The Doon School

Doon is an IB World School offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in the last two years, alongside the Indian School Certificate (ISC). In the IB, boys take six subjects including English Language and Literature, a second language (Hindi, French, German or Spanish), humanities such as Economics, Psychology, Business Management, History or Geography, sciences including Design and Technology and Sports, Exercise and Health Science, mathematics and the arts, and a bilingual diploma is possible. Many students also sit SAT and AP examinations, and it previously offered the Cambridge IGCSE, which was discontinued from 2025.

The Doon School offers a six-year course for boys from Class VII to Class XII, named in school tradition from D Form through C, B and A Forms to S and SC Forms. Boys follow the Doon School Curriculum in the first years, then prepare for the ICSE examination at the end of Class X, with English, Hindi, mathematics, sciences, humanities and options such as robotics and AI, music or art. In Classes XI and XII they choose either the Indian School Certificate or the IB Diploma Programme.

The school's mission is to attract and develop able students and teachers from every background in the service of a merit-based India. It aims to help boys become fair and ethical citizens, to train them as thoughtful and principled leaders and to prepare them for membership of a lifelong community of alumni. Social service has been part of the school since its founding: every boy takes part in community projects and in socially useful productive work, and leadership is taught through the curriculum, the prefect system, house life and student committees.

The Chandbagh campus combines heritage buildings with recent additions. The restored Main Building sits beside the Kilachand Library and the BML Munjal Auditorium. The Rose Bowl is an open-air amphitheatre used for ceremonies, plays and debates. A 25,000 sq ft Art and Media Centre houses studios for painting, sculpture, ceramics and textiles, a film and photography studio and galleries, and the Music School has practice rooms and a recital hall. There are refurbished science and design labs, an AI and robotics maker space, and a new sports complex with a heated pool, gym, indoor badminton and squash courts, cricket nets, a futsal ground, tennis and padel courts and floodlit basketball courts.

Pastoral care is organised around the houses, each led by a housemaster, an assistant housemaster, a team of tutors and a dame who oversees the boys' welfare, meals and laundry and liaises with the Wellness Centre. The Wellness Centre provides care around the clock, and boys can use a free and confidential counselling service. A Learning Centre gives personalised academic support after professional assessment, and the careers department guides students through university applications in India and abroad. Means-tested bursaries and merit scholarships are available.

Doon is a fully residential school with a seven-day boarding routine and lessons from Monday to Saturday, while Sundays are kept for outings and activities. New boys spend their first year in one of two holding houses, Foot and Martyn, with about 40 boys each, and then move to one of the five main houses, Jaipur, Oberoi, Tata, Kashmir and Hyderabad, which hold around 80 to 90 boys. Each house has its own traditions, common rooms, computer rooms and gardens, and a strong inter-house competition covers academic, sporting and cultural life.

Boys have a daily sports class plus sports afternoons and a full fixture list of inter-house, inter-school, IPSC, district, state and national competitions. The main games are soccer, cricket and hockey, with swimming and basketball played most of the year and racket sports year round; athletics, boxing, tennis, table tennis, squash, badminton, shooting at the school's range and golf are also available, as are volleyball, dance, yoga and trampolining. Beyond sport there are more than 50 clubs and societies, centres for drama, creative writing and critical thinking, debating in English and Hindi, and over 15 student publications including a weekly newspaper.