Description

The British Preparatory School, which caters for children from 18 months to Year 1 in a stimulating and caring environment, is a British Curriculum School. We aim to help each child attain his/her full potential in a positive and encouraging atmosphere which develops self confidence and a love of learning.

In keeping with the definition of the word 'preparatory' we are:

*Preparing the children for future learning by building firm foundations,

confidence and self esteem

*Preparing them for entry into the larger British Curriculum Schools

Profile

The School is owned and run by Mrs Sandra Whitford who was head of St Christopher’s School for 22 years, initially of the Infant School, which grew into a full Primary School of some 650 children aged between 3 and 11 years. She has experience of teaching and organising English language programmes and has a great interest in promoting the involvement of parents in children’s education.

The School opened in January 2008 with 17 children and by September 2008, mainly through personal recommendations, there were 80 on role.

Since then we have taken over two more villas and two portacabins which have regularly catered for 160 children.

Pre-School

PRE-SCHOOL 18 MONTHS TO 3 YEARS

During these years the prime aims are social, language and physical development. For most children this will be the first separation from their parents and frequently much time has to be spent on making the child feel confident and comfortable, not to mention the parents! The children have to learn to share the attention of adults as well as the toys and equipment. Each day is one of new discoveries, learning and developing through play.

The children experience, painting, cutting, sticking, colouring, playdough, creative play in the play house, dressing up, sand and water play, playing of musical instruments, singing, dancing, ring games, stories and constructional toys. There is a great variety of equipment to develop fine motor skills, as well as the opportunity to climb and balance on the outside equipment and ride the tricycles, scooters and cars.

By the time the children are three and ready for the Nursery class we aim for them to be able to:

• Come into school confidently and happily
• Find their own “cubbie” and put their bags away
• Be independent during snack time such that they collect their bags, unpack their snacks, sit and eat quietly and politely, throw their rubbish away, pack up their bags and take them back to their "cubbies"
• Wash and dry their hands
• Help to tidy and begin to know where resources belong
• Use a wide vocabulary and generally communicate confidently
• Hold scissors correctly and cut simple outlines, and consistently have the correct pencil grip
• Share toys/equipment and the adults’ attention
• Manage with minimum help when going to the toilet
• Have an awareness of colour, shape and early numbers through play and rhymes
• Have a good repertoire of rhymes and songs

Nursery

It should be noted that children develop at differing rates depending on maturity and previous experiences, therefore some children will need to continue working on the areas outlined for Pre-School but those who are ready will be introduced to the following:

THE EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE OF THE BRITISH CURRICULUM

This includes the six areas of learning:

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

• Rhyme
• Whole words around the room including their own and friends' names
• Auditory discrimination through sound lotto and listening to rhymes
• Visual discrimination, memory training, pattern making and sequencing
• Eye hand control, development of good pencil grip
• Begin to write their names and some letters
• Emergent writing
• The letter sounds (phonics)

NUMERACY

• Sorting for one and more criteria
• Pattern making
• Number rhymes
• Counting 1-5 and then to 10
• Recognition of numerals 1-5 then to 10
• Colour recognition
• Basic shapes
• Build up of mathematical language – bigger, smaller, more, less, taller, shorter, heavier, lighter
• Comparative measurement in water play and comparisons of height and weight

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Each term the children will be introduced to one or two topics to stimulate their interests in the world around them, to encourage curiosity and questioning skills and a desire to find out more. This will include the subjects of science, history and geography.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

They will have the opportunity to experiment with a number of art materials as well as being exposed to music, dance and creative play.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

There is a large play area where children develop confidence on the apparatus, experience throwing, catching, balancing and controlled movement.

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The children will continue to develop social skills and to become more independent both in their self help skills and in the organisation of their activities and in looking after the resources and equipment. They will continue to be encouraged in politeness and showing consideration for others.

FRENCH

Children who only speak English will be introduced to French through songs, role play and games. The other children will have structured English lessons at that time.

