My Good School, Sunday 29th June 2025

YES Workshop with Shikha Agnihotri of Right Side Story

Discussion on puberty, growing up, and adolescence with high school students, led by Shikha Agnihotri from Right Side Story.

Key Takeaways

• Puberty involves both physical and emotional changes that are beyond one's control; understanding these changes helps normalise the experience ("puberty is not a race")

• Students shared insights on mood swings, emotional changes, and physical transformations during puberty, demonstrating awareness but also misconceptions

• The session emphasised communication as a crucial strategy for managing challenging emotions and relationships during adolescence

• Gender differences during puberty were discussed, including societal expectations and biological variations, with an emphasis on respect for all genders

Topics

Understanding Puberty and Growth

• Puberty is defined as a "software update" in the mind and body, signalling the transition from childhood.

• Students recognised that puberty is influenced by genetics and occurs at different ages for different people.

• Physical changes discussed included body odour, voice changes such as the Adam's apple in boys, and muscle development.

• Brain "rewiring" during puberty leads to feelings of independence and new emotional experiences.

• Girls and boys experience different physical changes, but both face hormonal shifts (testosterone vs. estrogen)

Emotional Changes During Puberty

• Students identified negative emotions experienced: anxiety, jealousy, frustration, irritation, depression.

• Positive emotions noted: happiness from recognition, validation, success, and achievement.

• Discussion of mood swings affecting both genders, not just girls, as commonly believed

• Students expressed challenges with controlling emotions during puberty

• Shikha emphasised that emotions during puberty are often temporary but intense, requiring patience

Friendship and Relationships During Adolescence

• Students debated whether friendship affects puberty or puberty affects friendship

• Trust issues in friendships were highlighted as a challenge during puberty

• Advice given: when hurt by friends, communicate within 24 hours rather than avoiding the issue

• Self-inflicted independence during puberty can strain relationships with parents and authority figures

• Importance of finding trusted adults to discuss difficult decisions emphasised

Self-Image and Body Awareness

• Students noted increased focus on appearance during puberty (clothes, hygiene, physical features)

• Discussion about boys becoming more conscious about their physical appearance (muscles, height)

• Girls discussed increased attention to skincare, makeup, and fashion choices

• The importance of hygiene is emphasised, especially regarding body odour, which increases during puberty

• Both genders experience increased self-consciousness and concern about how others perceive them

Reading Session: Animal Behaviour and Taste with Brinda Ghosh

• The second half of the meeting featured a reading from "The Inner Life of Animals" focusing on taste in animals

• Discussed how animals have different taste preferences than humans (example: crows eating seeds from horse excrement)

• Explored how taste is adapted to different species' needs and evolutionary history

• Reading skills were emphasised, including proper use of punctuation and expression while reading

• Importance of regular reading beyond textbooks (15-20 minutes daily) was encouraged

Next Steps

• Shikha proposed separate follow-up sessions for boys and girls to discuss puberty more openly

• Future session on pronunciation and reading skills to be conducted by Brinda

• After completing the current book, the group will read Gerald Durrell's works about animals

• Students are encouraged to practice communication skills when dealing with emotional challenges

• Students advised to develop reading habits beyond textbooks (15-20 minutes daily)

Advice From An Owl - Rishona Chopra

Hello, my dear friends! I am an owl. Through all these years, I have been sitting right outside your window, looking and observing you. My family is out there, hearing each of your foolish conversations and looking out for those creative inventions of yours. Speaking of inventions, I must say, your inventions clearly show your witty evil brain. First, it was those nets and then it was those obnoxious guns. Why, do you have nothing better to do than to kill us?

Moving on, as I told you I have noticed you and I believe it's time I give you some inputs. First off, you humans speak too much. It is much better to listen trust me. Wherever you go, you keep talking; half of it is absolute nonsense. And even if you talk, you forget to hear. Many of you just hear the other person and don't really listen. You just stay quiet waiting for your turn to talk and running through your mind what you're going to say. My! That is quite disrespectful, isn't it! 

Second of all, you have made your life quite difficult. All you do is practically sleep all day. Nothing like what we do! You have robots doing your work, the autocorrect correcting your spellings and online dictionaries to tell you the meaning. And don't even get me started on your means of entertainment. Our owl community presents an entire dance for entertainment and all you do is just turn on your television and watch some overly dramatic shows on it. How many of you, go to watch classical dances for entertainment or have a cosy family night playing charades and cards? 

Television is quite fascinating, I must say. I also watch it from your balcony when the curtains are open but it's important to spend time with your family doing something fun together. 

