The seven areas of learning are Communication and Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Physical Development, Understanding the World, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Expressive Arts and Design. The children will develop in all these areas through a play based curriculum.

All children must be toilet trained for starting school as we do not have the facilities for changing students in school if they soil themselves.  

Each classroom has access to two toilets, appropriately sized for the younger students.  

No, every child should bring their own healthy snack and lunch to school. We have a no nuts policy due to students having severe allergies towards nuts.  

Some children are able to write their name, however, it is also as important that they are able to recognise it at this stage. It is also important that they are able to hold a pencil with an appropriate, strong, tripod grip as this will make name writing easier when they are ready. They can also practise drawing anticlockwise circles as well as other marks such as lines up and down, side to side and wiggles to help with accurate letter formation. This could even be in a tray of sand or glitter so the children practise making these marks with their finger.   

It is important that the children learn to write in lowercase letters as this is how we teach them in phonics and ultimately it is how they will develop their reading skills. Also it will enable them to become fluent and quick writers as they get more secure. Accurate letter formation is a very important aspect of writing and one that is easier to learn correctly in the beginning rather than having to reteach later on. 

Some children really don’t like colouring in and that’s fine there are lots of other things we can get them to do which will strengthen their fingers and engage their higher order thinking skills. For strengthening their fingers playdough is fantastic and as their fingers get stronger plastercine or modelling clay is slightly harder to squeeze so is a good alternative. Get the children to squeeze, prod, poke, pinch and roll the dough and even get them to model some simple shapes or letters to cross into other areas of their learning whilst ‘playing’ and having fun. Free mark making/ drawing is often more enjoyable and certainly way more creative for children. They can be the artist then they might colour their own creation in. Painting either with paint or a less messy alternative is to have a bucket of water and a paintbrush in the garden or on the balcony once it is dried up it is mess free! Traditional jigsaws or games where by the children have to take turns and follow rules are by far one of the best uses of time. Enjoying seeing your child win and also support them when they experience those times they don’t win, this is a life skill we need to teach. Being happy for others even when we are disappointed is a priceless gift we can give our children through playing games. 

As amazing as counting to any big number is we have to remember it is by memory much like learning the words to a song and the more important aspect of number work is the understanding of what a number is. We as teachers prefer that children are really secure in knowing numbers and their value to 10 rather than rushing ahead counting to numbers which have no real meaning to them. For example, 10 means 10 teddies on the bed, 10 means 5 teddies at one end and 5 teddies at the other end there are still 10 altogether, 10 means if you have 7 teddies you need 3 more to have 10. We need to make children aware that numbers aren’t just a word or a symbol but they mean an amount. Matching numerals to an amount of objects to 10 is better than just counting to 100 and the words having no meaning. 

The English language is really quite tricky, there are lots of aspects of it that we take for granted when we become fluent speakers. We have to appreciate that for our children, some of whom are learning it as a second even third language, they will make mistakes and that is ok. Muddling tenses is perfectly normal for example “I playing with Thomas yesterday” instead of “I played with Thomas yesterday”. As adults we need to be mindful not to make children feel they have made a mistake as it can knock their confidence in having a go, instead just repeat back to them the sentence correctly and model how it should be said. The children will learn from you speaking in good clear full sentences, this goes for baby talk too we should always speak in full sentences they learn from us! 

• English 
• Mathematics 
• Science 
• Enterprise  
• Social Studies 
• Moral Education   
• Thematic Curriculum
  which is a project-based approach to learning that encompasses History, Geography and Visual and Performing Arts. 
• Personal, Social and Health Education 

Each week, the children will have 5 hours of English (in addition to separate Phonics and Reading sessions), 5 hours of Maths, 2 hours of Science, 1 hour of Enterprise, 4 hours of Arabic, 2 hours of Islamic (if applicable), 1 hour of Social Studies, 1 hour of Moral Education, 2 hours of PE, 1 hour of Desert School, 1 hour of Computing and 2 hours of theme.  

Yes, they can wear their PE kit to school on PE days.  

No, every child should bring their own healthy snack and lunch to school. We have a no nuts policy due to students having severe allergies towards nuts.  

Arabic specialists teach the children Arabic. The students are split into groups, Arabic A for native Arabic speakers and Arabic B for non-native Arabic speakers.  

From Year 1, we have the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy in place. Children have the opportunity to use their own device within the school setting to enhance the curriculum further. We also have other devices available for students if they do not have their own. The devices are only used for educational purposes and during certain lessons.   

FPS follows Letters and Sounds Phonics scheme. The children have set lessons each day for Phonics in Years 1 and 2. The children complete the Phonics lessons with their class teacher.  

At FPS, we have adapted the curriculum to the Maths Mastery approach. A maths mastery approach has ambitious expectations for all learners, gaps in learning are immediately addressed, all learners’ access rich mathematical content and conceptual and procedural maths are taught together.  

Each half term, every parent is sent a data capture with a full report at the end of the academic year. We also have one target setting meeting at the beginning of the year and two parent consultation meetings throughout the school year.  The partnership between the school and home is vital so there is continual, open communication between the parents and class teacher.