Admissions FAQ

14 years old. We first opened our doors in August 2007. Our tenth birthday was celebrated in June 2017. Since then, well over 2600 students have attended The International School of Moscow.

All our teachers are suitably qualified by to teach in our school. A significant number of teachers have higher qualifications, such as Masters degrees in various fields. Our local teachers and English as an Additional Language teachers all have appropriate local qualifications.

We are guided by the National Curriculum for England, with a clear structure that defines the skills and knowledge that learners should acquire throughout the key stages.

At ISM, we believe that the ability to understand and communicate in another language is a lifelong skill for education, employment and leisure in this country and throughout the world. Our MFL curriculum is designed to prepare students for IGCSE and A Level in Spanish and French languages.

There is a minimum of two adults in every class from Early Years to Year 6: one Teacher and one Assistant Teacher. Certain classes, such as Pre-Nursery have two Assistant Teachers to support.

We provide significant support for EAL learners with specialist EAL Assistant Teachers in every year group. These assistants support our students both in class and also out of class in one-to-one or small group sessions to help boost their English language skills. Students in our Secondary School also receive the significant benefit of ability-grouping in English lessons to ensure that students with limited English receive appropriately-targeted instruction. In addition, each campus has a dedicated EAL Department and EAL Coordinators.

Each Campus has a dedicated SEND team who offer a combination of individual support in lessons and one-to-one support. Specific support for SEND students is tailored according to each child’s specific needs. Additionally, teachers take the learning needs of all students into account when planning learning experiences.

We offer two hours per week of enrichment activities for all students on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. These activities cover everything from sport, the arts, science and technology to a wide range of other interesting activities which are updated termly.

Getting out of school and bringing learning to life is a key part of learning at our school. All students go on multiple educational excursions, whether investigating the flow of a river or learning about the cosmos in the planetarium.

Students from Year Three upwards take part in residential programmes which help to build skills such as leadership, resilience and empathy, as students work with local communities to learn about the world in places as far afield as Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa.

The Sports Programme at ISM combines competition and participation. We focus on the key aspects of skill, engagement, sportsmanship, leadership and fitness. In PE lessons, students develop individual skills whilst learning valuable lessons about working in a team. ISM is proud to offer over 25 different sports as a part of our academic programme.

The main sports that we compete in are football, basketball, athletics and swimming. We compete in tournaments both internationally and in Moscow, such as the World Games and MISAS. We are very pleased to have consistent success in these competitions and, every year, we take home trophies and medals from tournaments all around the world.

Outside of PE lessons, there are numerous opportunities for students to get involved in sport. We enter a variety of competitions, hosted by the Council of British International Schools and Nord Anglia Education amongst our family of schools. Our students also regularly compete in inter-house sports competitions in school.

All students at ISM play musical instruments as an integral part of the curriculum. 

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, students sing and explore a variety of instruments, giving them a firm grounding to move onto taking up instruments with our team of musical specialists.

From Year 2 to Year 9, we provide whole-class instrumental tuition once per week, taught by a dedicated team of full-time specialist instrumental teachers.

Our younger students start with the recorder, violin or classical guitar. The recorder groups then progress to band instruments as the students move into Upper Primary, where full wind ensembles and orchestras are formed.

All students also receive classroom-based music lessons where they sing, listen to a wide range of music and study music theory and history. 

In addition to our curriculum-based ensembles, our school boasts a number of choirs, a jazz ‘big band’ and an orchestra, as well as a number of rock bands.

We offer music at both GCSE and A Level and our academic results are excellent. All students who have taken GCSE music in the past two academic years have achieved at least an ‘A’ grade.

All our students also have the chance take our individual instrumental and singing lessons in both classical and popular music styles, with a truly comprehensive range of instruments.

We are also very proud to be the only fully-licensed testing centre in the Russian Federation for both theory and practical examinations for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Both internal and external candidates can gain valuable musical qualifications with us by demonstrating their fantastic musical skills.

Students at ISM are taught Art from EYFS to Year 13, where it is a very popular examination option. Our A level students have gone onto study at prestigious institutions such as Goldsmiths College in London. Students partake in a varied curriculum, including visual arts, pottery and design, taught by specialist Art teachers.

There is an annual ‘Art Week’, during which our primary school students work on larger projects. In the secondary school, the year culminates in our Art exhibition where all examination work is displayed for parents, visitors and students to see.

Although Drama is taught through literacy and English throughout ISM, in the Secondary school students receive a specialist Drama lesson in our Drama studio. From Years 7 to 9, students follow a scheme of work encompassing various theatre techniques and styles including role play, improvisation, physical theatre, devised activities and script writing.

Drama is a popular option at GCSE level and we run the A Level Theatre studies course in the Sixth Form.

One of the highlights of the academic year is our musical theatre production which takes place in a local theatre. Previous shows have included ‘West Side Story’, ‘Oliver’, ‘School of Rock’ and ‘We Will Rock You’.

A choice of hot lunch options is provided daily with a 3-week rotating menu, published on our website. Students and staff eat the same lunch. We believe that lunch is a social occasion, where we can share the day, build friendships, and develop our language skills.

We work very hard to ensure a smooth transition into our school. On their first day in school, your children will be met by their Class Teacher / Form Tutor at the beginning of the day. Every child who is new to the school is paired with a ‘buddy’, who will help them throughout their first week in school. We invite all new parents into school at the end of the first week to discuss any issues and answer any questions. We also ensure that all parents have direct contact details of their class teacher and can ask any questions they may have.

We have a strong belief in our positive approach to behaviour. Students are rewarded, individually and collectively as a class, for their attitude, effort, achievement, and for upholding the standards that we all believe in. We treat our students as creative, independent, and thoughtful individuals and trust them to act responsibly. On the rare occasion students do not live up to our expectations, we have clear procedures that involve the student, their parents and their tutor or teacher, to ensure that they learn from the experience.

ISM graduates enter top universities across the world. Many of our graduates have gone to the top academic institutions in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and many other countries across Europe.

We have a range of buses serving the popular residential areas where our families live. Our specialist Bus Coordinator works directly with families to ensure quality of service and convenience for our students and families.

We communicate via email, personal calls, Seesaw (in EYFS and Primary School) and our online Parent Portal (in Secondary School). Upon arrival, parents receive login details for our Parent Portal and / or ‘Seesaw’. As well as being a good means of communication, ‘Seesaw’ also gives our parents an insight into the daily education of their children.

Our parents are all invited to take an active role in school life. Many of our events offer parents the opportunity to spectate or participate directly. In addition to this, we encourage families to support their children from home. We have a number of information channels to keep parents informed about classroom learning.

ISM also has a Parent Representative Body and Parent Action Committees, with parents collaborating with the school management on a range of projects. These representatives also encourage a community atmosphere between families, as they facilitate social communication outside of school.

We are also always happy to hear from parents with particular skills or backgrounds in order to offer our students diverse and interesting viewpoints. 

If you have an inspiring story that you would like to share with our students, we would love to hear about it.