EXTRA & CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Montech Fest ’07

Montfort organized an exhibition “The Montech Fest ’07” in the campus on three days, 16th, 17th and 19th November 2007. Children from Standards VI to IX participated in this exhibition. There were exhibits explaining the working of various devices and operations like fire alarm, windmill, metal detector, and many more. The project included exhibits on language skills and on the subjects History and Geography. There were also exhibits that explained social issues like child rights and women’s rights.

The exhibition made learning fascinating that would otherwise seem uninteresting and mundane. It helped students to come up with innovative ideas that took the form of exhibits.

Golf

Golf, a noble sport is incorporated in the Physical Education Classes. Mrs. Muriel Thomson, PGA Professional from the Portlethen Golf Club, Aberdeen, has volunteered to teach the children this noble sport and has also very generously gifted a number of golf kits to the school. She has also arranged for coaches from the IGC to train the children. An added advantage is that the school is located opposite a golf course that belongs to the army and the authorities have granted permission for the students to make use of it. Students were taken class-wise and taught the basic strokes in golf. The students with the aptitude for golfing were identified and selected for further training in the following years.

While learning Golf, children also learn calculation and precision. They also learn that sports are common for all and no sport is meant only for one particular class or group of the society.

Cricket

Cricket has been an established team sport for hundreds of years and is thought to be the second most popular sport in the world. More than 100 countries are affiliated to the International Cricket Council, cricket's international governing body. The sport's modern form originated in England, and is most popular in the present and former members of the Commonwealth including India.

Here at Montfort the sport is followed with a passion among the children.
By participating in this team sport, students develop the concept of community. The sport also promotes individual mental, social, physical and spiritual growth and development. They understand that the concepts of team spirit and sportsmanship cannot be over-valued. It is through these ideals that meaningful participation in community becomes possible for a child.

Martial Arts

To be strong, one needs to have physical fitness coupled with courage and determination and we at Montfort believe that Martial arts are a way of achieving invincibility.

Martial arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. Martial arts are studied for various reasons, broadly speaking, the objectives are: to defeat a person physically or to defend oneself from physical threat, they are also linked to spiritual or religious beliefs or philosophies having their own spiritual code of honour.

At Montfort, children learn ancient forms of Martial Arts like Silambam, Double Stick fight, Kusthi, Madu fight, Karate, Num jack, Triple jack, Kalari Vandanam, Samurai Sword fight, Spear fight, Surul fight, etc. While each style has unique facets that make it different from other martial arts, a common characteristic is the systemization of fighting techniques.

Through Martial Arts children learn to be alert at all times. They also learn self-defense.

Dance

Dance normally refers to rhythmic movement of the body to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting. Dance is also used to describe methods of non-verbal communication and perhaps man harmonizes with nature and other living things on earth through dance. In sports, gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines while martial arts kata are often compared to dances.

Here at Montfort children learn that the definition dance is dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic, artistic and moral constraints and ranges from functional movement to virtuoso techniques. Children dance for mere participatory satisfaction. They also give social, ceremonial and competitive performances. At Montfort children are also given the opportunity to choreograph dances and they are encouraged by giving them awards.

Through their dance movements, children learn to complement nature. They learn to appreciate the rich cultural value of each place a dance style originated from including classical and contemporary dance forms.

Summer Camps

A two-day summer camp was held for the scouts and guides, cubs and bulbuls of the school on 4th & 5th April 2008. A formal inauguration programme was organized. The Scout and Guide flag was hoisted. The programme started with prayer, followed by a tableau on the aims and objective of scouting.

On the first day children learnt about the founder of the Scout Movement, Lord Baden Powell, the objective and principles of guiding and scouting. During the camp children learnt the various knots, lashings and traditional scout games.

The second day was very exciting. Children learnt to put up tents. At the end of the session children were awarded with prizes and invested with their scarves.

The camp contributed to the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials as individuals. Children will grow up as responsible citizens and members of their local, national and international communities.

Apart from Scouts and Guides camp, coaching classes were conducted for Dance, Cricket, Badminton, Chess and Athletics. A computer crash course in Flash was also held.

Through this summer camp children gained a wholesome benefit of improving their skills in extra-curricular activities and also building inter-personal relationships, making the best use of their summer vacation.