Welcome to École Mondiale World School! This is the first of our Newsletters to bring you information on our plans for the year, together with the stimulating programmes we will be offering. I know that you will be very pleased with the new opportunities for your children and the new style in which they will be learning.

International Baccalaureate

Curriculum
I am aware that all of our families have made substantial efforts to get to know what our IB programmes are offering. I will add some more etails in each of these Newsletters to add to your knowledge.

Our Objectives
All of our programmes have these principal objectives:
1. To develop our students as skilled learners, enthusiastic about learning and knowing
2. To stimulate our students to become good, compassionate people
3. To value and understand their own culture and to respect the culture of others Looking at Point 1, these aspects make our programmes different, and better. We work hard to teach our students:

• Research skills - so that students know where to gather information, interpret it and summarize it in their own words.
• Thinking skills - we use structures that help students to think in a systematic way when studying. This also helps them to remember information
• Critical thinking - it is important that correctness of information and how to challenge what may be incorrect or misleading   Study skills - there are ways to study which are efficient and effective. Our students will be taught to plan their assignments and homework and to study in a systematic manner.  
• Review and reflect - it is necessary for people who learn, to think about what they learn, so our students will be constantly reminded to pause and
  reflect on what they are learning.

I will approach the next of our objectives in Newsletter No. 2

ACTIVE EXCURSIONS

The Heads of our different Schools and I have been corresponding on what we will be offering as after-school activities and school excursions. Here are some of the options that we are investigating:

Sporting
We will be offering the full range of sports such as football, basketball, cricket, badminton, volleyball, table tennis, floor hockey, indoor cricket and tennis. Our swimming programme will be offered in four parts learn to swim, stroke correction, competition swimming and lifesaving. The lifesaving programme is particularly interesting as students can strive for the bronze, silver and gold medals under special instruction.

Additionally we are hoping to offer at weekends - horse riding, rock climbing, snorkelling, scuba diving and sailing, provided that a sufficient number of students has selected them.

Artistic
Our artistic activities will include an appealing array of music programs, dance and the visual arts. We will include instrumental music tuition (violin, flute, keyboard, etc) together with the opportunity to play in the school music groups, and other instruments as requests indicate. Our dance programme includes Indian classical dance, folk and ballet.The visual arts will include pottery, other ceramics, painting, fabric and fashion.

Hobbies
We will include aeromodelling, chess, computer club, environment club and other clubs, depending on interest. Excursions There will be four types of excursions:

• Overseas trips supervised by our teaching staff
• Adventure camps within India
• Overnight excursions for research and study
• Less then one day trips in or close to Mumbai.

Naturally, excursions outside of Mumbai will be charged at cost.

All of our excursions will have the foundation of an educational experience, based on studies at school.

Adventure Camps
Each year, most classes from Grade 6 will be able to enjoy an adventure camp. There students will live in a bush setting for about a week, each benefiting from suitable activities, taking responsibility for their cabin or tent and helping with camp chores.

PARENTS WORKSHOP

Bringing You Into the Picture
There are many things that we will be doing at Ecole Mondiale World School that will be new to parents of our students.

• To help you feel comfortable with the different styles of learning that your children will be enjoying, we will be holding regular parent workshops at the school. The workshops will have two focuses - how your child will be learning and what he/she will be learning.
• To bring our teaching styles to life, we will make the workshops active ones where parents will be invited to take part. You will be shown how we teach our students to study, research, think and review. In the workshops, parents will engage in learning the same way that our students do.
• In the early years, we will work with parents on techniques to support their children in learning to read and how to work with numbers.
• In the full range of secondary subjects, we will demonstrate how our students learn their various disciplines.

Design & Technology - a stimulating innovation

One of the most engaging innovations at our school is Design Technology. This subject is available for all students in the Middle Years Programme and as a separate, rather different subject, for the Diploma students who select it.

There are very few schools in India which offer Design Technology in this form though it is quite popular overseas.

The course combines the two concepts of design and making. Students design different objects using a computer or design pad and then make it either in the workshop or art studio.

Constructions may be in wood, metal, plastic, cloth, simple construction materials or of clay.

In the workshop, students will learn to work with simple to complex tools under careful instruction. In the art studio, students will use their designs for fabric and fashion creations. In the art and craft studio, students will use their designs to make beautiful ornaments or practical pottery.