Last but not least, you should always be prepared. Most of you are not prepared for change. Here's one owl rule you must know - Always be alert for your predator. And your predator is almighty change. It is something some of you never adapt to but remember change in constant and if there is no change life would be rather dull and boring!

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

What is peer pressure and how can we deal with it? - Tenzin Nyesel

Generally, everyone has a circle of peers with whom they are comfortable talking and sharing things. But sometimes the circle you are in might not have the people with whom you are meant.

Sometimes, the people in our circle pressure us to do the work they demand, which might need to be corrected. When our peers give orders instead of advice, it leads us on the wrong path and makes us do bad things; that’s when we go through peer pressure. 

Peer pressure affects us not only physically but also mentally. Due to this, many people of young age get spoiled physically and mentally. They lose their concentration power. It decreases self-confidence and self-worth. Also, distances us from our family members and friends.

Tenzin Nyesel
Pestalozzi Children's Village India

Amazing Hostel Life - Linisha Agarwal

 Hostel life gives the flexibility to fly within as well as outside in the open and seek knowledge from all dimensions. This life brings out the best in you and offers extremely valuable memories forever. Not all memories are pleasant, a few of them are unquestionably terrible; however, most of them are beautiful and priceless. 

During the hostel stay, students learn to live with different types of people, and hostel life also increases their level of patience. It prepares them to easily accept practical challenges in life. The students learn many things within the hostel. Students help and assist one another in the hour of need and become lifelong friends and are ready to endure any kind of hardship with each other and for one another.  

Furthermore, in a hostel, the individuals learn to become independent. Within the hostel, students should sleep in keeping with the rules of the hostel. They have to return to life on time, work on time, have food on time, study on time, in short, follow a disciplined life. This helps in maintaining discipline in their lifestyles. 

In a hostel, the students learn to do things on their own and not rely on their parents. They learn to be independent. School children staying in hostels are guided by a group of adults like wardens and teachers; a system like that of a joint or extended family. Hostel life makes the student’s life regular and systematic. Life in a hostel instills confidence in students and makes them responsible. This develops their personality. They learn to face problems in life without feeling the pressure and even if they feel the pressure they know how to handle it. In turn, they learn to be self-disciplined, regular, and punctual. 

Another major advantage of a boarding life is that it develops respect for other religions and cultures and talks about inclusion in all walks of hostel life. Students learn to help and cooperate with one another. They learn social etiquette and lead a more robust and disciplined life. Hostel life thus helps them to develop many good qualities and makes the students good citizens. 

I would say that living in the hostel is very conducive to a healthy lifestyle. The atmosphere is quite congenial for studies and suitable for the qualities of domestic life like co-operation, fellowship, and self–managing affairs. If a student takes it seriously, he can develop all qualities of an honest citizen.

1. Lifelong connections-I don’t care about the cleanliness of the hostel or whether the Wi-Fi connection works or not, what I care about most is the connections and friends you create inside. You’ll find all forms of amazing folks that won’t allow you to feel homesick or lonely.

2. Free advice -One thing you may find in every hostel you stay in. That is a free advice. There's always an admirer who is willing to assist you out with the weirdest of questions you've got.

3. Opportunities-You are allowed to travel around exploring numerous fields that you simply have not explored before, in new places among new people. You get to open up many new doors 

4. Time management Whether you’d shine at any other thing or not, managing time will be a sure shot. From the gossip or laughter or giggle or crying sessions with friends and running between other kinds of activities that you are required to try during a hostel, you learn to manage your time very well. 

5. Independence and freedom-Independence is something that almost all people barely get a chance to learn while they are staying at home. But in a hostel, you're in control of everything from getting up in the morning, to having meals, to washing clothes and every other thing. Hostel life gives the flexibility to fly within the open and seek stuff you couldn’t pursue otherwise.

6. Experience and Exposure When you move out of your home into a hostel you actually soak up a good deal of things, specifically, making new friends, adjusting to an entirely new environment, doing things on your own, taking initiatives, and living with freedom. Experience comes with time, from the problems, distress, frustration, and heartbreaks. A student who lives in a hostel is free from ordinary anxieties and cares. We can concentrate fully on our studies. Besides, we can take part in social activities and can learn many virtues from our senior students and adults around us.

We can also increase our knowledge and do away with our weaknesses. Thus, we become mannerly, polished, and cultured. Our shyness fades always. We learn to talk fluently and express our ideas. It's because we are living together with various kinds of scholars. We learn the way to behave in society. We acquire personal manners and, becomes a disciplined person and a good citizen.

- Linisha Agarwal, Class VII, The Doon Girls’ School