Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the fee structure?
The fee structure is available to any parents who visit the school. We are proud of our school and we want parents to visit and get a feel for the place before they make decisions based on finances. The fee structure is consistent with many other international schools in India.
2. Is there a bus or transportation system?
Yes, Mount Dios International School owns its own buses and will pick up students in neighbourhoods where there is demand, typically in South Mumbai. The bus services are provided to parents at reasonable cost. We carefully screen drivers and equip buses with all the latest safety equipment, such as rear-view cameras, speed governors, cameras inside the buses, and lady attendants. We prefer that families use the school buses but the bus service is not compulsory. Children in Playgroup and Nursery (2 or 3 years old) will not use the bus service because they are too young and the school timings are different.
3. What is your curriculum?
The Hearth Education Advisors is designing a bespoke curriculum for the Mount Dios Educational Society.
The Hearth has experience and expertise in devising curricula and a variety of syllabus options for school examination boards, as well as bespoke curriculum options for high-performing schools. The focus is on using learning and instructional design to develop learning experiences that drive institutional goals and are centred on the students. The Hearth uses a systematic approach to blend the school’s objectives with the requires of the national curriculum and examination imperatives, through mapping content to learning objectives. The teacher is the focus of instructional activities, while the student is the centre of learning experiences.
The Hearth’s Pre-Primary curriculum is contemporary, progressive and thoroughly researched. The curriculum brings together expert knowledge, flexible worksheets, innovative and detailed lesson plans, planning tools, thorough guidelines for classroom design and management, and relevant contemporary contextualisation for schools that seek to give their young children a strong start. With this curriculum, pre-primary teachers have access to all the information they need, as well as a wealth of ideas and detailed instructions for creating and finding more resources.
The Primary Curriculum builds on the requirements of the national curriculum structures of India and UK. The Hearth’s Primary Curriculum opens a myriad of opportunities for exploration, growth, sharing, relationship building, and skill development in both the children and the teachers. This curriculum guides teachers to develop a strong sense of structure and direction, while maintaining as its foundation the specificity and individuality of a classroom or context. Full plans are given for when a teacher chooses or needs simply to follow one, and they are accompanied by additions and variations to encourage adaptation according to students’ abilities, backgrounds, the local context, and the resources available.
For the Mount Dios Educational Society, as it will be a group of high performing schools, the Hearth is also designing a Framework for Middle Years. At this stage of schooling, the focus must remain close to the requirements of the school examination boards (CBSE and/or CAIE). The Hearth will structure the approach of the school, encompassing the totality of experiences that students will receive through the many activities that will go on in the school, in the classroom, library, laboratory, workshop, playgrounds and in the numerous informal contacts between teachers and students.
4. Is there a deadline in applying for admissions?
No, Mount Dios International School does not have any application deadlines for student admissions. We have a rolling admissions policy, and we will accept applications around the year as long as places are available. Admissions will also be made around the year, subject to vacancies and availability of space in the concerned classes.However, we are a small school with a class limit of 24 students per year group through Grade 5 and 30 students per year group in the Secondary School. We have only one section per year group, and when a year group is full, there are no further admissions. Therefore, it is advisable to take admissions early.
5. Is there an admissions test or a screening process?
We meet with every family who applies to ensure that Mount Dios is a good fit for the child, the family, and the school.
6. Where do your teachers come from?
Our diverse faculty consists of teachers from around the world, with extensive domain knowledge. We strive for quality excellence, therefore, all our faculty members are international curriculum and National Curriculum trained. Our teachers carry an array of international teaching experience, thus giving the much-needed diversity within the educational ecosystem of our school.
7. How will my non-English speaking child manage in the school? Is there support given for ESL/EAL?
We have a dedicated Language department, with special emphasis on English Language proficiency and communication. We bring in experts for our ESL ( English as a second language department) to make sure that students get the perfect foundation for English Language acquisition. Our English Lab goes in sync with the International Curriculmn training modules to support students completely in Grammar, communicative English, writing and reading. We provide additional language help to children who require extra support during the school day. Through a combination of in-class learning and EAL specialised support, we ensure that every student at Mount Dios International School excels in all the spheres to become an independent thinker and learner.
8. Is there a guidance counsellor and nurse on campus?
We have a dedicated infirmary within the school campus with a separate infrastructure for male students and a dedicated medical infrastructure for our female students. We are equipped with all the Morden medical amities and qualified medical staff.
We have guidance counsellors for each grade along with SEN ( special education needs) counsellors. Our counsellors are trained to understand the psychological needs of each and every school child. We aim to create a very transparent and positive ethos within the school campus, where students can openly approach our counsellors for any challenges and issues that they may be facing. The objective behind this endeavour comes from the vision that when the students have a peaceful mind, their learning experiences would yield perfect results and outcomes.
9. How does Mount Dios aid use technology to aid learning?
Mount Dios is a pioneer in EDTECH education. We are a technology school.
All our classrooms are fitted with AI enabled smart boards that take the learning experience to the next level. Our smart boards can record lessons, create interactive story-boards, digital illustrations, mind-maps, visual graphs. We have created the perfect balance where the best practices and outcomes from the Ed-tech world are optimised fully to create a fully immersive learning experience for our students.
10. Are there any provisions for online teaching?
We have a completely digitised time table. Specific softwares are used for each and every subject in order to optimise the learning outcome of every class. Keeping in mind the need of the hour for a Blended learning environment, we have pioneered our own Digital learning policy that uses different apps for different subjects to make sure that the students get the best of learning outcomes while interacting with our teachers online. Our teachers have extensive training in online subject optimization to sustain the quality of online teaching and learning.
Questions?
We’ve provided answers to some of the most commonly asked questions. If you don’t find an answer to your question here, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly.
About Us
Mount Dios International School, Visakhapatnam. An exquisite model built on partnership with Vibrant Visakhapatnam that can change the way education is perceived in this part of India. An exquisite model built on responsibility and in partnership with a state as vibrant as Visakhapatnam that can change the way education is perceived in this part of India….