If the sight of children walking with sticks on the playground startled visitors to the New Town campus of St. Joan’s School on a recent Saturday morning, the explanation was at hand. It was the school’s sports day and the children were taking part in the “Granny Race”.

This was one of the events lined up for the winter day. Soon another set of kids was at the starting line, dressed in green. In a nod to the environment, it was the Green Race they were taking part in. This was followed by “Bursting the Balloons”, where participants raced to pop balloons. There was also Ring the Cones which was a test of throwing prowess.

The relay race was one of the more competitive events, where students worked in teams and passed batons to their teammates. So was the obstacle race, which tested students’ agility and endurance.

The parents, who had gathered in good numbers to watch their children in action, were not left out either. A musical chair competition took place, in which the mothers of students participated. The non-teaching staff of the school took part in the lemon-and-spoon race. There were also drills, yoga and dance performance.

This was just the second year of the New Town campus of the school, that had been founded in Salt Lake as a kindergarten in 1987 and commenced classes as a higher secondary school in 1997. The New Town branch currently has students till Class II. In the course of her speech, founder-principal Debjani Ghosh shared plans of expanding classes. She also spoke of the school’s efforts in including robotics and Mandarin language programmes as part of its curriculum.

Qin Yong, the deputy consul general of the Salt Lake-based Chinese consulate general, was the chief guest on the occasion. He commended the school for integrating physical education with academic learning. “It’s wonderful to be here and see such active young ones who are so enthusiastic. I am really enjoying the vibrant atmosphere of this event. The school has truly put in immense efforts to organise this event so intricately,” he said.

The event also featured a number of other prominent guests. Indira Chakraborty, a public health specialist and a Padmashri awardee, spoke on the role of physical activity in promoting overall health.

Former East Bengal players Bikash Panji and Sumit Mukherjee spoke about the value of sports in shaping discipline. Rev. Sr. Pascal and Rev. Sr. Georgina from Lavinia House and Neville McNamara, former principal of St. Joseph’s School, Bowbazar, were also present as were Bidhannagar mayor Krishna Chakraborty, members of the mayoral council Rahima Bibi Mondal and Tulsi Sinha Roy, and MLA of Rajarhat New Town
Tapash Chatterjee.

The guests were felicitated by the students and the principal presented them with a potted plant each.

In the welcome speech, vice-principal Lucia Gupta mentioned how sports and games were an integral part of the education process, building up one’s personality, and teaching the importance of discipline in life. She also mentioned how sports help children develop confidence, team spirit and inculcate in them a desire to learn new skills.

Atharva Jaiswal, a kindergarten student who was a participant in the Green Race, shared: “I was looking forward to Sports Day. Also, this was the first time that I stood on the podium and faced such a large gathering. I really enjoyed the event.”

The event concluded with the school song being sung by Mayurakshi Mandal, a student of KG, which was followed by the national anthem.