Since its inception in the year 1927, the Podar Group has taken giant strides to extend their reach not only in the cities but also to the interiors of our motherland, with the ideology that quality education is the right of every child.

As the Podar fraternity spread across geographical boundaries, it became indispensable to ensure that the quality of education is maintained and enhanced further.

Thus in the year 2008, the Podar Innovation Center (PIC) came into being with five veterans – not only skilled academicians but also exceptionally creative, energetic and zealous people who wanted to bring about a change that mattered.

Today, PIC encompasses a team of more than 80 such academicians, educationists and experts who work to facilitate teaching and learning at various levels of the Podar educational system, starting at the primary and ascending up to the senior secondary school.

The advantage of having a centralized and a standardized system is that irrespective of where a school is located, the Podar standard of education is maintained. Right from selecting textbooks, building syllabus, making of the yearly planners, developing lesson plans using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and other teaching aids, formulating worksheets, designing question papers and internal assessments, developing guidelines for activities, projects and lab work, the PIC team ensures that only the best goes to our students.

This team aims to provide high quality academic and non-academic support to all the Podar Education Network Schools based on the curriculum guidelines from the various boards including Indian boards like the Central Board for Secondary Education and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, the Maharashtra State Board and an international board like the Cambridge Assessment of International Examination.

Continuous and Uninterrupted Quality Education in the times of a Pandemic – Virtual School Plans

According to Charles Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest, it is not the smartest or the most intelligent species that survive but the fastest to change and adapt. With the outbreak of the pandemic of Covid-19 the world was faced with a situation where only those who adapted survived. Podar Education Network was quick at adapting to the situation. In the short transition period from pre-lockdown to lockdown the Podar Innovation Center created a Virtual School Plan (VSP) that went live on the 2nd of April, 2020 – the scheduled day for the start of the new academic session.

The Virtual School Plan (VSP) was a threefold plan with creation of content to support synchronous and asynchronous virtual classroom teaching in the form of resources like lesson plans and student support documents amongst others, creation of a support system to guide teachers, students and parents alike, to transition smoothly onto a platform for teaching that many of them had never experienced before; and thirdly the creation of a system to continuously monitor and evaluate the performance of schools – despite the odds.

All verticals of the Podar Innovation Center worked in synergy to create and execute the plan effectively.

Curriculum and Content Development is at the core of the Podar Innovation Centre. The team specializes in creating curriculum and content based on the guidelines of various boards including CBSE, ICSE, CAIE and the Maharashtra State Board.

The Podar System of Education values the child as a strong, capable and resilient individual, rich with wonder and knowledge. Every child brings with him deep curiosity and potential and this innate curiosity drives his interest to understand the world and his place within it. Our curriculum allows the child to reflect, solve, create, grow and most importantly, think. The core elements of the PIC Curriculum are as follows:

• Inquiry Approach: All subjects are dealt with using scientific approach of inquiry based learning that involves engaging visuals and presentation formats, and well-crafted activities to arouse the learner’s curiosity. It taps into the procedural, manipulative, observational, drawing, reporting and interpretive skills of the learners, hence enabling them to better grasp the key concepts.
• Problem Solving Skills: All subjects are dealt with using scientific approach of inquiry based learning that involves engaging visuals and presentation formats, and well-crafted activities to arouse the learner’s curiosity. It taps into the procedural, manipulative, observational, drawing, reporting and interpretive skills of the learners, hence enabling them to better grasp the key concepts.
• Thinking Skills: Profound thinking skills require both imagination and intellectual ideas. To produce excellence in thinking we engage our learners in a curriculum that overlaps the logical and the imaginative. Our curriculum provides students with ample opportunities to practise higher order thinking.

The Curriculum and Content Team of the PIC provides a wide range of academic solutions to schools, within and outside the Podar Education Network, including those aligned to the Podar Curriculum Consultancy and the Podar Learn Schools. The academic solutions range as follows:

• Curriculum Solutions Period Allocation: For optimal effectiveness of the entire teaching – learning process it is important that the time devoted to each subject is well planned. The syllabus designed for a particular academic year needs to be carefully distributed for successful learning to happen. Thus the PIC team provides the schools with a period allocation plan that synchronizes completely with the syllabus laid.
• Syllabus: Schools are provided with a syllabus for each grade and subject. The syllabus provides the teacher with the number of periods required to complete a particular lesson. The syllabus is planned keeping in mind the tentative number of working days that each school is expected to have in a single academic year. While formulating the syllabus care is taken to include sufficient time for revision of topics. The syllabus also accounts for the time in the academic year that is invested in the non-academic and co-curricular events of the school like the school annual day, sports day and other activities.
• Teacher’s Manual: Teachers need to make wise decisions about the strategies and methods that they would apply to help learners understand & move systematically toward learner centric goals. Lesson planning is a vital component of the teaching-learning process. Proper classroom planning keeps teachers organized and on track while teaching. The better prepared the teacher is, the more likely she will be able to handle whatever unexpectedly happens in the lesson. PIC provides user friendly Teacher’s Manuals to guide teachers on how to facilitate successful lessons. The Teacher’s manual is the instructor’s road map of what students need to learn and how to deliver the lesson effectively during the given class time. The manuals recommend the use of stories, poems and other stimuli as set induction. They incorporate instructional strategies that lead to fruitful thinking. They provide the teacher with tips to integrate learnings together and make the lessons interactive.
• Assessments: Assessment resources include Question Paper, Blue Print and Answer Schemes to these Question Papers.
  Academic solutions also contain Practice Sheets / Question Banks and Revision Tests as per the requirement of each subject. These resources provide the needed revision and help to the students to prepare for their exams.
• Virtual School Plan Curriculum and Content: In order to ensure that education and academics of our students is not hampered during the Covid-19 associated global lockdown, Virtual School Plans were created promptly. Classes were conducted on online platforms synchronously as well as asynchronously. The curriculum and content team of the PIC ensured a smooth transition to an absolutely new medium of instruction for teachers and students by creating quality resources to support such teaching and learning.
  • A Virtual Schooling Timetable (VSTT) is made available ontheBetweenUsportalfor the learners to ensure that students follow a schedule of studying for a few hours every day.
  • The Student Support Documents (SSDs) are made available for every lesson in the syllabus. These documents prescribe detailed step by step instruction to the students as to what he/she has to do each day to complete the course on schedule.
  • Video resources and Power points are provided in addition to the SSD for every lesson.
  • The teaching learning is supported by Synchronous and Asynchronous virtual classes conducted by teachers.
  • Worksheets are provided to support practice of the concepts learnt. Students download these worksheets and submit their answers through the BetweenUs portal itself where they are assessed by the teachers and then receive teacher’s feedback.
• Integrated English: At Podar all our endeavours focus on a safe and nurturing school environment that supports and encourages lifelong learning.
  The Integrated English Curriculum is an extension of the academic and co-curricular work at Podar with a vision to develop self-initiated learners that showcase independent thinking, self-confidence, teamwork, ability to communicate their thoughts and ideas and a sense of personal and social responsibility.
  This is achieved by focusing on developing 21st century skills of Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity through theme based modules which utilize experiential and project based learning techniques as their basis for learning.
  Sessions are student centric where we expect the teachers to act as the facilitators.
• Theatre in Education: Podar Innovation Centre took one more step beyond academics in enhancing the teaching learning experience for its students with its program on Theatre in Education. TiE uses interactive theatre and drama activities and practices to help aid the educational process. The foundation of the program lies in the belief that students learn best by doing. Theatre and drama provide opportunities to students to experience and perceive the concept in an individualized way. Over and above the drilling of the concept, TiE also helps in enhancing communication skills and developing and honing the performance related skills, thus building the students’ confidence.
• Remedial Learning: Every child achieves learning at their own pace. Some students pick up faster than the others, while some others require additional support. PIC provides resources that aid the teachers to provide additional support for students who require remediation. These resources are broadly in the form of worksheets on Literacy and Numeracy. These worksheets assist students to accomplish expected proficiencies in core academic skills.
• Academic Guidance for Standard IX & X: Robust academic guidance is given to teachers for grades IX and X. It is ensured that the students are provided with exam oriented content which will prepare them systematically for the Board exams.
• Symphonics: Symphonics is the in-house phonics program that spreads from Pre-school to Std. V. The program aims to develop a strong foundation in English language learning by integrating phonics into the learning of reading, writing and spelling of words.
  The program incorporates the use of colourful flashcards, interesting stories and melodic rhymes for making learning joyful. The journey to reading is made easy and enjoyable with the help of read-along books which are in simple decodable text. Extensive lesson plans and illustrated teaching and behaviour manuals support effective teaching.