Reception

This is the second year of the Early Years Foundation Stage. For those who have not experienced Nursery, there will be an assessment and the programme adjusted accordingly. For those who have completed the Nursery year, the programme will start as follows:

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

• For those children for whom English is a second language, there will be regular structured English sessions dependent on the level already reached
• Pre writing will continue for those with little previous school experience. This will include: eye hand control exercises, tracing, colouring/painting within lines, pencil grip and control, writing patterns, drawing, mark making, emergent writing and writing of their own names
• For those who have mastered the above, they will be introduced to the formation of letters , daily news with the teacher as scribe and children joining in as and when they are able, writing simple sentences and an awareness of the capital letter and full stop

PREPARATION FOR READING

• Visual discriminatory exercises
• Sequencing
• Memory training
• Labels around the room
• Recognition of friends’ names
• Auditory training – sound lotto, rhyming words, I Spy, odd one out eg cat, car, baby, cow
• Encourage an interest in books through stories and use of the library

READING

• Introduction of sounds
• Blending of CVC words
• Consonant digraphs and blends
• High frequency words and key words from the Oxford Reading Tree
• The children will read from the Oxford Reading Tree and simple books from the library

NUMERACY

• Sorting, sequencing and pattern making
• Counting, recognition and writing of numbers 1-10 and then to 20
• Odd and even numbers
• Build up of mathematical language
• Build up of number facts 1 to 10
• Introduction to simple addition and subtraction using apparatus
• Simple problem solving using mathematical knowledge to date
• Estimating, measuring, weighing using non standard measurements
• The days of the week, months of the year and telling the time to the hour

KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Each term the children will be introduced to one or two topics to stimulate their interests in the world around about them, to encourage curiosity and questioning skills and a desire to find out more. This will include the subjects of science, history and geography.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

In art the children will continue to work with different materials and stimuli, mainly related to the topics.

FRENCH

Children who only speak English will continue to have French lessons as per Nursery.

PHYSICAL

Children will experience dance with a specialist and a PE lesson each week with their class teacher.

Year 1

KEY STAGE 1

During this year the children will continue to cover science, history and geography through a variety of topics. Children will be further encouraged to be interested in the world around them, to ask questions, to research for themselves using the library and computers. In addition they will experience art, P.E. and dance. There will be French for native English speakers and Arabic lessons for native Arabic speakers.

For Literacy and Numeracy, we use the Literacy and Numeracy strategies from the National Curriculum for England and Wales as our guidelines.

LITERACY

READING

The children will continue to read using the Oxford Reading Scheme as the core scheme with supplementary books. They will also be encouraged to read widely from the library. There will be regular reading tasks for home reading as well as the chance to take books home from the library. They will develop a larger sight vocabulary and gradually learn and utilise more complex vowel digraphs and consonant blends to help decode the text. They will be expected to answer straight forward comprehension questions and eventually questions with inferred answers.

WRITING

The correct formation of all the letters and spacing of words will be reinforced. They will be encouraged to write using interesting and appropriate vocabulary and simple punctuation.

NUMERACY

In numeracy the children will:

• Count, read and write numbers to 100
• Develop the mathematical terms of more/less than, equal, fewer, most and least
• Learn number bonds to 20
• Simple number problems using addition and subtraction
• They will be introduced to multiplication and division using concrete objects and the concept of repetitive addition and sharing
• Introduction to the concept of ½ and ¼
• Further work on the comparison of length, weight and capacity using non standard measurement and the related vocabulary
• Tell the time to the hour and half hour
• Recognition and naming of 2D and 3D shapes and their properties

Admission

We are open for registration all year round - Sunday to Thursday between 8am and 1pm. If you would like to meet with the Principal and have a tour of the school, it is advisable to make an appointment on 17792010.

In order to register it is necessary to complete the registration form, available from the office, and submit it with the non-refundable BD50 (VAT is now charged for Lower School therefore, BD50 + VAT = BD52.50) registration fee.

In addition, please submit, if available, the following:

• Copy of child's passport
• Copy of child's CPR
• One passport photograph

Fees

Fees per term (three terms per school year)

Non refundable BD50 + 5% VAT = BD52.50 Registration Fee

(one off payment only applicable to Pre-School & Nursery)

Pre-School - 18 months to 3 years

• BD650 + 5% VAT = BD682.500 - 5 days
• BD550 + 5% VAT = BD577.500 - 4 days
• BD450 + 5% VAT = BD472.500 - 3 days
• BD350 + 5% VAT = BD367.500 - 2 days

• BD690 + 5% VAT = BD724.500

Reception - 4-5 years

• BD800

Year 1 - 5-6 years

• BD800