Student Accomplishments

Over the years our IB Diploma Programme external examinations results have been among the best in the region. The May 2018 IB Diploma Programme results have shown great success for Innoventures Education’s students in this world-renowned and rigorous qualification.

Dubai International Academy has shown first-rate results for the outgoing class of 2018. The perfect score of 45 points, which is attained by less than 1% of the population globally, has been achieved by Paulomi Sengupta. Paulomi will join the University of Nottingham UK to study Medicine. An elated Paulomi said “The IB was a truly transformative experience and I’m thrilled and excited with the results. I can’t thank my teachers enough for all their support and for shaping me as a person as well as a student. As challenging as the IB was, it was also extremely rewarding and I’m confident that it has prepared me well for both university and life in general.”

It is notable that not only have 18% of the students achieved a score of 38 points or more, 76% of the graduating class has exceeded the world average of 30 points. 13 of our students scored over 40 points and above and the cohort reached an average of 34 points overall.

Students of Dubai International Academy will joining top-tier universities this year including Stanford University, Brown University, Cornell University, McGill, University of British Columbia, University College of London, London School of Economics and Political Science and the Russell-Group universities. All Emirati students passes the Diploma; Hussein Ali Abdulhussein Dawood will be attending The University of British Columbia to study Engineering on a full scholarship after gaining an impressive total score of 36 points in the Diploma Programme and Fahad Ahmed Ali Murad Tajiki will be attending Purdue University on a full scholarship to study Engineering. The class of 2018 has obtained cumulative scholarships amounting to well over $5 million.

The MYP team are also proud to announce the 2018 MYP results. 128 Year 11 students were registered for the May 2018 examination session and the average points score went up from 41 points to 42 points overall this year. The student pass rate moved up 10% to an impressive 96% of students passing the MYP Certificate and the subject average grade moved from 5.05 to 5.22 out of 7 marks. Many congratulations to our joint top achievers, Tamara Hassan Khudair, Candice Saxod and Sarah Sherif Khattab and to all of the Year 11 Class of 2018.

The Debate Society is a student-led initiative spearheaded by Disha Bobby,  Aaron Lopez and Abhinav Shetty along with an enthusiastic and diligent administrative team. Students from Years 7- 13 meet twice weekly on Sundays and Tuesdays to practice competitively, discuss strategy and research a broad range of topics from cloning and cyber security, to gender equality and performance enhancing drugs in sport.

DIA was placed first in the recent ‘Innoventures Debate Competition’ which centered on S.T.E.M,  winning all three categories: Lower Middle School, Middle School and High School debates against sister schools RWA, RIS and CAS. Most notably, the Year 7 and 8 team comprised of Ronojoy Borpujari, Lucia Alvarez and Harsha Bharadwaj won their first competitive debate in admirable fashion. 

The DIA Senior Debating team was placed 4th, amongst the 32 participating teams, in ‘The Gulf Debates Competition’ which was organized by Dubai English Speaking College and held at The Cambridge International School. The participating team was: Disha Bobby, Carl Vinter and Braeden Bihag. 

In April, the Debate Society successfully held the first ‘Global Context Inter-House Debate Competition won by Water: Aryan Totawat, Aaron Lopez and Janishq Munge. The intention is to make this an annual DIA Calendar event.

The students were given 6 challenging programming problems to solve within a specific time frame.
3 teams from DIA participated. The three teams performed exceedingly well. One of the teams
solved all the given challenges without any error and luckily was the first winner among more than
approximately 30 participating teams from different schools in Dubai and they were awarded a cash

prize of 6000 AED. Well done to our winning team Vishaal Padma Kumar, Fadil Eledath, Subhadeep
Sarkar.

The World Scholar’s Cup is an inclusive and team-oriented event whose goal is to inspire a global community of future scholars and leaders. It celebrates academia and futuristic thinking. The programme connects the world like never before, creating a new kind of learning environment based around a common thread of scholarship and curiosity.

The four events within the regional round- Scholars Bowl, Scholars Challenge, Scholars Debate and Collaborative Writing- are an exciting way to use what scholars have learned and apply it to the world around them. Participants discuss and debate issues such as the likelihood of Dubai surviving a zombie apocalypse to the level of information which governments which should relay to their people - all of it done in an interactive and collaborative way with other scholars from around the globe. This year’s theme; ‘An Entangled World’ revolves around various concepts, from understanding human relationships to diplomacy and predicting the future. At events, scholars get to meet new people from different cultures as they work and learn new things from each other.

