Academics

Our Curriculum

Transdisciplinary approach has always been at the core of our DNA. At TCIS, we believe that teaching a child to question, think and learn is most important to facilitate learning. Our inquiry-led and transdisciplinary education framework challenges learners to think for themselves and take responsibility for their learning as they explore local and global issues and opportunities in real-life contexts, which enable them in problem solving and to take responsible actions.

 

TCIS follows an enhanced curricular approach by inculcating the best practices of various approaches in to the core CBSE curriculum that lays a strong foundation during the Primary Years, thereby making the subsequent stages of Middle and Higher Years more meaningful and effortless when the orientation moves up gradually from concept building to multidisciplinary concept integration and to career orientation in line with the core CBSE philosophy. Our unique blended pedagogical approach during the Primary Years combines the best practices of textbook learning with experiential learning. The approach allows TCIS to design its curriculum to promote inquiry, stimulate children’s innate sense of wonder and natural desire to seek answers to their questions. TCIS has a learner-centric framework focusing on learner’s academic, social and emotional well-being and encourages students to take responsibility of their learning through fostering intrinsic motivation. Experiential learning combined with textbook learning forms an important part of this approach which makes the pedagogy far superior than the conventional learning approaches. This strategy during the Primary Years helps to create an equally strong learning foundation not only in numeracy, literacy, computing and scientific temperament but also in vital life-skills like communication, teamwork, ethics, creativity, health, self-discipline, grit and resilience. It also provides the crucial advantage in the later years when career-pathing, academic excellence and competitiveness becomes the focus of attention.

 

Further, great significance is laid on assessments which is carried out at regular intervals on academic, co-curricular and psychometric parameters which forms an important feedback and improvement tool.

IB Early Year Program & IB Primary Year Program (IB-EYP & IB-PYP | Age up to 11 years | up to Grade 5)

Early Years and Primary Year @ TCIS (Age up to 10 years | up to Grade 5)

The curricular theme at Early Years is Foundation Building where-in a strong foundation on numeracy, literacy, computing, communication, teamwork, ethics, creativity, health practices, self-discipline, peer-skills and other life-skills are built. The theme during the Primary Years graduates to Concept Building where-in foundational concepts of language, science and social subjects are introduced and reinforced through experiential learning. We follows a customised curriculum philosophy instead of a prescriptive curriculum and relies heavily on self-research, experimentation and critical thinking as part of curricular design. Our unique pedagogical approach inculcates best practices of various educational approaches in to its curriculum thereby following not only experiential learning but also the best of textbook learning right from the beginning, thereby creating a relevant and engaging learning path. This makes our approach far superior than the conventional learning approaches.

Middle Years @ TCIS (Age 11-13 years | Grade 6 to Grade 8)

The curriculum focus is Multidisciplinary Concept Integration. The depth and width of conceptual learning is expanded further and children are learned to integrate multidisciplinary concepts through inquiry-led hands-on application.

Higher Years @ TCIS (Age 14-15 years | Grade 9 to Grade 10)

The over-arching theme is Career Orientation. The middle year learnings are further extended and scholastic specialisation is introduced. Leadership skills are promoted. Children are empowered to do innovation, research and aptitude discovery. Post-school competitive exam preparedness with a global outlook is the key learning outcome at this stage.

Our Educators

What differentiates TCIS is our uncompromising obsession for quality educators. They are our greatest asset. Role of a teacher is to enable learning, by listening, by observing and by guiding. Effective educators identify the strengths in each student and help them exceed their potential. Our educators are exceptional at it.

At TCIS, we take utmost care that only the best educators with proven excellence in their subject area gets recruited. Our educators are passionate in teaching and creativity in their approach. Qualified educators are selected through a 5-level recruitment process including written tests, demo sessions, group discussions and multiple round of panel interviews.

Continuous professional development (CPD) of our educators embedded with constant improvement feedback system is an integral part of TCIS in order to make them 21st century skilled educators. They are provided with rigorous training and orientation programs regularly aimed at sharpening their professional acumen, enhancing their teaching soft skills, upgrading their technical and technology know-how and improving productivity. Great importance is placed on upgrading our educators with latest teaching methodologies and global best practices. Learning collaboration among our educators is greatly encouraged at TCIS where-in learnings, methodologies and successful practices are shared among the teaching fraternity, thus adding to the Resource Bank of the school.