The Theme Based Approach is a way of teaching and learning, whereby many areas of the curriculum are connected together and integrated within a theme.

The activities and lessons focus on providing students with relevant, meaningful interactive, hands-on experiences. It is also important that the lesson plans and activities be related to real-life experiences.

The thematic units give a coordinated way to deal with educating and learning. Children are able to relate to real-world experiences and build on prior knowledge of a topic. Thematic units also help teachers by paving a way to facilitating learning for each child who has his/her own way of learning things.

A thematic way to deal with instructing includes incorporating every single branch of knowledge together under one subject. Themes help us to weave the design that brings in the structure to the whole of our approach. They intertwine the different methodologies which make the learning experience meaningful for the child.

Through the theme, children get to understand their own unique strengths, explore multiple ways of learning and also use the skills that they have been acquiring.

Through skilful planning the curriculum integrates into a framework that helps children to be introduced to life skills, academic skills, understanding one’s own unique skills, critical thinking and ample of opportunities are provided for children to learn social, cognitive, emotional and physical development which are recognized as equally valuable assets which are reflected in our curriculum.

Training programs designed to develop and enhance the classroom practice of teachers across all subjects.

Theatre in Education – Theatre in Education is a fun way of achieving learning objectives and curriculum through skills and techniques used in drama and theatre. The techniques involve the use Body-Voice and Imagination by the teacher, and subsequently by the students, to not only acquire knowledge but also its application in real life, thereby expanding curriculum into life with skills like empathy, confidence, public speaking and so much more. It equips the teachers with tools and techniques that make a classroom engaging and learning fun.
The training program aims at equipping the teachers with engaging activities and games based on conceptual goals, where a student seamlessly engages in learning and application of concepts in a fun and play-way environment.

Inquiry Based Learning 1.0 – an introductory program aimed at strategies to get students to ask more questions in class, develop their questioning skills and build their curiosity to discover and explore. Make students responsible for their own learning and make teachers responsible for students discovering.

Inquiry Based Learning 2.0 – an extension of the IBL 1.0 that takes inquiry based learning to the next level by using curiosity to engage learners in achieving learning outcomes through scientific and inquiry based methodologies.

Skills in Teaching – Teaching is a combination of different skills that a teacher uses in the class to facilitate learning. These skills too need to be upgraded with new developments in terms of teaching learning processes.’Skills in Teaching’ module is to strengthen the core teaching skills of the teachers to make the learning interesting and joyful.

Understanding Assessment for Learning – a training module aimed at guiding teachers in identifying success criteria for desired learning outcomes of lessons and designing and using rubrics to assess the achievement of these criteria.

1. ‘Enspire’ – training modules on innovative teaching strategies for English teachers.

2. Aarohan – training modules on innovative teaching strategies for Hindi teachers.

3. Mathadaology – training modules on innovative teaching strategies for Maths teachers.

4. SocioLogic – training modules on innovative teaching strategies for Social Studies teachers.

5. Scientifica – training modules on innovative teaching strategies for Science teachers.

1. New School Training – In It to Win It is a combination of coaching and classroom training program conducted once every term for the leader and the staff of a school in the first year of its opening to orient and guide them into the systems and processes of the network.

2. Instructional Coaching – Coaching has emerged as one of the more effective professional development options for adult learners. A Principal’s most important role is instructional leadership. The instructional coaching program that aims at helping teachers reach their potential in terms of their planning and instructional practice, aims at building coaching skills amongst experienced teachers and helping leaders maximise their performance as instructional leaders.

3. Prevention of Sexual Harassment – Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) of women at the workplace is a top-priority for Podar International Schools. For the policy to be effective it is critical that every female in the organisation understands her rights and duties with regards to the prevention of any uncalled for event. It is also important that the male staff understand the unambiguity in terms of behaviour with female at the workplace. Education of the staff, therefore, is key to the effective implementation of the policy. The HR department along with the Podar Innovation Centre, conduct a training sessions to educate all employees on the law on POSH.

4. Open House Program – Learning trends across the world are changing and educationists are finding new ways to make virtual learning more joyful and meaningful for children. Although we connect to students on virtual platforms, we also need to connect with our parents and keep them updated on our plans and strategies. The Open Day/Open House is a great opportunity to connect with parents. This program is a visual training module that aims to bring parents and the school on the same page.

