Middle Years Curriculum Overview

At Mount Dios International School we have developed an explicit international curriculum. With skilfully crafted text books, elaborate teaching plans and scientific assessment patterns, our curriculum is designed to equip every student with the 21st century skills

The aim of our specially crafted middle school curriculum is to develop internationally minded people, who would help to create a better and more peaceful world. We strive to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who shall help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

Through our international curriculum, we ensure that our students acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. Through this, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines. They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognise and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.

As communication is an essential skill to succeed, we have laid special emphasis on making our students efficient communicators through our pragmatic curriculum. We make sure that they understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.

Through our international curriculum, we seek to have the perfect balance between traditional Indian values and a global perspective. One of our core principles is to make students understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. Our students must be accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and willing to grow from the experience.

Through our nature-based learning, we aim to create citizens who show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.

Our middle school curriculum is created in a way to prepare students to approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They must understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others.

Focusing on a student- centred approach to education, we promote the development of our students in the following ways:

• By creating educational opportunities that encourage healthy relationships, individual and shared responsibility and effective teamwork and collaboration

• By helping students make informed, reasoned, ethical judgments and develop the flexibility, perseverance and confidence they need in order to bring about meaningful change

• By inspiring students to ask questions, to pursue personal aspirations, to set challenging goals and to develop the persistence to achieve them

• By encouraging the creation of rich personal and cultural identities.

At Mount Dios, these educational outcomes are profoundly shaped by the relationships between our teachers and students. All our teachers are intellectual leaders who can empower students to develop confidence and personal responsibility.

Our international curriculum offers a variety of routes for learners with a wide range of abilities, including those whose first language is not English. Our eclectic curriculum helps develop students who are:

We strongly believe that learning is not only about the content, but is also about the process, making it engaging and intellectually exciting. At Mount Dios, students take a central role in their own learning, preparing them better for both higher education and for the workplace. Analytical skills also help students to be better at problem solving and applying their knowledge. Students become ‘lifelong learners’.

Teachers of Mount Dios adapt their teaching methods to suit needs of differently-abled students for their current level of understanding and performance, by providing appropriate learning activities, support and assessment, so that all students in the group can learn effectively.

This engages learners through direct experience of authentic problems and challenges. It is supported by focused reflection as a means of developing skills, acquiring knowledge and developing positive attitudes. A variety of approaches are adopted including collaborative group work, investigations, practical experiments, fieldwork, projects, seminars, workshops, subject-specific camps, educational tours and presentations in addition to direct instruction and diligent practice.

Creative processes involve time and collaboration. Using a flipped classroom approach for example, where learners prepare content and do written exercises preparing for lessons in advance at home, allows teachers to plan for higher-level creative and critical thinking activities during class time. Students of Mount Dios have access to up-to-date technology, tools and resources to enable quality learning. This helps them to develop a broad range of ICT skills in web designing, databases, programming and as well as impact of ICT on society.

To conclude, our Middle School international curriculum builds on the skills acquired by the students in the primary classes through experiential learning and aims at giving students a deeper learning experience by identifying and supporting each student’s potential and recognizing their strengths.

Our state-of-the-art Computer Labs, Smart Classes, a well-equipped Math Lab, Fine Arts and Science Labs ensure our students are well versed in the latest technology. A wide variety of co-scholastic exposure to our students is given through art, music, dance, sports and clubs like eco-club, creative writing, chess, golf, computer club, mixed media art to name a few.

Middle School at Mount Dios commits to allowing students to embark on a journey of self discovery, knowing that there is a transition from the strongly nurturing environment of primary school into a more independent, self-reliant middle school. We believe that while teaching and learning focus on honing skills and achieving content mastery in the academic realm, introducing students to a range of co-curricular activities helps them explore areas of core interest. We endeavour to expose students to a wider world that brings them in contact with organisations and institutions that strive for change in human lives. It also encourages students to support these efforts, believing that they are making a difference to the world they live in.

Mount Dios aspires to nurture individuals who are ready to act when they are faced with situations that they have not been specifically prepared for.