The World Scholars Club heavily focusses on celebration – students are rewarded by medals and trophies (and alpacas!) for the challenges they overcome when working together. If scholars are successful in their regional rounds (Dubai-wide) and global rounds (continent-wide), they gain an opportunity to compete on a global scale at Yale University in the “Tournament of Champions’.

It is an exciting and worthwhile experience, which I have been privileged to have been a part of. During the time when I was an active scholar, it used to be a much smaller event where everyone participating knew everyone. Over time, it has slowly, slowly grown into a spectacular event that embodies the spirit of a Global platform wherein everything is related to being a more aware citizen of this world.

Nandini Garg, 12F

This event was held on 31st January 2018. Students participated by presenting IT projects in one of many categories such as Data Representation, Web Page Designing, Programming, Digital Painting, Digital Designing, Gaming, Digital Animation, Movie Making and lots more. It was an amazing experience to enhance their technical and presentation skills. Dubai International Academy had 4 students that participated in this competition.

Two students secured first place in their respective categories and brought home trophies as well as certificates:

Arnav Bulani: Web Page Design
Kabir Malhotra: Data Management

Project Design Space – A design competition by Dubai Institute of Design and Technology (DIDI) where groups from different schools were required to design a solution to a real-life situation for one of the following customers Expo2020, IBM. Splash, Alserkal Avenue. Seven groups from DIA participated (students from year 10-11 &12) after the first round 3 groups were chosen to the in the semi-final round and then one of our groups has made it to the final round. Overall 50 schools participated in this competition out of which 3 finalist teams have been selected in 5 categories. The finalist team from DIA designed a seating and shading solution for Alserkal Avenue (Al Quoz), this is a real-life project and their solution may be implemented if they win the final round. The team members were: Klara Sananikone, Braeden Bihag, Carl Vinter, Kathrine Rimmen, and Niyati Pragya

We announce with immense pleasure that DIA team has won the 12th Conservation Awards for the 2017-2018 academic year under Distinguished Conservation Project Category. The award was set to celebrate the achievements of the education sector in rationalizing the consumption of electricity and water and the preservation of environmental and natural resources. Our student’s performance was remarkable. The winners from DIA, Braeden Bihag and Carl Vinter, year 12 led by the project supervisor Mr.Pranjal Rai, designed a smart irrigation system ‘Siphon’. The winning team bagged the first position under Distinguished Conservation Project School Category winning a cash prize of AED 15,000. Under the theme, ‘Together for a Sustainable Future,’ we honor the winning team from DIA who applied their innovative thinking which is forecasted to save over 578,000 gallons of water per annum for the DIA school field alone, cutting wastage down by 80%.

DIAMUN is the largest and only THIMUN affiliated conference in the UAE and is proudly run and hosted annually by Dubai International Academy. The aim of Dubai International Academy Model United Nations (DIAMUN) is for students from around the world to come together - to collaborate, discuss and debate to arrive at plausible solutions to current world issues. DIAMUN has hosted ten annual conferences so far, with students from more than 50 schools in 12 countries across 4 continents and 89 nationalities. DIAMUN 2017 set the highest record for the number of participants with over 900 delegates and directors from 52 schools.

Every year, the previous team, as well as the MUN Directors here at DIA select approximately 16 students to make up the DIAMUN Executive Team. These members have the responsibility of bringing DIAMUN to life and running it as smoothly and as efficiently as possible so that each year is even better than the previous.

This year’s positions for the 2019 DIAMUN Executive Team are:

The Theme for DIAMUN 2019:

Globalization through Technological and Environmental Advancements

A handful of our students are also regularly elected to serve esteemed positions at several THIMUN conferences across the globe:

• At THIMUN The Hague 2017: Sara Atassi and Dharkann Sainani (Student Officers)
• At THIMUN Qatar 2017: Aditya Rathi and Anoushka Sharma (Student Officers)
• At THIMUN The Hague 2018: Aditya Rathi (International DSG)

Overall, DIAMUN serves as a gateway to the world of diplomacy and aids students to hone their public speaking, writing, research, consensus building, and conflict resolving skills. Our debates lay a concrete foundation for students to display their talents through public speaking, writing and negotiating, in an environment similar to the practices at the United Nations, which encourages our delegates to take risks, be inquirers and be open-minded. Our successful past has helped us build a successful present, and as a result, every year our conference grows in size.

DIA hosts an annual inter-school film festival and talent competitions. A Broadway musical production is planned for next year.

