Page 15 - DAIS Insignia 2020-21

DEAN OF audiobooks, storytelling, educational videos and programs, tech tools, and more. The librarians have been systematically curating
age-appropriate digital resources to develop fiction and non-fiction reading skills and appreciation among the students. A K-12
information literacy curriculum was developed, based on the American Library Association (ALA-ASSL) standards, and the indicators
and the scope and sequence are serving as a guide helping the librarians develop better information literacy lesson plans and
supporting teachers in the development of research skills across the school.
ACADEMICS One of our key priorities over this year has been ensuring Student Wellbeing. We strategised early to recognize concerns among

students who required early identification and intervention, strengthening the Student Care team to provide the services of both SEN
and counselling, beyond the school hours. Special education needs (SEN) students continued to receive support and the benefit of
extra sessions, as it was anticipated that these students may face challenges with the transition to online learning. Special educators
were added to the virtual classes, to co-teach and monitor their students. SEN students were also supported individually for all
This academic year started amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, making health, assessments and exams. Workshops on a variety of topics such as differentiation, incorporating Social and Emotional Learning into
safety, and wellbeing of the DAIS community our utmost priority, along classroom teaching, inclusion and reading assessments were held for teachers. Whole school weekly PSHE sessions with each grade
with the continuity of learning for our students. Since the month of March continued, with the objective of creating safe spaces to socialise, build resilience and address anxiety, with regards to the pandemic.
2020, we have been combatting the most trying times the world has seen The CIS NEASC Accreditation is an ongoing process, through which we measure our alignment and compliance with international
since the years of the Second World War. The Covid-19 pandemic has standards of education. We received our initial accreditation in 2016 and are currently in the process of re-accreditation. The Annual
disrupted our lives beyond belief. However, taking the liberty to modify the Community Survey, which was initiated in March 2021, will aid decision-making at a variety of levels, from working with students
iconic lines of Charles Dickens to some extent, it can be said, “while it has individually, to the whole-school analysis, on a strategic level. The results from the 2021 survey indicate a high level of consensus
been a season of darkness; it has also been a season of light”. We saw how, and agreement that we are continuing to implement and develop our goals. It has also helped us identify a few areas of potential
together, we rose as a team to deal with this challenge, following the words growth and improvement.
of our Chairperson, Smt. Nita M Ambani, “At DAIS, we are a family!”
Under her guidance we rallied against all the trials and tribulations, posed Mr. Abhimanyu Basu We have also worked on formalising our definitions of High-Quality Teaching and Learning, Digital Citizenship and Global
by Covid-19 and came together truly like a family. For us it was, “All for one (Dean of Academics) Citizenship, which despite being put into practice across all levels of the school, were not concretely stated. These definitions were
and one for all!” Unwavering support from the parents and students, and derived through schoolwide meetings and discussions, with feedback from staff and the student body. The definitions have been
the grit and determination of the teachers, helped us to complete a disseminated to all faculty, to ensure consistent implementation in practice. Finally, we have reviewed a number of our policies, in
successful school year. As our teachers reinvented themselves to transform their expertise of teaching in physical classrooms, to keeping with both the updated CIS documentation, as well as the changing needs of our community. Our Child Safeguarding and
becoming experts in online teaching; as our students shifted their work desks from their school classrooms to within the walls of their Protection Policy has been updated and expanded to better encompass the diverse aspects of child safety and our responsibility in that
regard. A Virtual Learning Policy has also been formulated, which is not limited merely to online teaching and learning, but rather
homes; and, as parents truly became partner-teachers of our junior students, we discovered that the age of the pandemic had
become the age of cooperation, understanding and new learning. informs best practices across the school, in various aspects of digital life, such as communication between community members,
digital etiquette and digital safety.
To us the health and safety of our “family members” was paramount. The school enabled successful completion of crucial student College counselling, too, adapted to the past 14 months of functioning on the virtual platform on Microsoft Teams. The transition
submissions for the IGCSE and IBDP with reference to IA Data Collection in school Laboratories, Art Portfolio completion and to online meetings, presentations, seminars, university webinars and workshops was seamless, but nevertheless, the social
PE Coursework submissions, in addition to conducting the Mock Examinations. The school turned itself into at bio-bubble by connect was certainly missed, especially the celebrations with cake-cutting and pizza parties. Emails and calls were replaced
testing every single person who entered the sanitized school campus, thus ensuring utmost safety precaution. Away from school, by meetings on Teams, and this enabled the counsellors to be more in sync with the family's requirements. The Class of 2021 had an
throughout the pandemic, all DAIS staff, and their extended family members, affected by the virus, received medical assistance round acceptance rate of 43% of the applications, and 41% of the students received scholarships amounting to US$ 6,351,938 over
the clock from the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital. From medicines, to monitoring of their health, the doctors provided four years. 40% of the Class of 2021 has been offered a place by the university of their first choice and 73% of them have been
the support for a speedy recovery. All teachers, staff, their families, and eligible students are being vaccinated under the expert offered a place by the University of their top two choices. The Class of 2021 gained 412 acceptances spanning 12 countries of which
supervision of Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital. During a recent PTA general body meeting, doctors and nutrition experts from 92 acceptances were to 17 of the universities listed in the QS World's Top 30 Universities, 62 offers were in the 18 of the
Reliance hospital patiently addressed and resolved queries related to the pandemic and vaccination, as well as matters concerning the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings for UK Top 30 universities and 130 acceptances were to 22 of the universities
mental and physical health of parents and students. In the history of mankind, the period of the Covid-19 pandemic will surely go in the US News Top 30 Best Global Universities.