Training programs aimed at developing new leaders as much as enhancing the skills of experienced leaders in the network.

1. New Principal Induction Program – a 2-day training program for principals joining the network to induct them into the systems and process of the organisation.

2. Pedagogical Planning – A virtual training program to guide all school principals in the network to become Pedagogical Leaders, as defined by the CBSE and to help them design effective and sustainable Pedagogical Plans.

3. Learning Walkthroughs – A virtual training program to guide principals on the process of conducting learning walkthroughs that help principals become instructional leaders through strategic and effective interactions with teachers about their classroom practice. A strategy used by many principals to gather classroom information and frame that interaction is the Classroom Learning Walkthrough.

Coaching programs for staff and leaders, based on the development and enhancement of particular skills varying from communication, presentation, delegation, coaching, classroom practice etc.

1. Mindfulness – Life Skills Program for Students – We, at Podar Education Network believe in the holistic development of our students. Therefore, we focus not only on knowledge but also in the development of life skills among our students. “Happiness” is the meaning and purpose of life. The path towards true happiness is said to be through harmony with our inner-self, and self-discovery in the process of learning. The LS program has been designed in a ‘spiral’ approach, increasing in depth from class to class. The activities focus on mindfulness to the physical and emotional self; thereby leading to awareness on how to be happy. It aims to support students in their journey towards sustainable happiness through engaging exercises (mind and body), and reflective activities on the basis of the happiness triad of Momentary Happiness, Deeper Happiness and Sustainable Happiness.

2. SpeakEnglish – a foundational program for staff aimed at improving spoken English skills.

3. Anger and Stress Management – Podar International School has a zero tolerance policy towards corporal punishment of students. Happy teachers make happy classrooms and happy classrooms make a happy school. As a part of the zero tolerance policy, we train our teachers to be equipped and prepared to handle difficult situations in the classrooms and outside. In the year 2019-20 all teachers were trained on Anger Management and Stress Management, with special focus on contexts within the schools.

4. iLead – an Action Research Project based development program for the school principals. As a part of the project, every year, schools identify one problem area. The project is run across all schools in phases where data is collected on the identified area, customised action plans and decisions are made – based on the data, by the principals. These plans are then implemented, executed, monitored and thereby improvised in schools until targets are achieved. Principals research and prepare literature on the identified problem area and its solution. Best research projects are shared with the network principals.

5. EdSpeak – EdSpeak is a common platform created for the Podar school leaders. The platform provides the principals with the opportunity to share their ideas and views on changes achievements in education, skills, student development, and best practices carried out in their schools. These ideas are recorded in video format that is shared on the portal.

Guidance in the form of written material is put together in the form of handbooks on particular topics to guide school staff.

1. Teachers’ Journal – a handbook that equips the teacher with short literature on pedagogical concepts, systems and tools for improved teaching practices and templates to record observations and learning from peer teachers and training sessions.

2. Grooming and Etiquette – a handbook that guides teachers to understand grooming and etiquette of the education field.

3. Learning Walkthrough – a handbook to guide leaders and teachers on the process of learning walkthroughs

As the Podar Group of Schools grew, designing the curriculum alone was not sufficient to ensure quality education in all the schools. This need gave birth to the Podar Review System in the year 2015 with the mission to reach the pinnacle of academic success through quality assurance. This system is based on continuous strategic improvement, trust and respect, evaluation and innovation, professional competence with commitment to excellence, thus laying a platform for our students to become successful global citizens.

The Teachnique Review team ensures that all the Podar International Schools provide high quality education, leading to high standards and the best outcomes in a safe environment for all our students.

School Self Evaluation
The Review team engages the whole school in the development of their School Self Evaluation by defining their strengths and weaknesses. This is followed by the creation and formulation of a carefully thought-out School Development Plan. This plan details the improvements the school needs to make in six areas – namely Student Outcome, Student Behavior and Personal Development, Welfare, Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Leadership and Management, and Zero Tolerance to Corporal Punishment. Each of these areas are clearly defined in the Review Handbook that acts as the guiding document for all schools in the network.

School Development Plan
The School Development Plan outlines the goals and actions ensures that each school across the Podar Education Network reaches its potential and crosses the benchmark of being outstanding. The world is changing rapidly and is becoming more data driven. Schools now have access to more data than they had ever before. Leaders that leverage data to drive decision making, create a culture that encourages critical thinking and curiosity. It empowers them to make better decisions every day.

