Ignite is a national competition for school pupils up to XII standard. Original technological ideas and innovations are submitted for judgement by a panel of experts. The competition is organised by the National Innovation Foundation of India in partnership with the CBSE and SRISTI  together with a number of State Educational Boards.

For the 2013 competition every state in India and the union territories had pupils who submitted ideas: 20,836 entries in all. From this huge total the panel of experts selected just 38 for awards and one of these was from Jayendra pupil A. Gautham Praveen of XI Standard. He had submitted a design and prototype of a device for removing and replacing light bulbs in difficult to reach sockets.

He will be presented with his award on 19th November  in Ahmedabad where there will be a an exhibition of all the winning projects.

The NIF will patent each idea in the name of the pupil who created it and engage designers and fabricators to develop prototypes.

It gives us great pleasure and satisfaction to know that we have in the School pupils who are creative and innovative thinkers which is something we try to nurture. Well done Gautham!

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The week beginning 7th October  was celebrated as ‘Space Week’ by the Indian Space Research Organisation. To mark the occasion I.S.R.O. Mahendragiri conducted a Quiz competition for schools on the theme “Exploring Earth” at the District Science Centre in Tirunelveli.

Twenty schools participated of which five were selected for final. Jayendra pupils Ayush Singh and Balaji of IX Standard won through to the final round and eventually achieved second prize. They won special plaudits from the I.S.R.O. scientists for their splendid performance and were rewarded with a cash coupon for Rs.500/-. to be spent on buying books.

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For the festival of Navarathi which starts on the New Moon (or ‘no moon’ as Indians describe it) people make a ‘kolu’ in their homes: they build a series of steps which are covered in cloth, colourfully decorated and used to display idols and religious items. Some are very impressive and beautifully done. It is great fun to visit each other’s homes to appreciate each kolu and perhaps do some chanting and enjoy a social chat with some seasonal snacks.

 Vijaya Dashami (‘victory day’) is the tenth day and marks the end of Navarathi. It is a very auspicious day for starting new projects and traditionally it is used to introduce small children to the world of reading and writing. Akshara Abhiyasam (literally ‘letters practice’) is a ceremony performed at the School on this day for the children who will join the LKG in the next term.

 This year the ceremony was on 14 October. Parents and grandparent proudly brought their remarkably small children to take the first steps in their schooling. The children were enrolled in the school and, after the traditional pooja, each went onto the stage in the Priory Conference Centre where the priest guided the child’s had to write their name and  “Om Hari Om” in rice spread on a large brass plate. The School choir rendered bhajans throughout and all adults present found the ceremony delightful even if the children were mystified by it all.

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A new T20 interschool cricket tournament has been introduced sponsored by India Cements Limited and GULF  Sixteen schools from Tirunelveli district competed in the first round knock-out competition between 3rd and 7th of September. Sri Jayendra stormed through to victory in the final against Sankar School and were presented with the trophy by Mr. Subramaniam Badrinath, who plays cricket for India, the Chennai Super Kings and captains Tamil Nadu.

The victory was comprehensive: Jayendra won the final by a margin of 70 runs with 9.4 overs to spare.

Most of the damage was inflicted by Saiprasath (XII Standard) who bagged 5 wickets including a hat trick for the loss of only 3 runs, a performance which clearly demoralised the Sankar team.

Jayendra will now face the winning schools from other districts and if successful at this level they will travel to New Zealand to play as ambassadors for the Chennai Super Kings.

The management, staff and students congratulate the team and the coach Mr. Raja Sekar for their excellent performance and wish them  the very best of luck in the next round.

Special praise is due to three key players:

• Man of the final – Sai Prasath (XII Standard)
• Best All rounder of the Tournament – Rahul (XII Standard)
• Best of Player of the Tournament – Surya (XII Standard)

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On September 5^th our Principal Mrs. Usha Raman, was honoured with the Best Teacher Award (Kalvi Semmal Award) by the Tamil Nadu Education Research Development Organisation.

The award recognises the leadership and dedication she has demonstrated in raising  Sri Jayendra School to such great heights and the immense contribution this has made to society.

At a ceremony in Chennai the award was conferred by Ex High Court Judge Mr. Jothimani.

Other dignitaries present included  Director S.P.Muthuraman, Dr.Rajmohan and Mr.Murali

 After the ceremony the awardees visited the house of Dr. S.Radhakrishnan the great philosopher and educationalist  who was the second President of India..

Later back at Sri Jayendra the staff and pupils congratulated and felicitated their beloved Principal with a small get-together where all expressed the view that the pupils thrive academically and teachers grow professionally because of her.

