Star International School, Al Twar follows the National Curriculum for England and Wales. This is a curriculum which is renowned for concerning itself with the development of the whole child. All round achievement is encouraged and nurtured within a caring family orientated environment. We feel that learning is important; but learning in itself is not enough. Young people need to develop their potential to explore and discover the world around them, be independent, to think for themselves and form opinions, to relate to others, to develop confidence and gain experience in taking responsibility.
The school’s foundation is built from the Kindergarten. Beginning in KG1, a calm, inspiring, orderly and creative atmosphere is created. This is where the journey begins!
Foundation stage (KG1&2)
There are seven areas of learning and development that must shape educational programmes in early years settings. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.
These three areas, the prime areas, are:
• Communication and Language;
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development.
Schools must also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.
The specific areas are:
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design.
Key Stage 1 (Years 1&2)
In an ever changing society communication skills are essential in everyday life. Children are encouraged to think, talk and express how they are learning and what they are learning. Self reflection is encouraged by all teachers to allow children to improve their own work. The building of self confidence is central in all of the above and allows pupils to take ownership of their work, solve problems and undertake new tasks.
Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6)
As the children’s learning journey continues into Key stage 2 children are warmly welcomed and carefully monitored to ensure there is a smooth transition between the two key stages. In key stage 2 a broad and rich curriculum is provided for children in Years 3 to 6. This ensures that children develop key knowledge, skills and understanding in every subject and at a level which best suits them.
Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9)
The secondary curriculum provided by Star International School again provides the children with a broad and balanced curriculum suited to the needs of individual children. Specialist teachers are found in all departments who adopt a creative range of teaching skills.
At Star International School all children are encouraged to continue to develop positive attitudes as learners. A wide range of teaching strategies mean that children are provided with opportunities to work together in whole class teaching sessions, as well as collaboratively in small groups and independently. We promote a creative and active curriculum in which there are great prospects for both discovery and achievement. This is enhanced by our well equipped classrooms which all have interactive whiteboards installed. Subjects are taught both independently and where possible, through cross curricular activities which help to excite children in their learning.
The key curriculum subjects include:
• Literacy (English)
• Mathematics
• Science
• ICT (Information & Communications Technology)
• Arabic
• Islamic studies (provided for Muslim children)
• History/ Geography
• Social Studies
• Art
• Music
• Physical Education (which includes swimming)
• French
Arabic lessons are carefully designed to meet the needs of all the children and clear differentiated groups are taught so that Arab and non- Arab students are taught separately.
Breadth of experience is provided through carefully planned units of work in all foundation and specialist subjects, with children across the school benefiting from lessons with specialist teachers in Arabic, Art and Design, Music and Physical education (including swimming). A big emphasis is put on reading in school. Each child is given a home reader from the Oxford Reading Tree scheme. Each book is carefully selected by the class teacher to ensure that it is at an appropriate level for the reading ability of the child. Children are encouraged to read at home daily with their parents and reading is listened to on a regular basis in school and progress recorded in the child’s individual reading record book.
The broad and balanced curriculum adopted by Star International School is to ensure that each child's individual talents are developed. Parents who choose a School that follows the National Curriculum for England can be sure that wherever they go in the world, the standards will be comparable to the UK where government monitoring of the unified curriculum guarantees quality. In a world where there is a bewildering array of schools teaching English, the guarantee offered by the National Curriculum for England is an established and well developed national system where there is a source of confidence and stability, in what might well be an unfamiliar environment.
Al Twar 1
