Personality Development
CMS creates a better future for all children by maximising
their opportunities through quality education and initiatives for unity and development.
To be despatched between 17-20 of each month
January 2019
Ms Manjit Batra
Senior Principal
Getting to Know "Cambridge at CMS"
What is Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE)?
Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) is a part of University of Cambridge that provides educational benefits through provision of international programmes and qualifications for the school education to be world leader in the field. Together with school, Cambridge helps learners to become confident, responsible, reflective, innovative and engaged for success in the modern world.
What is the comparison of IGCSE to other programmes like CBSE, ICSE or the Middle Years Programme of the IB?
- IGCSE is one of the most sought-after and recognized qualifications in the world. It develops and encourages vital educational skills, including oral skills, investigative skills, problem solving, team work, recall of knowledge, and initiative.
- Like other modern programmes, IGCSE offers a wider range of subjects and encourages high academic standards through a practical approach to teaching and learning. Assessment is not limited to conventional written papers and they consist of a variety of tests e.g. oral and listening tests.
- The assessment is aimed at a wide ability range of students, with an eight-point grading scale, from A* to G, with A* being the highest.
- IGCSE is a balanced curriculum and a flexible course of study.
- Most subjects offer a choice between core curriculum and extended curriculum.
- This gives students of all ability levels the freedom to choose subjects that are right for them and, thereby, the opportunity to score good grades.
Why this curriculum for my child?
Cambridge Assessment International Education curricula and qualifications are designed to support high-quality educational performance and to develop successful students. A Cambridge international education is progressive and flexible. CIE qualifications are recognized by universities and employers worldwide. Advantages of the Cambridge Programme are that students will develop higher level skills like:
ADVANTAGES OF CAMBRIDGE
- Acquisition of knowledge
- Writing
- Logic and thought process skills
- Emphasis on skills
- Application and use of creativity.
- Project based learning
- Creativity and analysis rather than rote memorization.
- Investigative learning approach
- Individual/group projects
- Internationally recognized
- Excellent preparation for college
What does a classroom at CMS Cambridge look like?
Engaged and involved students, working together in groups; inquisitive students raising valid questions; learners interacting comfortably with technology is what greets you when you enter a classroom at CMS Cambridge.
Why Cambridge for CMS?
CMS searched for an internationally accredited qualification that would offer our students the widest possible choice while continuing their higher education, and which was internationally recognised by top universities world-wide. At CMS with Cambridge Assessment International Education, we aim to implement the best educational practices from across the globe and impart a truly world-class educational experience. Augmenting education with a proven and widely ratified curriculum that gives students the ability to analyze things from an outspread perspective and shape them into eminent sculptors of a better tomorrow is our aim.
Can you elaborate on the learning activities?
While learning about micro-organisms and food, students were not made to memorize the ideal conditions for the growth of microbes. Instead, though the process of scientific inquiry, they experimented with different environment in which yeast could grow. This inquiry culminated with the baking of bread to observe how yeast would work as a leavening agent. Such learning remains with the learner for life.
Roshan Gandhi Forouhi
Director of Strategy, CMS
Message from
Mr Roshan Gandhi, Director of Strategy, CMS
Process Automation at CMS
We are pleased to share that CMS’s administrative processes are rapidly being automated, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the in-house development team. While in the past few years we have successfully automated various ongoing processes at departments across CMS, in recent months there has been a drastic progression to new modules to further enhance the speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of the organisation’s administrative processes.
Last month, the CMS IT Portal successfully completed three years, with a variety of currently live modules and approximately 4,20,277 visitors so far. We have recently launched the Workforce ERP, with the help of which the approx 1,500 contractual staff across CMS can be easily managed and tracked. Their attendance, work status, and salary generation is now also being monitored efficiently. This is providing great assistance with budget forecasting and post-expenditure results and reporting.
In a similar vein, we have introduced the Purchase ERP last month with the help of which the entire process for placing requisition orders, having them checked, producing vendor comparative charts, and producing purchase orders has been made automatic, complete with live tracking of the status of requisitions. This has really helped with streamlining the efficiency of the process. Meanwhile, other live modules like functional dashboards for Environment Coordinators, JYEP Coordinators, School Counsellors, Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff, IT Assistants, and Principals are also proving to be a big hit among staff members as the benefits become clear through usage.
In order to further streamline and automate the recruitment process, candidates can now apply online for all job openings at City Montessori School. Candidates can download e-Call Letters sent automatically to them after being shortlisted. Meanwhile, a module is under development in order to fully automate the internal administrative processes associated with staff recruitment. This year, for the first time all staff filled their Self-Evaluation forms successfully online via the IT Portal.
As shared in my article last month, we have also developed a platform known as 'CMS ERA' together with the IT Training Department and the Innovation Wing to support teachers in developing their own e-content resources (approx. 150 quality-checked items so far) to use in classrooms. It consists of pre-defined templates for creating worksheets and interactive files, and teachers have begun to build quality digital classroom content as a result. At the same time, our Open Educational Resources (OER) platform – on which teachers can add helpful learning links that all other teachers can make use of – continues to go strong, with 4,557 links so far added and approved by the Quality Assurance Department.
In order to go paperless and green, we facilitate our Teaching and Non Teaching Staff with e-Certificates on successful completion of IT Assessment. Now, we also have a searchable data repository for all the circulars. A Staff Directory with faceted search is also available for searching contacts across campuses and various departments at Head Office, as well as a live CMS event calendar.
We are happy to be partnered with Google for GSuite for Education. Each staff member and all the students from Class 6 onwards have their official CMS Gmail ID to use apps like Google Drive for cloud storage, Google Classroom’s virtual classroom, Google Calendar for managing meetings, and other helpful Google productivity and educational tools. Important surveys - such as the Teachers’ Feedback Survey, Child Well Being Survey, and Environment & Pollution survey - were well supported by live statistics on respective dashboards on the IT Portal.
Further, we would like to share that all our web applications are currently running with support from Amazon Web Services. To support all this work, the Portal Development Team continues to practise new methodologies and techniques in order to keep digitizing us further. There are ambitious and exciting plans for further development, from which all will benefit in the coming months.
Career Library Inaugurated at CMS Rajajipuram Campus I
Director of Strategy, CMS, Mr. Roshan Gandhi inaugurating the Career Library
Career Library was inaugurated on 30th November, 2018 by Mr. Roshan Gandhi, Director of Strategy, CMS. It is one of a kind where students get the opportunity to explore various careers domains. It embraces careers from alphabet A-Z. The career folders encompass basic overview about that particular career, the soft skills and personal skills required to excel in that career, eligibility criteria, list of course and colleges.
It also comprises of unconventional careers which will be in demand in the coming years. This feature will give a different overview about the world scenario students' horizons of thinking expand.
The Career Library contains brochures and prospectus of various colleges abroad as well as of Indian Universities so that the students planning to apply to these respective Universities may be able to scroll through the entire authentic information.
The Career Library also contains reference books and guides for students who desire to qualify SAT Exams. Latest information related to various careers, colleges, Universities, departments, etc. is present for reference.
The career library is equipped with a webcam to organize webinars and skype sessions with University representatives and resource people from various careers.
A world map on the entire back wall of the Career Library shows our school's global presence, our students studying across the different countries of the globe so that our students can get inspired to be where their predecessors are flourishing.