What actually happens between 07:50 and 14:30

Three stages, three timetables. Read the one for the age your child is now.

FS1 and FS2 · ages 3 to 5

Early Years

Most of the day is spent choosing. Water, sand, blocks, paint and a garden that is used in every weather except the worst of July. Phonics happens in groups of six, sitting on the floor.

Class size: 18 children, two adults

Who teaches this stage

Hana Darwish — Head of Early Years
Priya Raman — FS2 class teacher
Maria Santos — FS1 class teacher

Two children in the Early Years room shaping coloured modelling clay at a low table.

The day, hour by hour

07:50: Doors open, soft start
08:15: Circle time
08:45: Phonics, in groups of six
09:30: Snack, then the garden
10:30: Water, sand, blocks, paint
11:45: Lunch
12:30: Story and rest
13:15: Music, art or PE
14:00: Home

Years 1 to 3 · ages 5 to 8

Lower Primary

Reading gets serious and so does writing. Maths is taught first thing, when the room is at its sharpest, and every class gets twenty-five minutes outside before it.

Class size: 22 children, a teacher and an assistant

Who teaches this stage

Tom Whitfield — Year 2, English lead
Aisha Mansour — Year 3, Arabic lead
Grace Mwangi — Year 1

A Lower Primary teacher leaning over a desk to help a group of children with their work.

The day, hour by hour

07:50: Doors open
08:15: Registration and morning maths
09:00: English
10:00: Break, twenty-five minutes outside
10:25: Maths
11:20: Topic: science, history or geography
12:10: Lunch and the yard
13:00: Arabic or Islamic studies
13:45: PE, art or music
14:30: Home

Years 4 to 6 · ages 8 to 11

Upper Primary

Specialist teaching starts here: science in a lab, computing on real keyboards, and a Year 6 that leaves able to sit an entrance test without being coached for one all year.

Class size: 24 children, a teacher and subject specialists

Who teaches this stage

Daniel Okoye — Year 5, science lead
Layla Haddad — Year 6, maths lead
Ruth Fernandes — Year 4

Upper Primary children at the science bench, one at a microscope and one with conical flasks, a skeleton and a blackboard behind them.

The day, hour by hour

07:50: Doors open
08:15: Registration and reading
08:45: English
09:45: Maths
10:45: Break
11:10: Science, in the lab
12:00: Lunch and lunchtime clubs
12:50: Arabic or Islamic studies
13:35: Computing, art, music or PE
14:30: Home
14:45: After-school clubs, until 16:00

The curriculum, briefly

We follow the English National Curriculum from FS1 to Year 6, with the Early Years Foundation Stage in the first two years. Arabic and Islamic studies are taught by specialist teachers to the requirements of the Ministry of Education, and children who arrive with no Arabic start in a separate group rather than at the back of a class.

Reading is assessed every half term, not every year, so a child who slips is caught in six weeks rather than in twelve months. Reports go home twice a year and both of them say where a child sits against the year group, in words, with the number underneath.

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