Requirements 

Residency Requirements: ASB is a school for day students. There are no boarding facilities or provisions for students whose parents live and work outside of Mumbai.

Expatriate Status: ASB is designed to serve the needs of expatriate children whose parents are taking up short term assignments in Mumbai. Parents of applicants must provide a letter from their employer confirming the employment status in Mumbai. Self-employed parents must present compelling evidence of temporary residence before ASB will consider their children for admission.

Age Requirements & Grade Placement

For those applicants coming from other countries, please reference this weblink  Grade Map for ASB Grade equivalencies to help you determine appropriate grade levels.

All applicants must be toilet trained and meet the minimum age requirements below:

*Note: all applicants applying for grade levels ECEC3-Grade 1 must meet the minimum age requirement on or before the date indicated for the school year in which the applicant is to be enrolled

** Note: applicants applying for Grade 2-Grade 8 who have not been in an American-style school system need to apply to ASB according to their birth date

Applicants for Grade 2-Grade 12 entering ASB from another American-style school should apply for the appropriate grade level consistent with the level from the previous school.

Applicants applying from schools whose age cut-off is after September 30th, (as in Spain, Belgium) need to apply to the grade level that is age appropriate for the applicant.

Applicants applying from schools using calendar year school years, from January/February until November/December, (as in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America, Singapore, Japan, Korea) need to apply to the grade level that extends their current school year. In other words, applicants applying for August enrollment should apply to begin the grade level they are currently attending; applicants applying for January enrollment should apply to join the grade level they have just completed.

In all cases, final acceptance and grade placement are subject to evaluation of a complete application. Factors considered vital in making the appropriate grade level placement at ASB include: age, previous grade level placement, maturity (physical & social development), academic achievement, school attendance, and consistent educational experience. Exceptions may be made when, upon review of a complete application, it is determined that the applicant may benefit from being placed into a grade level based on age appropriateness and/or academic and social development. After evaluation by ASB professional staff, the applicant may be moved to a higher or lower grade, as appropriate. Evaluation of accepted applicants upon enrollment at ASB may result in changes in grade level placement after the student has attended ASB for a period of time.

Nationality Requirements
ASB is an educational institution designed to serve the needs of expatriate children. The applicant and one parent must be of foreign nationality.  Citizenship will be verified by the original passports of the applicant and both parents.

Indian passport holders: Applicants and his/her family must meet the criteria established by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of the Government of India which states the applicant and one parent must be of foreign nationality. A letter from the employer must show compelling evidence that the family is temporarily a resident in India. Parents must sign the ASB Indian National Declaration confirming that they meet the MEA criteria for entry to ASB. The transient status of the family will be reviewed whenever it is deemed necessary and any changes in personal circumstances may render the student ineligible for enrollment should they no longer meet the MEA criteria.

Indian Nationals who are self-employed must present compelling evidence of temporary residence before ASB will consider their children for admission.

The MEA list three criteria that MUST be met before consideration can be given to the admission of Indian nationals:

• The student should have come from an American/international system of education and has to return to the American/international system of education, AND
• The parents of the student are likely to stay in India for a period of only two or three years, AND
• The student is in a critical stage of education and studying at ASB is important for the student's education.

History of Previous Academic Success: Previous official school records must be submitted for all applicants for Grades 1-12. Applicants applying for ECEC3, ECEC4, or Kindergarten are exempt from this requirement only if ASB will be their first formal school experience.

Health and Medical Requirements: The completed Student Health Form along with the other application documents are required prior to admission to ASB.

Students with English Language Needs: The American School of Bombay has programming for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).  ESOL Support at ASB begins in Grade 1 and is designed to support students through Grade 10. Supported by current research, ASB supports student language development in an authentic setting. The program is, therefore, based on the concept of the “least restrictive environment” which encourages ESOL students to remain in mainstream classes with their peers to the maximum degree possible. New learners of English take 5-7 years to achieve cognitive academic language proficiency. All new learners of English progress through the same stages to acquire language, however, the length of time each student spends at a particular stage may vary greatly.

If English is not your child’s home language, it is best to fully disclose information about your child’s English language background during the application process.  ASB may request additional English language information about your child and may refer your child’s application to the ESOL department during the application process for further consideration.  Consequently, ASB may require additional assessments to determine the level of support required for your child.  To ensure that ESOL students can satisfy the academic requirements and participate to the fullest extent possible in school life, ASB has established minimum levels of English proficiency for students entering grades 9 and above.

The ESOL program at ASB is not an elective, as placement in the ESOL program is determined by assessments. When being considered to enter the ESOL program, further assessments are made, where the extent and level of support needed is determined. ESOL students remain in mainstream classes with their peers to the maximum degree possible. The ESOL Specialists consider each student’s proficiency level while also working closely with mainstream classroom teachers to determine the content, strategies, and skills taught, making the instruction highly individualized.  Please refer to our Student Support Services and ESOL pages for further information on the model of support at ASB.

Students with Special needs: The American School of Bombay has a Student Support Services (SSS) Department to provide services for students with specific learning needs and exceptionalities that meet ASB’s admissions criteria.  Currently, we are able to support students with a continuum of services for mild learning differences, mild language difficulties, and students needing extra assistance in specific academic areas.  We reserve the right not to admit any child with needs that our current structure and programming cannot support. 

If you have a child with known or suspected learning, emotional, behavioral, or language needs, the most important question when looking at ASB is: Can ASB’s current support services provide my child with the education and environment he or she needs and deserves?

During the admissions process, it is important to be open about your child’s specific needs as early in the process as possible. We will ask that you provide the school with as much information regarding their needs as possible, including, but not limited to, past testing, support plans (IEP’s, behavioral contracts, etc), as well as narrative comments from previous schools. A good resource when tackling the transition to an international school with a child with special needs is published by the United States Department of State, entitled “Transitioning to an Overseas Assignment with a Child with Special Needs.”  It is a useful pamphlet that raises many of the questions you should be asking when looking at an overseas school for your child.

Please refer to our Student Support Services and Academic Support pages for further information on the model of support at ASB.

Note: Board Policy governs and restricts admission. In case of discrepancy between this document and Board of Trustees Policy, or in the event of changes in Board of Trustee Policy, current Board of Trustee Policy prevails.