Not surprisingly, our hand-picked teaching talent pool boasts of pedigree from prestigious institutions like IITs, NIFT, etc and comes with teaching experiences from some of the top education institutions in India and abroad. We are proud of our educators, many among them are award winning teachers at National and Global forums. Our multi-national, multi-lingual, multi-cultural faculties comes from 6 countries and ~20 Indian states.

Early Years @ TCIS

At TCIS we ensure the learning is rich, meaningful and visible to the children and learning community. We thrust to create an environment that promotes inquiry. Teachers practice play pedagogy and play an important role in young students’ learning journey.
” Exposure to artists of past and present, visit to galleries and museums are also a vital part of child’s art education.
The holistic approach to early childhood education At TCIS, our pedagogical philosophy is inspired by best practices in early year’s education. Along with the academic, we provide young learners with the opportunity to explore PSPE, Art and Dance. Club activities like puppet making and clay modelling enable learners to construct their own meaning, to be creative, develop a strong sense of identity, and inquiry-driven global citizens.

TCIS Culture of Learning during Early Years

We respect and value the cultural, family and life experiences that strengthen the richness of our learning community. We believe communication is most important to learning and we maintain open dialogue and collaboration with families. Our teaching practices support the belief that young children learn through play and it allows them to have a sense of agency.

Learning Spaces and Learning through Play

We plan our learning spaces carefully to promote inquiry. These spaces stimulate children’s innate sense of wonder and natural desire to seek answers to their questions through play. In early childhood, play is the inquiry and, we provide various opportunities to learners by providing a class time of dedicated inquiry and play. Water play, sand play and outdoor plays are few examples of play where the TCIS learners have choice and agency in how to spend their time. Conversations and collaboration during this playtime help us develop intrinsically motivated young learners. We strive to engage learners into focused learning engagements where children embrace opportunities to build and apply skills, knowledge and conceptual understandings.

The Role of the Facilitators

We call our teacher homeroom facilitator. We maintain the student-teacher ratio and have 2 teachers in every early year class. The role of the teacher is to facilitate learning, to be listening to and observing the children’s interactions and dialogue using a range of tools—including note-taking, photography and video—to document the students’ learning journeys.

Early Years’ Curriculum

Math

Students explore numbers and record their work by writing numbers and working with the numbers in a practical way. Students do lots of work with shapes and are building on their learning of patterns (which actually helps with algebra when they are older)

Unit of Inquiry

During the year, the children study four Units of Inquiry. These units are transdisciplinary meaning they include different subjects.

Language Arts

The language of instruction is English and comprises of speaking and listening, writing, and reading. The children listen to lots of stories and are encouraged to express themselves in lots of different ways. The syllabus comprises of letters, phonetics, put letters together to make words, sight words and simple sentence construction.

Dance, PE, and Visual Arts

Primary Years @ TCIS

“ Children must be taught how to think, not what to think – Margert Mead

During the foundational stage of education, TCIS Whitefield follows an enhanced curricular approach by inculcating the best practices of various approaches in to the core CBSE curriculum that lays a strong foundation during the Primary Years, thereby making the subsequent stages more meaningful and effortless when the orientation moves up gradually from multidisciplinary concept integration Middle Years) and to career orientation (Higher Years) in line with the core CBSE philosophy. Our unique pedagogical approach during the Primary Years follow not only experiential learning but also the best practices of textbook learning right from the beginning, which assumes more and more prominence as we move towards higher learning stages. The approach allows TCIS Whitefield to inculcate best practices of various educational approaches in to its curriculum which is designed to promote inquiry, stimulate children’s innate sense of wonder and natural desire to seek answers to their questions. TCIS Whitefield has a learner-centric framework focusing on learner’s academic, social and emotional well-being and encourages students to take responsibility of their learning through fostering intrinsic motivation. Experiential learning combined with textbook learning forms an important part of this approach which makes the pedagogy far superior than the conventional learning approaches. This strategy during the foundational years helps to create an equally strong learning foundation not only in numeracy, literacy, computing and scientific temperament but also in vital life-skills like communication, teamwork, ethics, creativity, health, self-discipline, grit and resilience. It also provides the crucial advantage in the later years when career-pathing, academic excellence and competitiveness becomes the focus of attention.

We believe in nurturing and developing caring individuals and lifelong learners. Our inquiry-led and transdisciplinary framework  challenges learners to think for themselves and take responsibility for their learning as they explore local and global issues and opportunities in real-life contexts which enable them to take responsible actions. Our pedagogy combines the best research and practice from a range of national systems with a wealth of knowledge and experience from international schools and educators to create a relevant and engaging learning path.