In November 2017 DIA hosted the International Society for Theatre Arts (ISTA) Middle East Festival where participants honed their performance skills. It was an exciting month with the IEVI Got Talent show displaying students’ musical talents. In the Secondary School we have an orchestra and will be developing a choir. In addition to the talent show, MUN provided another opportunity for actors, singers and musicians to entertain the audience.

A quick walk around our campus will convince visitors of the immense talent displayed by our students in the visual arts. Not only is there the annual DP exhibition, but other year groups’ exhibition and displays throughout the year. This year the reception included a display of the graduating Visual Arts students presenting their artworks and the Music students performing. Additionally, students participated in various competitions with recognition of achievements. One year 10 student, Sophie Sananikone placed in this year’s EEG Environmental Drawing Competition. A select group of primary and secondary students completed paintings for Siemens Innovation Day exhibition at the Dubai Opera House.  For the Innoventures Art Competition – DIA students secured 18 out of 33 possible places, 15 out of 21 awards in the secondary section were won by DIA in 2017. We are hoping for similar achievement in 2018 with the ‘Creative Memory’ competition. This year, one of our year 10 students, Sophie Sananikone placed in the EEG Environment Drawing Competition, the category ‘Year of Zayed’, celebrating the UAE’s heritage and growth.

Year 9 Media studies students produced short films that were chosen for the ‘official selection round’ of the International Children’s Film Festival of Dubai. There was over 200 films selected from many different countries worldwide so it is quite an achievement. Zara Azmi’s film, Born with Wings received the highly commanded award.

The Primary School Choir, known as The DIAtones, not only perform at DIA events, but within the Dubai community as well. Representing DIA is what this group does best. They have had the privilege of performing the National Anthem in front of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, at the Global Green Economic Summit. Every year Primary School students perform and annual Winter Concert for each year level, as well as a Musical in upper Primary.

This year the Arabic A department created an Art Exhibition that creatively portrayed the Year of Zayed. The exhibition was one that promoted culture and art through creativity. The Arabic A students created pieces that combined the essence of Arabic culture along with the lessons that we can all learn from Sheikh Zayed. The exhibition was held in the presentation hall where parents, teachers and students marvelled at the innovation of the countless works of arts. It is important to memorialize the leader, Sheikh Zayed, because he built the foundations that enhanced the growth of the UAE. He set the standards for world leader’s world-wide and engendered optimism in the eras to come.

On Saturday the 4th of March Zahra Ben Gdara received an award for a poem she had written in the Emirates Literature Festival. The Arabic poem she wrote spoke of the scattered emotions of a person who had left their country due to war. Winning the award has inspired Zahra to work on her writing and creativity skills further.

The term gifted refers to ‘a student who is in possession of untrained and spontaneously –expressed exceptional natural ability in one or more domain of human ability. Those domains will include intellectual, creative, social and physical abilities.’

The term talented refers to ‘a student who has been able to transform their ‘giftedness ’into exceptional performance ‘. Talented students will always demonstrate exceptional levels of competence in the specific domain of human ability.

Our GATEWAY programme for Gifted and Talented Students provides them with additional opportunities and individual education plans so that teachers cater for their learning needs. Several of our students have entered additional competitions or have taken on roles of responsibility during this academic year:

• Hamza Ali and Anosha Alam won recognition for their Quran recitation earlier in the year.
• Kai Pavitt from Year 7 performed solo at the DIA DP graduation ceremony and during a KHDA seminar.
• Shreyaz Raman has competed and won Chess competitions this year and Ziad Mayyah participated in the maths Olympiad.
• Vinith and Harsha competed for the school in a science quiz and the Innovents Academic Olympiad. Shamma and Hind Younis have both taken part in Ken Ken competitions and in the Star Quiz, held here in Dubai.
• Many of our GATEWAY students hold positions of responsibity and leadership. For example, Aditya Rathi after holding positions of responsibility at THIMUN and DIA has now become Head Boy and Ananya Mirchandani, after leading our Water for Life Club has become our Head girl.

We field teams at local and international inter-school fixtures in swimming, football, cricket, basketball, cross country, volleyball, netball, athletics, aquathlon. Swimming, Volleyball, Football and Cricket are also played at international inter-school and club level tournaments and events.