Review Trainings
To ensure that data analysis becomes mainstream in formulating the School Development Along with the School Development Plan, the review team conducts training sessions on ‘Data Analysis – Making Data Driven Decisions’, ‘Teaching Learning Analysis’ etc.

Research
The Review department is gaining its foothold in the field of research as well. In order to better our efforts towards school development, a lot of data is collected through primary as well as secondary research and further analyzed in order to make more informed decisions. The data collected covers a number of topics like remedial teaching methodologies, how to do better lesson observations, etc. Further the research is used to build internal case studies on exemplary schools in order to help other schools in their development. A recent example is the “Mitigating the Challenges of COVID 19 on School Shutdown” case study which was based on one of our schools in Yavatmal, Maharashtra.

Virtual School Plan Support
To ensure that there is no interruption to the deployment and effective usage of the Virtual School Plan by the parents and students in the network, a support system has been created for all the schools. Each school is assigned a Single-Point-of-Contact (SPOC) to coordinate with in the case of any concerns or issues regarding the VSP. The SPOC proactively tracks and supports the school to overcome the challenges that may hamper the successful implementation of the VSP.

Virtual School Reviews
Keeping a step ahead in the current situation around the world, the review team continues to monitor and evaluate the network schools in the academic year 2020-21 via virtual school reviews. With the use of virtual lesson observations of online classes, the Teaching Learning Assessment is monitored and evaluated. Virtual interviews and conversations via platforms like Google meet and Hangout with the leaders of the school help in ensuring effective interaction. Virtual surveys and assessments are conducted with teachers and students and documentation and compliance are monitored through scanned documentation. This has ensured that the entire cycle does not stop during the global lockdown.

Podar International School has introduced state-of-the-art Innovation Labs that give students a hands-on education on the latest technologies like Robotics, 3D Printing and Virtual Reality.
Robotics and drones help them to learn programming, automation and coding. Through 3D printing, we encourage students to use their knowledge and zeal to solve problems through designing. Virtual reality helps them explore the extreme environment and faraway places.
The Innovation Lab is a dedicated space for children to apply STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics concepts with an integrated curriculum.
The Innovation Lab is an avenue to reach students who want to express themselves creatively. Podar International School wants these spaces to be where students can be creative, collaborate, and think outside the traditional boxes.

Technology can be a boon or bane – depends on how you use it. We strongly believe that controlling is not the solution but educating is. Thus, instead of just adding filters and firewalls, we also conduct cyber safety workshops for students of Std V to X and ensure that they become good Netizens.

Every student of Podar International School receives a username password of BetweenUs for online learning. Podar International School incorporates a Virtual Time Table for students to impart learning online. This is achieved via BetweenUs Portal which allows the schools/parents to communicate with each other, submit assignments, view the resources as well as pay fees online.

During the Covid-19 associated lockdown synchronous and asynchronous classes are being conducted for students by all the network schools. This has led to the generation of some top-class visual educational content for students of various grades, across the boards – CBSE, ICSE and Cambridge International. These comprise of videos based on different core subjects for students across all grades.
The EduTech team in coordination with the other verticals of the PIC created video-libraries on the popular online platform – youtube.com for each board. Access to these 500 plus video libraries have been brought together and made available to not only the students and parents in the network but also to the general public for the larger benefit.

The Sports Lab is aimed at developing fundamental skills such as focus, strategic thinking and leadership through the practice of sporting discipline.

Our ensemble of sporting activities include.

• Traditional sports such as basketball, cricket, hockey and football. New age sports such as skating.
• Coaches for each sport are selected after careful scrutiny to ensure that experience, knowledge and teaching skills are brought together for the benefit of our students.
• Each extracurricular activity has a carefully constructed syllabus, which is taught in a scientific and planned manner to ensure the participants not only enjoy the sport, but also develop the qualities that these sports nurture in the athletes.

Our skill development courses bridge the gap between curiosity and action, empowering our young learners with the ability to follow their passions. A wide variety of holistic hobby classes are offered to our students such as:

• Theatre
• Indian and Western Dance
• Classical and International Music
• Public Speaking and Debating
• Computer Animation

Experts from each of these fields are brought in to teach the students the importance and subtleties of each subject. The ultimate objective is to help create all round students – successful both in and out of the classroom.