India’s 66th Republic Day was celebrated today with great reverence in our school. 
The day began with a prayer followed by flag hoisting by the Guest of Honour, Retired Wing Commander Rajneesh Lakhanpal, who attended the session with Mrs. Lakhanpal. A commissioned officer of Indian Air Force, he has had the privilege of serving in several senior level appointments in the operations and administrative branches, during a service tenure of over 24 years. This was accompanied by the Flag Song, our national anthem and the pledge. The Guest of Honour spoke eloquently about our diverse nation and the relevance of the Constitution and the Preamble. He enthralled the audience with inspirational stories and reiterated the need for being resolute in our path to achieve our goals. 
This was followed by other speeches in Hindi, Gujarati and Sanskrit and patriotic poems. The cultural programme included Bangla patriotic song, skit, patriotic mix and orchestra. The danceform of Jhansiwali Rani alongwith awe-inspiring rendition of the same by the students made all bow in allegiance to the brave freedom fighters who laid their lives for the motherland. Finally all assembled bowed to the strains of our national song, Vande Mataram, a perfect tribute to our motherland. Today we are proud of our nation’s achievements and look ahead to a bright future for our country India which has flourished despite adversities to rise victorious.
Hail India! Hail our motherland! Jai Hind!

30^th January is a sad day for our country when one of her true sons, Gandhiji, the father of our nation, was assassinated. This day is also known as Martyr’s Day when we remember all those great souls who gave up their lives for the freedom of the nation.  Children need to be aware that our freedom was not easy and our country lost many brave warriors for the cause. We should not take our freedom for granted and ensure that it goes hand in hand with responsibilities. We should honour and respect our country and strive our best to uphold her dignity. In an attempt to foster respect for the great soul and all others who lost their lives during the freedom struggle, Udgam School observed Martyr’s Day. After the customary 2 minutes of mourning at 11:00 am the students sang the favourite bhajans of Gandhiji. Strains of Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram and Vaishnav jan toh tain kahije rendered the air after the solemn silence. Following this the entire school from Classes 1 to 11 participated in a Drawing Event. The theme was ‘sanitation and cleanliness’ which the school is also actively involved in maintaining. The students were scattered around the building campus and drew inspiration from nature which was evident in their drawings. 

Students of Senior KG section had a grand Fancy Dress Parade. The theme was “States of India” and the variety was charming. Children began with a lovely speech on culture, food, capital of states. All of them dressed up beautifully in traditional garbs of the colourful states of our country and enthralled all with their superb performance. Apart from an event in which they could come all decked up, the children got a good idea about the unity in diversity that is part of the Indian culture. It was a wonderful day for all the children.
Catch a glimpse of the colourful costumes in these pictures.

A computer quiz was conducted for students of Class 2 to familiarise term with terms associated with computers and internet. They were posed questions related to sites, logos, apps and computer parts. The students enjoyed the activity and learnt new terms related to technology.

The Annual Sports Day was held for the students of Senior School. It was a day of events and awards for the students of Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12. Students participated with great enthusiasm in what proved to be a welcome break from academics.
The events held were varied in nature. The meet was declared open and March Past followed. Then the torch was lit to uphold the dignity of sports. The students who were privileged to be the torch bearers were Maana Patel, Swimming Champ, Dhyen Shah, Lawn Tennis National Level player, Vidhi Patel, Athletics Champ and Ayushi Shah, Lawn tennis National Level player. This was followed by a variety of sports events ranging from Races, Hurdles, Sack Race, Shot Putt, Slow Cycle, Gymnastics, Somersaults, Floor Exercises, Tug of War and many more. The highlight of the event was Yoga, which was demonstrated alongwith music and explanation. The winners were awarded medals and certificates.

On 20th December 2014, some students of Class IX were taken on a visit to “Sriram Polymers” and “Milan Agro”. This visit was under the aegis of Gujarat State Plastic Manufacturers Association. This was the next phase of a workshop on recycling of plastic following which students had collected plastic disposables from their homes. This visit was arranged to show them how the plastic waste that they had collected had been put to good use.
At Sriram polymers, students got a knowhow on the process of segregation and the indexing of plastics. They also observed the processes of cleaning, aglo, drying and grinding of the plastics. The final process of melting and heating of the plastics and moulding them into wires and their sizing into granules was very interesting to observe.
The visit to the second factory revealed what the granules formed from the recycled plastics was being used in. The processes in the second factory included: selection of the granules, moulding, assembly, finishing and packaging .The factory visit was followed by a session in which the factory owners, GSPMA officials and all the participants discussed the various aspects of recycling which was followed by a prize distribution ceremony. 
The visit was indeed very enriching, informative and fruitful. 

Just as 2014 was winding up, we had held a Charity Drive in which students had donated blankets and woollens for all age groups. As a new year gesture, senior students were joined in by teachers to distribute these much needed woollens to pavement dwellers and other needy people. The happiness on the face of the recipients was reflected on the face of our students. We are indeed blessed to be in a position to indulge in such acts of charity. Thank you parents for coming forward and making the charity drive successful by your donation of woollens. The huge piles of blankets and woollens are testimony to the fact that humanity lives on.

The students of Classes IV and V were involved in computer projects over the past couple of weeks in which they had to make use of MS Word and MS PowerPoint. The students of Class IV made projects on Reducing, Reusing and Recycling using MS Word. The students of Class V made presentations on Disaster Management using MS PowerPoint. They have been taught various ways of using the facilities of MS Office by their teachers and they used this learning in their projects. Needless to say the end result was par excellence. The objective was to foster awareness about environment and disaster management through projects that children loved to make. In future too the children will be able to make use of their knowledge of MS Office to create projects and presentations.

‘Shopping’ is a word that elicits smiles. Even the younger ones are little shoppers these days and have clear notions about what they need. A visit to the supermarket helps to increase awareness about products and consumerism. Recently the children of Nursery class were taken to Star Bazaar on an outing from school. They were introduced to the different sections of the store and were made aware of the large variety of products available. Of course the confectionary section attracted them the most! They were also shown the different types of fruits and vegetables on display. It was a fruitful trip indeed.

Today will be marked as a golden day in the history of education in Ahmedabad. Udgam School, one of the best schools in the city, completes her Golden Jubilee year! 
50 years ago Udgam School was founded in a small building with only a handful of students. The school flourished with the years and today as we celebrate our 50th anniversary we cannot help but look back at the journey of Udgam over the years. Amidst changes in all possible spheres, what has kept us going and excelling is our Unique Udgam culture. 
Unique Udgam culture doesn't comprise one thing alone. It is a cumulative effect of everything that occurred over the past 50 years. It is a blend of innovation with tradition. It is a combination of age old values and technology. It is the trust that change is the only constant. It is the belief that people come first, be it our teachers, students or parents. It is the faith that a school is not made by walls but by breaking boundaries.
We are indebted to all who contributed to our unique Udgam culture and all who have been associated with Udgam School, past and present.
A celebration was held in our school auditorium which was attended by all teachers, Principal Ms. Radhika Iyer, Director of Primary School Ms.Pratima Patell, Head of Preschool Mrs. Villoo Parikh and Executive Director Mr. Manan Choksi. In an emotionally charged atmosphere the heads and senior teachers spoke about their experience over the past decades focussing mainly on ‘what has remain unchanged in Udgam’. The travel down memory lane was a beautiful experience not without episodes of humour. Mr. Manan Choksi took the audience on a different ride speaking on the 50 years to come.
Here you will find some glimpses of the function.