down as one of the most challenging times. But even during such times, the DAIS family can hold its head up high, for doing the best
for the community. The MUN Team hosted our first Virtual DAIMUN, in December 2020, on the theme “The Realist Paradigm: Collaborating in a
Multipolar World” which was attended by 288 students from 13 schools across the world. From the issue of oil security in the Middle
The transition to virtual teaching and learning was led by our Vice- Chairperson Mrs Isha Ambani Piramal, to give students an East and North-African region, to the question of the militarisation of the Arctic, delegates debated on a wide range of topics. DAIS
engaging educational experience. In designing the virtual school model, we opted for the safe, secure, and robust teaching and hosted a multitude of events for Round Square Schools, including virtual Indo-Peruvian Spanish language exchange, 3L: Leisure
learning platform of Microsoft Teams, integrated with multiple applications, while still being wholly mindful of our education Learning in Lockdown, and METANOIA: Discover and Express yourself through the arts. Earth Day marked the involvement from
philosophy and practices. In a phased manner, DAIS developed the capability and expertise of our faculty, to not only offer kindergarten to Grade 12 in building environmental awareness through age-appropriate activities, that were all linked to this year's
uninterrupted learning to students, but also empowered the teachers with enhanced collaboration opportunities and new online theme: Sustainability. Many students also participated in POSTCARD – a theme-based networking of students around the world. DAIS
educational tools. hosted their own Postcard – Welcome to India, in July 2020 and will be hosting another in October 2021. The FRC season 2021 was a
From Lower Kindergarten to Class 12, over 1,090 children attend classes on Teams, receive instruction from their teachers and interact virtual one. However, that did not stop team Elev8 from building a robot. The team won the Imagery Award in honour of Jack Kamen
with their peers. Teachers curated and placed a huge repository of digital teaching and learning materials in OneNote Class Notebook at the Regionals. This award celebrates attractiveness in visual aesthetic integration. Ms Kamal Kaur, the mentor, won the Woodie
for students to reference and reinforce their learning. To provide one-on-one attention to every student, the school bolstered its staff Flowers Finalist Award for outstanding mentors. In addition to building the robot, as a part of the outreach, the team started and
strength and enhanced its teacher-to-student ratio to 1:6. Further, all the sessions are recorded so that students can revisit them and mentored 5 FRC teams and 6 FTC teams across Asia. Also, the team has been invited by the Atal Innovation Mission, the skill building
learn at their own pace and time from the comfort of their homes. In 2020-21 we continued our digital transformation from a initiative of Niti Aayog, to conduct a course on CAD.
Microsoft Incubator School to a Microsoft Showcase School. We transitioned from Office 365 to Microsoft 365 and brought Once again, our students have produced outstanding results at the ICSE, IGCSE and IB Diploma. These results consolidated the
Minecraft: Education into the classroom. In 2021 we are deploying Adobe Creative Cloud licenses to enhance creativity and standing of DAIS once again as the Top 10 IB Schools in the world, our ranking by Education World as the Number 1 International
collaboration within DAIS virtual school. Our educators have continued their learning by acquiring Microsoft Innovative Educator, School in India, by Hindustan Times as the Number 1 International School in Mumbai, and by Times of India as the Number 1
Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, and Adobe Creative Educator certifications. In 2021 our goal is to have at least 40% of our National & International Curriculum School in Mumbai. These spectacular accomplishments are proof of our students' abundant
educators as Microsoft Certified Educators. talents and their resolute efforts to excel, and equally reflect the commitment of our highly dedicated teachers. My sincere gratitude
The students' holistic development was enhanced through a diverse range of sessions covering physical education, drama, music, and appreciation go to our Founder and Chairperson Mrs. Nita Ambani and Vice-Chairperson Mrs. Isha Ambani Piramal, for their
dance, art, and yoga classes, which have a positive impact on their physical health and mental wellbeing. Experiences and activities visionary and inspirational leadership and teamwork, and to the Board of Governors. Heartfelt gratitude also to all our Heads, Deputy
that foster a sense of community are developed as part of the virtual learning program, to help students connect with various groups. Heads, Programme Coordinators, Curriculum Coordinator, Sports Director, Director of Technology, RS Coordinator, the Student
The physical education teachers put together a special program to ensure that everyone has adequate physical exercise and all players Support team, the College Counselling team, the Learning Centre Team and especially, to all our faculty and administration team,
on the school teams are trained remotely. For IGCSE classes 9, 10 and core senior sports team students, we introduced the who worked tirelessly to continue education for all our students in these troubled times.
Teambuilder app where students performed their scheduled weekly workouts at their convenience. This quote by Michelle Yeoh would aptly sum up the teamwork at DAIS with all our stakeholders, "It is very
important for us all to understand that we are interconnected, and we need to hold hands together, especially
The Learning Centre underwent a major revamp over this year and is currently featuring digital content hosted on Follett
Destiny Discover, which is organized by topic and grade level, and can now be easily accessed via the school website and when the going gets tough." Until then, keep yourselves, your loved ones, and your communities safe.
Microsoft Teams. Digital collections are not limited to the subscribed databases and to a variety of open educational resources Abhimanyu Basu
(OER) databases, but also to a variety of collections of digital resources related to the classroom content, collections of e-books, Dean of Academics
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