FROM THE HEAD OF PRIMARY
Our Primary School is a vibrant, multicultural community made up of students from over sixty different nationalities. Our staff and students are united by the medium of the English language in a caring, friendly and happy atmosphere which resonates throughout our school.
Foundation Stage (age 3-5)
Your child is about to embark on one of the most important journeys of their life. Our philosophy is to nurture and celebrate the whole child. We endeavour to create an inspiring, safe, fun and welcoming learning space where the children's passions are unearthed, encouraged and supported.
When a child's level of wellbeing and engagement are high, the skills necessary for successful learning and development will be optimised, inspiring them to embrace the joy of discovery and distilling the desire to know more.
It is a recognised fact that children learn more between the ages of 0-5 years than at any other time in their life. The Early Years are a crucial time in your child's education. Ideas and attitudes formed at this stage will have a profound effect on their approach to future learning. It is a privilege to work in education and, in partnership with parents, we embrace the responsibility we have in contributing towards shaping and development of the adults of the future. We look to provide for your child a world class learning environment and one in which they can feel comfortable, secure and valued as the unique individual that they are.
Our Foundation Stage curriculum is based on the English Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS). It also incorporates opportunities to follow the children’s own interests and is enriched with broader opportunities such as specialist teaching for PE. Swimming and Music. Through this their all-round development is supported and they are challenged and motivated, allowing them to grow in confidence and experience success. Most importantly, they are supported by a team of committed and experienced professionals, who are specialists in their fields. They will nurture your child in every aspect of their development, with a strong focus on their happiness, wellbeing and academic progress.
Key Stage 1 (age 5-7)
In Key Stage 1 we continue our educational journey by building on the skills children have learnt in the Early Years Foundation Stage. In particular, we continue to extend and develop levels of independence as well as provide opportunities for children to develop their curiosity and lead their own learning.
In Year 1 and Year 2, we look to educate the whole child using a holistic approach to teaching and learning. Through a range of cross curricular activities pupils cover the learning objectives outlined in the English National Curriculum which have been adapted to reflect our unique International School context in Oman. Lessons are designed to promote critical thinking skills, high levels of engagement and collaboration. We continue to have specialist lessons in Swimming, PE and Music and introduce specialist Computing lessons in Year 2.
Our learning environment encourages children to be active, autonomous and unique learners. The environment has a variety of open ended opportunities to stimulate children’s interests; providing opportunities for children to explore, discover, learn new skills and achieve the curriculum objectives. These activities allow us to enable all students to be High Performing Learners.
As children progress through KS1, we continue to introduce the Learning Ethos and BSM Thinking Skills. We support students to become Hard Working and Secure Individuals, learning the importance of persevering and being resilient when faced with a new challenge. We aim to develop confident learners who are willing to take risks and ‘have a go’ and ensure that all children understand how to be a responsible member of our school community.
Key Stage 2 (age 7-11)
In Years 3 and 4, our children continue to follow the English National Curriculum, although we have contextualised the curriculum to reflect the fact that we are an International School based in Oman.
We are a High Performance Learning school and focus on developing Resourceful Learners. We want our children to be motivated to learn and to always strive to do their best. We want them to develop an innate curiosity about the world around them. We help them to understand that ‘getting things wrong’ is actually good! As that is when they are being challenged. But it is also important to help them to develop resilience as they also need to learn to keep going, even when they find things difficult.
In Year 3 and 4, the children have specialist lessons in PE, Swimming, Music, Computing and French. We also introduce Arabic lessons.
In Year 5 and Year 6, we continue our journey educationally and we start to prepare the children for their transition to Senior School.
Again, we follow the English National Curriculum, although we also contextualise the curriculum to reflect the fact that we are an International School based in Oman.
We continue to develop the Learning Ethos, through the learning opportunities that the children are offered, but also by encouraging the children to be Respectful Contributors. We encourage the children to be open minded in both their learning and in their relationships with others. We provide opportunities for them to develop their collaborative skills with group tasks and we encourage them to be community-minded through opportunities through our Student Leadership programme, charity work and events such as “Dragon’s Den”.
We, again, increase the amount of teaching from specialist teachers in Upper Key Stage 2: The children have specialist lessons in PE, Swimming, Music, Computing, French and Arabic. In addition, we have a growing instrumental programme and in Year 6, all children learn to play an instrument.