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Thirty nine eager new staff began their new lives at Woodstock. Two of them had been professional actresses. Four families had children adopted from overseas: an American family with daughters from China, an Australian family children from Colombia; a Swedish family with children from India who only spoke Swedish, and an Indian family with a daughter born in Malaysia. Our mosaic of cultural diversity kept growing!

One hundred new students also joined Woodstock this year and the excited students and parents crowded into the gym for orientation.

August

To coincide with Indian (and Korean) Independence days, the annual Indian Cultural Festival welcomed Shagun Butani and her dance troupe who performed Chhau and Odissi classical dances to an appreciative school audience. Australian children's' author, Jane Jolly, paid her first visit to Woodstock. Jane, author of Limpopo Lullaby, Glass Tears and Ali the Bold Heart, held readings and visited classes and was inspired to write a new book by our resident monkey population.

Independence Day was celebrated with a 'Bollywood" evening led by Danz'n'Buzz, a professional dance troupe who visited Woodstock as Artists in Residence at the Winterline Centre for the Arts at Woodstock School. Students from grades 1-12 shook their hips in the gym to the strains of the latest Bollywood hits.

The school community was shaken by the tragic news of the murder of Dan Terry, '65 and parent, and Tom Little, parent, who were part of a medical relief team that was ambushed and killed in Afghanistan. These two men risked their lives for decades to bring medical aid to remote communities in Afghanistan. The WOSA mourned their passing and hundreds of emails, online messages and tributes which were shared with surviving family members.

September

Margaret 'Midge' Loehlin Schafer '56 and Ashoke Chatterjee '51 were recognised as members of the Distinguished Alumni Roll in a ceremony in Parker Hall. Woodstock celebrated the accomplishments of these two alumni, and students were inspired by their personal accounts of their contributions to social welfare, education, design and development.

As the monsoon deluges continued, the Woodstock girls swimming team brightened up a dismal month by blitzing the pool at Wynberg Allen School. The team came first overall beating the other teams and bringing home the cup. Woodstock's swimming team was reconstituted after decades thanks to the opening of a refurbished swimming pool at the renovated and restored Hostel, which opened for boys earlier in the year.

The cross country team got almost as wet when three attempts to host the inter-school cross country meet at the top of the hill failed. Finally on September 21 Woodstock students race against Wynberg Allen, Waverley Convent, St George's College and Oak Grove School. Izaiah Vignali, Grade 5, broke the record for the sub-junior boys by crossing the winning line in 15.01 minutes.

In September we also inaugurated the Development Associate Program, where select students were offered internships in the Development Office. Twelve young Associates began working shoulder-to-shoulder with Development Office staff in the areas of journalism, photography, photo-editing, fundraising and alumni relations.

October

Once the rains petered out, some classes in the Junior School stopped by the Turner Organic Garden to create planting beds, clear weeds and plant produce. Based on the principle that kids that are involved in planting vegetables are more inclined to eat them, the Turner Organic Garden sells its produce weekly in the Quad.

We welcomed a team from the Rashtriya Life Saving Association, who worked with our staff and students to execute a pool audit for the new swimming pool. Eleven members of our residence team completed a 45-hour course and were certified as lifeguards, trained in the use of CPR, first aid, oxygen, water rescues and identifying and helping spinal injuries. This training got our magnificent pool off to a great start.

October also saw 161 students in our Senior School sit for PSAT and SAT tests administered by the US College Board, an aptitude test used widely for admissions to American colleges.

We said farewell to two very popular student teachers from St Olaf's College in Minnesota, USA, Sarah Onstad and Elizabeth Knapp. At the completion of her three month stint at Woodstock, Sarah commented "The school's philosophy on education and teaching has caused us to look at how we think, and now, after three months, we have learnt so much and done a lot more thinking here than at home. Woodstock opens up your mind and challenges your ideas". Well done girls and good luck, we hope to see you back here at Woodstock one day.

The third Mussoorie International Writers Festival was attended by writers, editors and book lovers over the course of four days with more than twenty-five authors and artists presenting talks, readings, exhibitions and performances.

October also saw Activity Week begin with the usual excitement. Students travelled to Goa, Rishikesh, Dharamshala and other educational destinations, as well as staying in local villages and hiking the Garhwali hills.