In the early years, our approach focuses more on play pedagogy learning through play. Keeping the commitment to the inquiry we design and practice our curriculum by keeping in mind three interrelated questions:

  • What do we want to learn?
    A written curriculum which includes student skills and expectations, learning outcomes and concepts for each subject area.

  • How best will we learn?
    Teaching and learning strategies that promote inquiry, encourage student agency, support best educational practice and cater to the learning needs of all students ensuring student success.

     

  • How will we know what we have learned?
    The use of effective and authentic assessment practices that monitor individual student progress and guide future planning and learning experiences.

At TCIS, the Primary Years :

  • Provide a learner-centred framework
  • Focus on learners’ academic, social & emotional well-being
  • Encourages students to take responsibility for their learning through fostering intrinsic motivation
  • Support students imbibe and exhibit dispositions as a foundation upon which international-mindedness will develop and flourish
  • Provides students with opportunities to work collaboratively and independently
  • Cultivates learning experiences that have relevance across subject areas and that reaches beyond the boundaries of the subject areas to connect to what is real in the world.

TCIS Culture of Learning in Primary Years

Primary Years inside and outside the classrooms

At TCIS we believe that children should learn to understand the links between subjects and their own experiences to connect to the world around them and solve problems in real-life situations. When planning Units of Inquiry, teachers ensure that the appropriate National Curriculum standards and  other pedagogical standards are embedded into their lessons.

Subject areas are integrated rather than being taught in isolation and are tied together through six themes. These themes are described as Transdisciplinary because they focus on issues that go across subject areas and are selected for their relevance to the real world.

In Primary Years PYP we inquire into six themes

  • Who We Are
  • Where We Are in Time and Place
  • How the World Works
  • How We Organise Ourselves
  • How We Express Ourselves
  • Sharing the Planet

Learner Profiles

Along with academic skills, TCIS believes in developing certain dispositions in students, which are called the Learner Profile :

  • Inquirer
  • Knowledgeable
  • Communicator
  • Principled
  • Thinker
  • Balanced
  • Risk-Taker
  • Open-Minded
  • Caring
  • Reflective

Core Subjects

In addition to learning traditional subjects through Units of Inquiry, some ‘stand-alone’ learning experiences do take place, particularly with Mathematics and Language.

Our core subjects covers:

  • Language Arts
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Social Studies 
  • Sports
  • Arts (Dance, Music, Visual Arts)

Middle Years @ TCIS

MYP Year 1 – 5 (Grades 6 – 10)

TCIS follows an enhanced curricular approach by inculcating the best practices of various approaches in to the core CBSE curriculum that lays a strong foundation during the Primary Years, thereby making the subsequent stages of Middle and Higher Years more meaningful and effortless when the orientation moves up gradually from concept building to multidisciplinary concept integration and to career orientation in line with the core CBSE philosophy. The curriculum focus Middle Years is multidisciplinary integration of concepts learned up to Grade-5. The depth and width of conceptual learning is expanded further and children are learned to integrate multidisciplinary concepts through inquiry-led hands-on application.

The well-integrated pedagogical approach of TCIS Whitefield up to Grade 5 creates a substantially strong foundation on which subsequent education is built on. Further, our unique approach of adopting the best practices of both IB and CBSE from early years of education amalgamating the goodness of both experiential and textbook learnings ensure a smooth transition from Primary Years to Middle Years and to Higher Years which are based on core CBSE philosophy.

 

Middle Years comprises three years of education, building on the knowledge, skills and attitude developed by students during their early stages to prepare them for the higher years.

 

The curriculum focus during Middle Years is multidisciplinary integration of concepts learned up to Grade-5. The depth and width of conceptual learning is expanded further and children are learned to integrate multidisciplinary concepts through inquiry-led hands-on application. Learning and discussion of more abstract concepts are introduced at this stage across the multiple disciplines of languages, sciences, mathematics, arts, social sciences, and humanities. Experiential learning within each subject and explorations of relations among different subjects is emphasized. Strengthening of transdisciplinary learning is achieved during these years. The curriculum is designed inclusive for students of all interests and academic abilities so as to inspire passion for learning while challenging intellectual curiosity, encouraging inquiry and maximizing individual potential. It provides real-world learning experience, connecting their studies to the world around them enabling them to develop sound judgments, make wise choices and respect the community they are part of.

