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Director's Message

Sunita Gandhi

City International School promotes a broader and bolder education. The process of learning incorporates the 21st Century 4C Skills and 4C Traits.

CIS is constantly innovating. CIS teachers are on-going action researchers.

Children actively teach and learn with each other, creating a dynamic and happy learning environment. Research shows both predictable patterns of learning and boredom reduce learning outcome. You can walk in any day and you will see the children engaged in a myriad activities.

We follow IPSATIVE: Compared with self ideology and the Accelerating Learning for All pedagogy. The intrinsic motivational processes ensure children are confident and have the skill to learn by self. Parents report a greater level of effort and self-study by the children.

The end result is a broader and bolder outcome. All children thrive.

Sunita Gandhi, Founder-Director, CIS and NIS Group of Schools
Chief Academic Advisor, City Montessori School, World's Largest School
Ph.D. (Physics), Cambridge University, UK
Former Economist, The World Bank, USA
Founder-CEO, DEVI Sansthan, INDIA

Accelerating learning, igniting futures

CIS fosters a comprehensive and progressive learning environment, equipping students with the essential skills they need to succeed in the 21st century. This includes fostering collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, character, and citizenship.

  • Three-year-olds read words and sentences
  • Five-year-olds read newspapers in English and Hindi
  • Children of LKG to Grade 8 master mathematics one grade up
  • Senior children get international placements, scholarships and top ranks in competitions
  • CIS students are confident, articulate, informed and caring world citizens

Think Again About Education

a holistic education

ALfA seamlessly integrates the skills and traits of a twenty-first century learner. These 8Cs cannot be taught from a textbook, but rather acquired while working with each other in the everyday context of a classroom. The paired setting creates a safe environment in which learners feel free to share and express.

Traditional Classroom vs CIS Classroom

Traditional Classroom CIS Classroom
Transaction of learning is from teacher to student. Much rote memorisation. Transaction of learning is from student to student. Learning is derived. No rote learning.
Children are grouped by skill level. Random pairing ensures greater academic learning, a highly interactive environment, and development of 21st Century Skills.
Students work in whole class or groups, sit in rows facing the teacher. Students work entirely in pairs; they face each other. Pairs are changed everyday.
Knowledge is abstract, with sometimes hands-on activities. Children learn primarily through hands-on activities; use simple materials like matchsticks and ice cream sticks to learn entire mathematics.
Textbooks and workbooks are bulky. Designed for teachers to teach from. Thin booklets, short modules with teacher prompts, are designed for children to learn by themselves.
Published by Bloomsbury, January 2024

A Groundbreaking Pedagogy

ACCELERATING LEARNING FOR ALL

ALfA breaks the shackles of the industrial education system, revolutionizing the school experience through peer learning and hands-on activities.

“All students should be able to learn to read quickly so that they can maximize their academic potential and ALfA does that.” Jon Corippo Founder of EduProtocols

a compare & contrast

ALfA is a structured pedagogy, with modules custom-designed to facilitate paired and activity-based learning.

CIS Standard Textbooks
Learning methodology Student-led paired work Experiential learning about 80% of the time. Teacher-led whole class Experiential learning about 20% of the time.
Grouping strategy Random Pairing No child feels that there are low expectations of them. Ability Grouping Those in 'remedial' group lose self-esteem.
Timetabling Significant Flexibility Students can progress through the books at their own pace. Detailed Prescriptions Rigid, many are left behind the curriculum.
Type of questions Higher-order thinking Students pose questions for each other, developing cognitive skills. Lower-order questions Matching, true & false, fill in the blank style.
Numeracy Methodology Simple TLMs for All Ice-cream sticks & matchsticks are provided to enable all children to participate. Insufficient TLMs Pictorial representation of activities in books, but without TLMs for everyone to participate.
Literacy Methodology Known to Unknown Sound is derived from a picture, which is associated with a letter Substantial reading practice for each matra. 9-10 letters introduced per page. Writing introduced after reading. Unknown to Known ‘A se Anaar’. One or at most two letters introduced per page Minimal reading practice for any given matra. Writing introduced simultaneously with reading.

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