November

J Gabriel Campbell, '65 was added to the Distinguished Alumni Roll in the presence of his class mates at a ceremony in Parker Hall on November 18, for achievements in ecology sustainability and grassroots environmental awareness. Dr. Campbell has spent almost his entire life in the Himalaya after being born at Landour Community Hospital; he now lives and works in Nepal.

We were delighted to hear that Dr. Tom Little, former Woodstock parent, was to be posthumously awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Little led the ten-member team that was brutally murdered in Afghanistan. The Medal of Freedom is the United States' highest civilian honour. President Obama described Dr. Little as "a humanitarian in the truest sense of the word".

Our lives were made even more pleasant and full of music this month with the visit of Vance George, Grammy award winner, celebrated choral director and former Woodstock staff member. Vance visited Woodstock for three weeks as a Winterline Centre for the Arts Artist-in-Residence. Vance first taught at Woodstock fifty years ago, in the late 1950's, and his inspiring and fun presence on campus, working closely with the music department , made our lives brighter. Rehearsals for the Fall concerts, the Christmas concert and the Advanced orchestra all benefited from his expertise.

In a very busy month, Woodstock's long awaited production of Rudyard Kipling's Just so Stories opened on the last Friday of the month to a capacity audience. Six students from the Advanced Drama class edited and created new twists from the original stories and prepared them for the stage.

November is also when the Woodstock community celebrates the employees that do so much for all of us. Mr. Dana Crider explained why Woodstock celebrates Employee's Day annually: "The biggest importance of celebrating it is to give us a chance to see what is missed if the employees are not here. We all take a lot of things for granted, especially employees who work day in and day out on our behalf". The employees enjoyed a special sports day in a tradition that was initiated 38 years ago by Mr. Tom Alter '69 and Mrs. Saroj Kapadia, former Hindi teacher and Alumni Secretary.

Basketball was also the talk of Woodstock as Woodstock senior basketball team beat the American Embassy School (AES) on their home turf in Delhi at the beginning of our season.

December

We began December with the great news that sixty four students sat the Associated Board of Royal Schools for Music (based in London but running examinations in over 90 countries) exams with an outstanding overall success rate of 92%.

We also counted down to Christmas with the traditional Junior School morning presentations, culminating in the Santa Breakfast. The quad dining room was decorated with hundreds of fairy lights and guests were served by Grade 6 'elves'. A hot breakfast warmed everyone and Christmas carols were sung with gusto. We also surveyed all the staff to see where they were going to spend Christmas and how they would celebrate it. Family and warmer climates were the winners, of course!

February

Staff packed away their summer clothes and wrapped up warmly for a snowy start to the school year. We were warmed by the news that Woodstock School had been named among the Top 10 International Residential Schools of the world by AsianCorrespondent.com, a news service owned by Hybrid News Limited in the UK.

SAT results were disclosed and a proud Head of Senior School, Andrew Plonka said: "Of particular note was the number of students who scored in the top 75-99 percentile worldwide, with well over half our test takers falling into the top quarter. The best news for this year's students is their writing score, which is Woodstock's best result in the six years that the SAT has included this subject."

March

Distinguished Alumna Marty Alter Chen'60 received a Padma Shree for her work in areas of employment, poverty and gender in India under the discipline of social work. The Padma Shree is among India's highest civilian honours and is awarded for distinguished service in a specialised field.

Another award was to Shonila Chander, head of the Social Studies department, for her exemplary contribution to the career guidance series for students at Woodstock. The ICS Silver Jubilee memento was presented to Ms. Chander at an assembly in Parker Hall.

Thomas Chandy, President of the Board of Directors, announced the successful completion of a thorough and inclusive principal search process and the appointment of Dr. Jonathan Long as the Principal of Woodstock from December 1, 2011. The Board also was delighted to announce that Dr. Eleanor Nicholson would serve as Interim Principal from June to December 2011.

The Hawaiian team from New Hope Diamond Head in Oahu visited again to lead the senior school retreat. Development Associate Makani Nakasone attended and declared that the students over a short twenty-eight hour period felt more connected to each other, more in touch with God and more in touch with themselves as individuals.