Middle years comprises three years of education, building on the knowledge, skills and attitude developed by students during their preparatory years to prepare them for the higher years. Learning and discussion of more abstract concepts are introduced at this stage across the multiple disciplines of languages, sciences, mathematics, arts, social sciences, and humanities. Experiential learning within each subject and explorations of relations among different subjects is emphasized. Both width and depth of transdisciplinary learning is achieved during these years. The curriculum is designed inclusive for students of all interests and academic abilities so as to inspire passion for learning while challenging intellectual curiosity, encouraging inquiry and maximizing individual potential. It provides real-world learning experience, connecting their studies to the world around them enabling them to develop sound judgments, make wise choices and respect the community they are part of.

Higher Years @ TCIS

The over-arching theme of Higher Years (from Grade 9 onwards) is career orientation. The middle year learnings are further extended and scholastic specialisation is introduced. Leadership skills are promoted. Children are empowered to do innovation, research and aptitude discovery. Post-school competitive exam preparedness with a global outlook is the key learning outcome at this stage.

We call the Higher Years at TCIS, “TCIS Wings” and is curated is a targeted academic grooming program for higher year students from Grade 9 onwards with career orientation as the base theme. This is an important learning phase when the students are made future-ready for their next phase, be it university research or professional education or entrepreneurship.

Our teaching approach at this stage is highly aptitude base with emphasis on scholastic specialisation, empowerment, innovation, research orientation, reflective thinking and leadership. One of the key learning outcomes of TCIS Wings is competitive exam preparedness for various higher education institutions in India and abroad.

A plethora of career development programs are active part of TCIS Wings to enable TCItes to identify their aptitude, to choose the most appropriate career path and to hand-hold them to achieve their dreamed career.

  • TCIS Edge

A plethora of career development programs are active part of TCIS Wings to enable TCItes to identify their aptitude, to choose the most appropriate career path and to hand-hold them to achieve their dreamed career.

  • TCIS Aim

Our specialised career counsellors use the most scientific methodologies to help the students to identify their strengths/aptitudes and develop it into career-worthy. Our counsellors help them draw one or more career paths most suited to the student and guide them on how to pursue the same with dedication.

  • TCIS Sparkleon

An amazing reach-out platform for TCItes to connect with industry experts in their fields of interest. This opens-up the outlook of the students and widens their perspectives on opportunities and possibilities of various career paths including entrepreneurship.

  • TCIS Aspire

Higher year students are required to choose their subject of interest for their scholastic specialisation in line with their targeted higher education and career-path (currently this choice is required at Grade 11 & 12 stage). TCIS offers one of the widest subject-options to choose from. Apart from (or in addition to) the core science and commerce streams, students can opt from Computer Science, AI, Design, Mass Media, Economics, Accountancy, Business Studies, Entrepreneurship, Psychology, Sociology, Kathak, PE, etc.

  • TCIS University Connect

A unique program which aims at introducing multitude of higher education opportunities to TCItes. It widens the vistas of our students to dream global. Domain experts are engaged to guide and hand-hold students on every aspects of higher education from preparation to admission, to top class Indian and overseas universities.

Learning at TCIS

Assessment

Assessment at TCIS reflects an assessment of each and every aspect of the educational sphere based on specific learning outcomes, to enable students to adjust with needs and changes of the future. We believe that assessment is an ongoing process; facilitators and students collaborate to develop an assessment culture to achieve assessment capability among all members of the learning community.

At TCIS, we employ a range of assessments to accumulate student’s progress.

  • Pre-Assessment
  • Formative Assessment
  • Summative Assessment
  • Assessment of the key elements of learning-output at each stage

Student Agency

” Enable[s] people to play a part in their self-development, adaption, and self-renewal with changing times” (Bandura in Learner Agency, IB 2018).

Student agency is closely connected to self-efficacy and can be remembered as “voice, choice and ownership”. At TCIS we motivate learners to believe in themselves and have a strong sense of identity.

We exercise agency in the following ways:
  • Guide students to craft learning goals
  • Involve them in planning learning engagements, assessments or success criteria
  • Allow them to make choices
  • Voice their opinions and ideas
  • Motivate them to take initiative, responsibility & ownership
  • Develop approaches to learning & dispositions

International Mindedness

TCIS encourages international-mindedness as our students are global citizens who are and will be interacting with people from the different cultural background. We celebrate differences and cultural heritage by promoting respect and acceptance.

Taking Action

TCIS follows an action-driven curriculum and action is a part of who we are. We want our learners to make a positive contribution to the world. Students are motivated to take action on many different levels to make this world a better place. These actions allow learners to develop self –awareness.

