think is wise;
...risk more than others think is safe;
...dream more than others think is practical;
...expect more than others think is possible.”

As we continue our journey let’s take a moment and salute all the Staff, the Coaches, the Parents and above all the students, whose commitment to this institution speak volumes about excellence... and whose lifelong faithfulness to the practice of teaching and learning is among the greatest gifts anyone could offer.

Thank you

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