Mrs Usha Raman said she felt very honoured and humbled by the award and the praise given to her.

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To felicitate, celebrate and perform a concert in the presence of the composer himself is one of the rarest pleasures that a musician can experience and that came true for Dr. Sunder and his ensemble when they performed Thanjavur Sankara Iyer’s compositions in his presence on the 1^st of September in the Priory Conference Centre.  .

Dr. Sunder as the Convener of Music Forum took the initiative in organizing this unique program at Sri Jayendra to honour the living legend. Top ranking musicians, Dr. Sunder, Sri. Sriram Parasuram, Sri. Chitravina Ravikiran, Sri.V.V.Srinivasa Rao and  Umayalpuram Sri. Mali, who are closely associated with Sri.Sankara Iyer came to Tirunelveli, where the nonagenarian stalwart is convalescing at his nephew’s house, and offered their pranams in the form of music compositions they had learnt from him.

Sri. Sankara Iyer, though so fragile, greeted them all with much energy, his face wreathed in smiles: his happiness knew no bounds. He was carried on to the stage where he stayed throughout the concert, over five hours, despite his ill health.

His musical memory was perfect: with the utmost ease he went sixty years down memory lane recollecting and sharing many of his precious moments with the doyens of the past. He laughed, he cried, and enjoyed everything that was happening on stage. It was as if he became part the music as it was performed.

The program concluded with one of his disciple Valivalam Venkatraman rendering three of his songs.

 He was moved to tears at the end and kept blessing the players.

The hall was packed with admirers of the composer, some of whom had even come from abroad:  all enjoyed the occasion immensely and appreciated the efforts of the Sri Jayendra team which included Mrs. Usha Raman and Mrs. Nirmal who created the perfect ambience and provided wonderful hospitality.

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PURANAVA is an inter-district Indian Heritage Quiz Competition, an initiative which was started three years ago and is now held annually.

This year the event was organized in 9 zones from 5 districts; Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, Virudhunagar and Madurai.

Our school was represented by Ramswarna Priyan and Sri Siva Murugan.

They won the preliminary rounds with confidence, thus becoming one of the 18 teams qualifying for the semi-finals held in Tuticorin on 7th September.

Our team excelled themselves in the semi-finals by attaining the maximum score to qualify as one of the eight teams in the final round. The finals were hotly contested and we eventually finished just five points behind the winners taking second place for the second consecutive year. Our two team members deserve the highest praise: they put in a magnificent performance and can take pride in their achievement.

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Raksha Bandhan is a festival which strengthens the bond of love and protection that exists between brothers and sisters and other close relatives. A girl ties a sacred Rakhi thread round her brother’s wrist to ensure a life of prosperity for him and he promises to protect her from all life’s problems. This year the day was celebrated in Sri Jayendra School on 21st August.

The captains of various groups of XI standard organized the celebration.

The programme started with the projection of famous quotes relating to Raksha Bandhan. This was followed by a skit performed by XI standard students. Then captains of the boys groups stood on the stage and the girls group captains tied ‘Rakhi’ to their wrists in the traditional manner. In this way we hope to encourage the boys and girls in the School to regard each other like brothers and sisters and to show affection and helpfulness as siblings would.

The School bulletin boards had displays explaining the origin and historical significance of Raksha Bandhan.

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“Arise, Awake and stop not till your goal is reached”.

 The Ratha Yathra or Festival of Chariots involves chariots carrying deities moving through the streets from temple to temple.

This year we were honoured that our school was included in the route of the Ratha’s visit as it carried the statue of Swami Vivekananda.

Kauala Nanda Chief of the Ramakrishna Mutt of Kolkatta and many other members of the Mutt accompanied the Ratha.  Swamy Kauala Nanda spoke on the greatness of Swami Vivekananda quoting incidents from his life.

Our Principal Mrs. Usha Raman presented shawls for the Swamijis before the Ratha left for Nellai.

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Puranava is an interschool Indian Heritage Quiz based on the famous Hindu epic Ramayana. Started by the Global Organisation of Divinity (GOD) it is open to children aged from 10 to 16.

The zonal level round was conducted  for the second time for schools from Tirunelveli on August 8th and around 12 schools participated.

The quiz has ten rounds: an exciting and entertaining mix of direct rounds, rapid fire questions, recitation etc.  often with easy & tough options to multiply points.

Our students Ram Swarnapriyan (VIII Std) and Sri Siva Murugan (VII Std) participated enthusiastically, answered all the questions and won first place with an unbeaten score of 195 points. An outstanding performance.

The Puranava 2013 Finals will be in first week of September.

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