UAE Teen Sports and Fitness Awards 2017-2018

Under the Patronage of DR. ABDULLA AL KARAM Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) awarded: Dubai International Academy - 3rd Best Sports School in UAE

UAE Teen Sports and Fitness Awards 2017-2018

Individual Achievements: 

• Humza Salam - 1st Place Sporting Inspiration of the year U19 Male
• Aditya Rathi - 1st Place Sporting Inspiration of the year U19 Male
• Hritik Bhatia - 1st Place Athlete of the Year Cricket U19 Male
• Kyra Ortner - 1st Place Athletics Athlete of the Year - Track and Field U16 Female 
• Sophia Dumont - 1st Place Athlete of the Year Swimming U14 Female 
• Candice Saxod - 2nd Place Athlete of the Year Swimming U19 Female
• Timothy Pauka - 3rd Place Athlete of the Year Swimming U16 Male
• Vishnupriya Bohra - 1st Place Athlete of the Year Athletics - Track and Field U16 Female
• Humza Salam - 3rd Place Athlete of the Year Athletic - Track and Field U19 Male

Other major sports achievements:

• U18 Boys Basketball Team - Dubai Affiliated Schools Sports Association (DASSA) Champions
• Swimming Team - Dubai Affiliated Schools Sports Association (DASSA) Div. 2 Champions
• U13 Cricket Tape Ball - Dubai Affiliated Schools Sports Association (DASSA) Champions 
• U18 boys Volleyball Team - Dubai Affiliated Schools Sports Association (DASSA) Champions 
• U14 Girls Football Team - Dubai Affiliated Schools Sports Association (DASSA) Div. 1 2nd Place

UAE Teen Sports and Fitness Award 2016-2017

Under the Patronage of DR. ABDULLA AL KARAM Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director
General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) awarded:
Dubai International Academy – 2 nd Place in the Best Youth Developmental Pathway

UAE Teen Sports and Fitness Awards 2016-2017

Individual Achievements: 

• Humza Salam – 1 st Place - U16 Male Outstanding Athlete Achievement
• The DIA International swimming championship was held at Hamdan Sports Complex, it was an all-day event with 375 swimmers from 11 schools, including one from Doha. The Second Place was secured by – Dubai International Academy U16 Boys Football Team was invited to Verona, Italy to take part in the annual Mediterranean cup against teams from Europe and the Middle East – 15 students and two teachers travelled to Italy, this is the second consecutive year of participation in this tournament.
• Hrithik Bhatia and Ayush Walia got selected for Dubai U19 cricket team. Ayush Walia also got selected for Dubai U16 cricket team.
• Sophia Dumont swam in the Switzerland Age Nationals for the second year. This year, in the category U13, she won a silver medal in 200m breast and a bronze medal in 100m breast. She came 4th in 200m individual medley.  Sophia also came 4 th in 400m individual medley in the category U15.

DIA students are active participants in community work in Dubai and throughout the world.
Highlights of student led initiatives include the following:

• Volunteering at an orphanage in Pakistan
• Designing a website for a palliative care centre in India
• Teaching dance therapy at an orphanage in India
• Running a diabetes campaign in multiple languages for the labourers in Dubai
• Beach and desert clean-ups in Dubai
• Participating in the Ramadan Fridge Project in Dubai
• Teaching art therapy to blind children in India
• Writing a magazine in Braille for blind adults
• Volunteering at a hospital in Burundi
• Visiting patients in hospital in Dubai
• Volunteering at Senses Residential and Day Care for Special Needs, Dubai
• Trekking up Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness of girls and education
• Distributing food to the homeless in Malaysia

The DP students have undertaken various community and service endeavors both locally and abroad. Some of the local initiatives include volunteering at the UAE Dolphin Project, Al Noor hospital and starting a variety of clubs in school that help younger students in their specific subject areas. On top of this, the DP students travel yearly to a variety of countries to volunteer in underdeveloped parts of the world. They have been involved in many wildlife conservation activities for example the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda (China), Free the Bears sanctuary (Laos) and Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary (Uganda). The students have also been teaching English, Mathematics and Art lessons in various schools across Africa and Asia (Tanzania, Kenya, Cambodia and Nepal) and building new classrooms and houses in underdeveloped areas (India, Cambodia, Kenya and Thailand).

DIA Cares is a philanthropic, student-led club which aims to create an equal world with focus on education. Being the face of the Give Foundation at DIA, we organise fundraisers and food sales raising funds to support the GIVE Foundation’s initiatives of building schools all around the world. The main theme that was prevalent in our fundraisers and our food sales were unity in diversity. Throughout the course of the year we had food sales from all parts of the world such as the Indian Food Festival, and The Shawarma and Falafel day. Our main intention behind organising food sales that were from different cultures, was to really unite our school students and staff and makes them feel part of the global community and appreciate each other's cultures and values.