Dubai International Academy teachers participate in fourth annual Induction Programme

The Emirates Hills located school has made remarkable achievements during the past three academic years with the student population increasing from 510 in the first year in 2005 to over 1,665 from 73 different nationalities, and the Academic and Administrative Team further strengthened from 69 to more than 200 of 23 different nationalities to date.

DIA is an 'IB World School' and is the first school in the UAE to have been authorised by the IB for the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP).

Ms. Poonam Bhojani, Executive Director of DIA, said:

"As Dubai International Academy proudly embarks on its fourth year of excellence, I wish to thank our Academic and Administrative Team for successfully organising yet another important induction programme. The annual get-together of teachers from diverse nationalities before the start of the new academic year, serves as an excellent orientation tool. For newcomers it is an opportunity to learn more about the multicultural environment of our school, which in fact, reflects the cosmopolitan setting of the UAE, as well as the year-round celebration of diversity at DIA."

It was indeed a week of learning in a fun ambience, as teachers indulged themselves in a "Walk The Pizza" exercise that helped them get a good grasp of the six core values of DIA - Integrity, Achievement Orientation, Celebration of Diversity, Responsibility, Collaboration and Innovation.

The teachers also participated in an energetic drumming session conducted by the popular Dubai Drums group.

During the induction week, new teachers participated in workshops that introduced them to various aspects of the renowned Geneva-based IB curriculum that DIA follows.

The interesting topics discussed at these workshops included approaches to teaching the PYP, MYP and IB, the constructivist classroom and familiarisation with the IB document.

Teachers participated in programmes learning about various systems and procedures followed at DIA, like library work, assessment and reporting for students' work, the particular writing process, electronic systems of documentation etc.

The teachers also got together for collaborative projects including a field trip to various shopping malls to develop plans based on the theme of 'advertising'.

As part of its efforts to provide world-class standards of education, DIA is constantly looking at setting new targets in a number of areas including extra curricular and community activities, staff development programmes, rigorous academic preparation and all-round development.