1. Please mention about the school and its mission/vision and various infrastructural facilities.

MySchool International(MSI) is located in Muscat, Oman, serving KG to grade 12. It was founded in 2012 by an experienced Omani leadership. The school today caters for students from different nationalities, with teachers from diverse countries. MySchool is a recognized IB world school, certified in PYP(Primary Years Programme) and an MYP candidate(Middle Years Programme). Fundamental to our teaching and learning approach is the recognition that children are natural inquirers who will develop socially, physically and academically in different times and at different speeds, as we believe that education is a process, not a race.

MySchool Vision

We go beyond the classic approaches of Education. We offer the most innovative and the latest International Curriculums. We are deep-rooted in our values. We develop critical thinkers and responsible citizens in a peaceful world.

MySchool Mission

MySchool aims to develop a learner who believes in the hopes of the homeland, meets the aspirations of the progress and bears in mind the international changes. A learner who is deep- rooted in the Omani values and heritage, familiar with all the methods enabling to be an inquirer and a long life learner.

2. Kindly mention about the prominent personality of the school and his/her role in the development of the school.

Founder of Myschool (Mrs. Samia Moosa Al Balushi as the Principal). Mrs. Al Balushi has a Higher Diploma in Kindergarten Study from the College of Education, Amman University – Jordan. She has 26 years of teaching experience in the kindergarten at both Al Sahwa Private School & Myschool. As she joined Alsahwa Schools in 1994, she is considered one of those who established the KG school among other KG teachers.

She has attended over 60 educational workshops and seminars (Locally , Regionally & Internationally). With her lateral thinking and introduction of new concepts in teaching, she is shaping a vision of academic success for all students with whom she interacts. She has succeeded in creating an environment congenial to learning. She believes in cultivating leadership qualities in students. Improving instruction methodology is her constant endeavor.

Apart from the above, she has regular updates on the current education system prevailing across the globe. She is also well-versed in Ministry rules and regulations and the pattern of education prevailing in the Sultanate of Oman. She has been instrumental in formulating the best system needed in education, which is the hallmark that increased the number of students in the school within such a short span of time.

3. Kindly describe about the various courses offered by the school and their salient features.

We adopt the PYP approach in teaching KG-G5 and MYP to G5-G10 students. We offer General Diploma to students in grades 11 and 12. We take on the inquiry-based and concept-based approaches to teaching and learning to meet the IB requirements and foster our learners’ needs to prepare them for a successful future.

The students are encouraged to work collaboratively, discuss, ask questions, set goals and reflect on their learning. The key and related concepts let learning move from a 2D to a 3D shape to scaffold a deeper understanding of the topic. Through these approaches, the learning journey becomes a transferable, timeless and universal journey.

At MySchool, students also learn in a multilingual environment that offers English as the language of instruction and Arabic as their mother tongue to maintain their cultural identity in addition to French as a third language and the Mandarin as a fourth. We think that when students learn an additional language, other than their mother tongue, they will develop a broader understanding of other cultures as well as accept the others with all their differences.

Our ICT teachers integrated the STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) into their curriculum. We believe that doing so would foster students critical thinking skills and creativity. Examples of such projects are programming(Scratch), sphero and EV 3.

4. Please mention what steps are you taking beyond the traditional curriculum to ensure overall development of the students?

International-mindedness: We believe that having a multilingual environment and learning about and through different languages foster open-mindedness, mutual respect and empathy. Indeed, we focus on the global concepts that allow students to think deeply. As a result, students are encouraged to think independently and critically to take the responsibility of their own learning and to raise a sense of awareness towards the human condition through their personal experiences and those of the others in their national and international communities.

Community Services: We maintain that learning is better when it is related to real life. Hence, MySchool is always encouraging students, parents and staff to take part in different events and projects. In this regard, I can mention a few experiences:

·         MySchool Marathon whereby all returns are granted to social associations(child cancer, Dar Al Attaa, Arahma Association)

·         Participation in Autism day

·         Maa’joureen Project

·         The ambassadors of values: a project that aims to spread values among the community members.

·         Having guest speakers at school, such as book writers, poets, athletes, doctors, firefighters, NGO members, flight attendants,…

·         Contributions to exhibitions and celebrations in schools, universities and colleges(SQU, Caledonian, Al Mashareq school,Omam girls school,…)

Moreover; as an IB world school, we adhere to IB learner profile traits. We all strive to be  Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-minded, Caring, balanced, risk-takers and reflective. We also believe that the uniqueness of the IB learner profile contributes in developing students as citizens who respect all the people with their different nationalities, customs and beliefs in a global peaceful world.

5. What steps does the school take to motivate and develop the students’ interest towards education?

We are following an inquiry-based approach which triggers students’ background knowledge, and integrates their interests and wonderings. Our facilitators allow the students to think and express themselves in an authentic and creative way, use a range of strategies to meet students’ learning needs and styles, engage them in reflecting on how, what and why they are learning. In this way no students feel left behind. Moreover, when students have the choice and voice over their learning they feel they are the owners of this journey and will contribute more. Through inquiry and concept-based learning, students develop to become critical thinkers, and problem solvers. Students are able to own their learning, inquire, investigate, take decisions, transfer and apply what they are learning in school to real life situations.

Students are engaging in project-based learning practices in which they are working towards a purpose and they are constantly  co-constructing learning experiences and success criteria with their teachers.

6. What are the career opportunities available to the students after completion of their courses?

MySchool students will be IB graduates, able to compete at both local and international level. They will not get foundation courses in higher education. From the basic grades, we provide them with skills and knowledge that would prepare them for their future life.

7. Other than traditional occupations, what other career field options are available for them?

Multilingualism, great communication, self-management, social, research and thinking skills, open-mindedness and technology skills will certainly open up new gates to their career life. Our students mostly have outstanding leading skills. The implementation of the IB programs helped us to develop the concept of leadership and the creation of young leaders who are able to easily deal with the global issues and changes in a positive and contributing way. They learn to express themselves in different ways(language, arts, music, etc) which will help them in choosing their future profession and being innovative.

We are always integrating technology into our teaching and learning practices. Our students are developing great digital literacy. Accordingly, MySchool provides a well-equipped apple ICT Lab, smartboards and desktops in all classrooms. Our learners have their personal iPads( Grades 3-7) and MacBook Pro(Grades 8-12).  Early year and lower primary students use in-class iPads. 

8. Please enlighten us about the school’s major awards/achievements, its accomplished/renowned alumni, remarkable collaborations, and major accreditations.

·         PYP accreditation, May 2018

·         Top 10 schools in global word-mania contest, November 2019

·         Oxford University Press user

·         Apple certified teachers

·         Maajoureen project

·         Recognized engineering village partner

·         Participation in the 25th Muscat international book fair

9. Kindly elaborate about the future plans of the school in the same.

We are planning to enroll our Diploma teachers for IB DP workshops by the next academic year and then, we will be a DP authorized school as well.

MySchool’s long term objective is to become an Apple Distinguished School. As a matter of fact, we have started training our teachers by Apple Distinguished workshop leaders . Currently, all our teachers are apple certified teachers.

As we are striving to be courageous, risk-takers and persistent, we are dreaming big here. We dream for a modern and big school that meets our students and teachers’ ambitions. We care for our students and we deeply believe they deserve the best education. We also dream of opening our doors from early morning to evening providing services, curricular and extracurricular activities to everyone with teachers and supervisors working on shifts.