Learning community

Parents are an important part of the learning community. At TCIS, we organize many events throughout the school year and there are many opportunities for our parents to get involved and be a partner in a child’s learning journey.
  • Language and literature – English
  • Mathematics
  • Sciences – Integrated Sciences (Physics, Chemistry and Biology)
  • Language acquisition – Hindi/French/Kannada
  • Individuals and societies – History, Geography and Economics
  • Arts – Visual Arts and Drama
  • Physical and health Education
  • Design – Product design and Digital design

Language Arts

Each year, students in the MYP also engage in at least one collaboratively planned interdisciplinary unit that involves at least two subject groups. At TCIS students learning is facilitated to reveal connections between these fields of knowledge and they get to use the acquired knowledge from one area to build understanding in other disciplines.
The MYP helps students develop both, subject-specific and interdisciplinary understanding. The curriculum framework shifts the emphasis from teacher-led instruction to student-led learning wherever possible.
The MYP helps students develop both, subject-specific and interdisciplinary understanding. The curriculum framework shifts the emphasis from teacher-led instruction to student-led learning wherever possible.
The MYP curriculum framework includes:

Key and related concepts:

These concepts are big ideas, which form the basis of teaching and learning in the MYP. They ensure breadth and depth in the curriculum and promote learning within and across traditional disciplines.

Global contexts:

There are many different things that one would need to understand in order to understand the world. All of these things can be broken down in to six categories, known as the Global Contexts. Global Contexts are designed to encourage the students to make worthwhile connections between the real world and classroom learning. These contexts provide the starting points for inquiry into what it means to be internationally minded, framing a curriculum that promotes multilingualism, intercultural understanding and global engagement.

Approaches to Learning (ATL Skills):

IB MYP approaches to learning skills help students manage their own learning. They provide a foundation for success in further education and the world beyond the classroom.
The 5 ATL skills focuses on thinking, communication, social, self-management and research, thereby making a holistic approach to learning. The ATL skills categories into 10 developmentally appropriate clusters. This framework provides common ground from which we at TCIS develop our own ATL planning based on MYP units, student needs, and local circumstances and requirements. These ATL skills and clusters has great influence on student’s education i.e., they learn how to learn.

Community Project:

The community project focuses on community and service, giving students an opportunity to develop an awareness of needs in their immediate communities and address those needs through service learning. At TCIS, the students complete the community project in Year 3 (Grade 8). Students will be engaging in a sustained, in-depth inquiry leading to service as action in the community.
As a part of ‘Service as action’, students in Year 1 and Year 2 at TCIS will participate in the community where they live paying special importance to developing their sense of social responsibility and, improving those skills that will prepare them to contribute more effectively for their community project in Year 3.

Personal Project:

The personal project provides an excellent opportunity for students to produce an individual and creative product or outcome to demonstrate the consolidation of their learning in the MYP. At TCIS, students complete the personal project in Year 5 (Grade 10).
Each student develops a personal project independently. It is a self-initiated and self-directed learning, constructing in-depth knowledge on a topic of interest, and developing an understanding of themselves as learners. Students are engaged in practical explorations through a cycle of inquiry, action and reflection. Students decide what they want to learn about, identify what they already know, and discover what they will need to know to complete the project.

Assessment:

Assessment is integral to all teaching and learning. MYP assessments are criterion based assessment model. All MYP subject groups have four assessment criterion and all the criterion are equally weighted – each out of 8 points. In concurrence with the MYP assessment guidelines teachers assess using the prescribed subject-group objectives using the assessment criteria for each subject group in each year of the programme.
The plans for assessment at TCIS is both formative and summative. Formative assessment are ongoing assessment conducted during the teaching and learning process. Summative assessments are conducted at the end of a unit of inquiry to determine the degree to which the students have mastered the specified objectives. Summative assessments are designed to provide evidence for evaluating student achievement using required MYP subject-group-specific assessment criteria. In order to provide students with opportunities to achieve at the highest level, MYP teachers develop rigorous tasks that embrace a variety of assessment strategies. All criteria in every subject is covered at least twice in the year.
Students must complete eight e-Assessments for the internationally-recognised IB MYP certificate. On-screen examinations are conducted for the below mentioned subject groups.
  • Mathematics
  • Language and literature
  • Sciences
  • Individuals and societies
  • Interdisciplinary learning
  • e-Portfolios (coursework) for the below mentioned subject groups
  • Language acquisition
  • Physical and health education, arts, or design

Bibliography:
https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/

MYP: From principles to practice

For further information about the IB and its programmes visit http://www.ibo.org.

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