Our Pedagogy
Subjects
The academic subjects and hands-on skill subjects create a balanced and broad curriculum across various phases of education. Phenomena related to History, Geography, Economics, and Civics, as well as Science subjects such as Chemistry, Biology, and Physics, are explored through Environmental Studies in primary school. The class teacher is responsible for delivering the majority of these subjects to their own class.
Mathematics
Robotics
Language Acquisition:
Hindi/Spanish
English Language & Literature
Physical & Health Education
Design & Crafts (Woodwork & Textiles)
Library
Music
Home Economics
Performing Arts
Visual Arts
Advisory/ Mindfulness/ Ethics
Fourth Language: Spanish/Hindi
Environmental Science
Mandatory State Language: Marathi
As students progress to middle school, the number of subjects increases as ‘Environmental Science’ is replaced by the individual disciplines, which are studied separately. These subjects are delivered by subject specialists.
Biology
Civics
Physics
Chemistry
History
Geography
Transversal Competences
Transversal competences, also known as transversal skills or cross-cutting skills, are essential abilities that individuals can apply across various areas of life, work, and learning. These competences are not tied to specific disciplines or subjects but permeate every aspect of our students' educational journeys. At FIS, in addition to individual school subjects, students learn broader skills and transversal competences which are considered important topics in today’s society and in pupils’ future life. Just like IB Approaches to learning skills, these competences cross subject boundaries. Transversal competences are always taught, studied and assessed as part of the different subjects.
Thinking and learning to learn
Cultural competence, interaction & self-expression
Multi-Literacy
Taking care of oneself and managing daily life
ICT Competence
Working Life Competence & Entrepreneurship
Participation, involvement & building a sustainable future
Transversal skills equip students with vital life skills, ensuring success not only in academics but also in personal and professional endeavours. At FIS, we are dedicated to nurturing the next generation of adaptable and resilient individuals, primed for lifelong success.
Objectives
The subjects mentioned above are arranged in multi-disciplinary learning modules
Subjects
Content
Criteria
Assessment
Phenomenon Based Learning
At FIS, we believe in the power of interdisciplinary exploration. Phenomenon-based learning is an approach that allows students to explore real world phenomena; blending knowledge and skills of multiple disciplines into meaningful phenomenon-based units of study. Instead of keeping all subjects separate, phenomenon-based learning encourages students to look at issues as a whole. Phenomenon-based learning is all about understanding, rather than memorising, the big picture.
See how this phenomenon-based unit on the theme of ‘Space’ played out.
The students learned about the ‘Space Race’ and Soviet propaganda posters from that time. They used AI to generate ideas for their own piece of art, inspired by the Soviet posters, to celebrate the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
They chose an astronaut to research and wrote a biographical account of their life in the first person. They then used their iPad to animate a picture of the astronaut and voiced a video to have them tell us about their lives.
The students learned about ‘Junk Modelling’ and used plastic bottles to create bottle rockets. They competed to see who could make their rocket fly the farthest. They had to consider aerodynamics, the fuel-to-air ratio and the angle of take-off.
Personal Learning Plans (PLPs)
Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs) are customised plans based on each child’s strengths and needs, goals, and interests. Developed in collaboration with the student and their guardians, these plans outline specific learning objectives, strategies, and resources to support academic and personal development goals.
Personalized learning plans serve as roadmaps for each student's learning journey, whether they're delving deep into an internship in their field of passion, setting ambitious language or mathematics goals, or simply exploring a new hobby. Through ongoing implementation and mentorship, we actively support students in achieving optimal results based on their individual skills and aspirations.
The PLP is a tool to promote student ownership of learning, encourage reflection and goal-setting, and provide a framework for ongoing assessment and progress monitoring. Each child’s PLP is reviewed regularly in class in a one-to-one discussion with the student and in discussions with the guardians.
Personalised Learning Plans ensure that we go beyond mere differentiated learning by empowering our students to envision their own futures, set goals for themselves and work towards achieving them!
The broad curriculum offered at FIS ranges from home economics, music and performing arts to craft, robotics and physical education; every experience is a fundamental part of our curriculum. Through direct interaction, experimentation, and problem-solving, students develop critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of real-world concepts. At FIS, students unleash the power of experiential learning to foster creativity, critical thinking, and socio-emotional development throughout all aspects of their education!