In a month of awards Hanifl Centre received their own. The Confederation of Indian Industry Environmental Award for the Uttarakhand region was presented to the Centre for Outdoor Environmental Education. Some of the Hanifl Centre activities and programmes for which the award was given were the Gap Semester in the Himalaya, the Turner Organic Garden and the Fleming Nature Trail, as well as the Mussoorie Writers' Festival with themes such as 'Writing About Nature' and 'Mountain Literature'.

April

We celebrated Easter as the beautiful weather returned to the mountain. In the subdued lighting of the Win Mumby gymnasium, Woodstock gathered together to celebrate Easter Sunday. Head of Science Ray Husthwaite, dressed as a Celtic monk, narrated the "back story" of Easter, beginning with creation and the fall of man spanning the centuries to the Cross and Resurrection. Congregational, choral and solo songs punctuated the story.

Hot on the heels of Easter was International Day, held in the gym due to inclement weather. Woodstock girls in beautiful costumes vied with a stars and stripes cake and displays and entertainment food from around the world.

The second offering from the Drama department for the 2010-2011 school year was a clever production of Check Please. The story revolves around finding relationships, blind dating and speed dating. Potential romances were presented one after the other on stage in rapid fire timing, keeping the large crowd entertained.

The Win Mumby Basketball tournament takes over Woodstock entirely for one week in April, from the 'pep' rally to the huge crowds at each match. This was the 11th annual tournament, and we celebrated our new Win Mumby gym with a victory: it had taken six long years, but Woodstock boys beat the Modern School in the final. The boys beat every team they played in the run up to the finals by double digits; however, the final game was tight and exciting. Bring on next year!

Woodstock was joined by five other schools for its 7th annual Model UN conference, held on April 6. As the name suggests, these conferences model the working of the United Nations; different councils meet to discuss international issues. Students enjoyed the two day conference that tested their critical thinking and enabled them to consider how to deal with real world issues in an effective manner.

The City Board of Mussoorie honoured Rev. Robert 'Bob' Alter on April 26 at his home in Mussoorie, Oakville. Tom Alter described his father as Woodstock graduate, staff member, parent, principal, friend, confidant, guru, comrade, missionary, padre, legend. For April stories in full

May

A summer evening of jazz. Woodstock's Jazz Band, under the baton of Ms. Megan Hagberg, practised solidly for three months to perform for a packed quad at the annual Jazz Jam. The band performed numbers by artists including Stevie Wonder, Joe Garland and Herbie Hancock. The standout performance was Feeling Good by Nina Simone.

Music continued with the Indian Music concert held in Parker Hall. Billed as a fusion of east meets west, Mr. Aloke Maiti and his students melded tradition with innovation. Although usually a showcase of exemplary music students, this year students were from different levels of learning.

Student Council (STUCO) elections saw democracy in action also this month. Students had to vote twice for the boy's representative when the first election resulted in a tie. Yangla Lama and Shivamkar Misra were finally elected.

In the scorching heat of the afternoon sun on May 15t,h the 2011 WOSA Tea was held in the Quad. This was the day that members of the graduating Class of 2011 joined WOSA. As this was the celebration of the 100th WOSA tea it was a very special one indeed. Welcome, Luminescence, to the global Woodstock society!

Rupak Roy '73 opened an exhibition of his paintings at Hanifl Centre. This was the final event for the semester for the Winterline Centre for the Arts.

June

As the year raced to an end, the Baccalaureate ceremony was held for the first time in many years at St Paul's Church, Char Dukan. The students, attired in national dress, listened to Dale Seefeldt '64 and former staff member, who addressed them in both Hindi and English. The sun shone, the lawns were green and there were copious amounts of food and soft drinks. A wonderful afternoon, blessed by God.

Graduation. Time to witness Luminescence's transition from Woodstock family to the beginning of the new journey in their life. Looking sensational in suits and saris and in a beautifully decorated gymnasium, the "jeans and T-shirt" seniors had suddenly grown up.

As the school year ended we said goodbye to several staff, and to one particular long serving couple. Sue Swanson '67 and her husband Ron arrived in Woodstock in 2003, and this month returned to retire in the US. Sue in her role of Senior School Librarian and Ron in his role as Registrar will be sadly missed after a wonderful eight years.