British Curriculum
Building Confident, Future-Ready Students
At Horizon School, we prepare students to excel academically and lead enriched, productive lives. Our broad and balanced curriculum aligns with the English National Curriculum and includes Arabic and Islamic Studies, delivered by exceptional teachers who create vibrant, stimulating environments.
With high expectations, our teachers ensure that learning is engaging and effective, fostering intellectual curiosity and confidence. We maintain rigorous academic standards and provide individualised support, ensuring every student is ‘Horizon Ready’— intellectually, physically, and emotionally prepared to achieve their full potential.
Jump down to:
Early Years Foundation Stage
A curriculum designed for children aged 3-5 years
Our FS1 and FS2 year groups each benefit from their own lively and well-resourced central areas, where they are encouraged to learn through play during their daily free-flow time. The children also have access to:
Playground with age-appropriate equipment
Shaded Courtyard Garden
The Curiousity Cove indoor soft play space
Each classroom has its own dedicated outside area to encourage our children to spend as much time as possible learning outside (weather permitting). In addition to their Early Years Class Teacher, each class has its own teaching assistant, as well as weekly sessions with specialist teachers for Arabic, Music, PE and a Library lesson.
Within Early Years, our curriculum focuses on guiding children through seven core areas of learning:
Physical development
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication and language
Literacy and Numeracy
Understanding the world
Expressive arts
Across those areas, our children are presented with a variety of problem-solving activities, designed to help them develop critical thinking skills and enhance their curiosity about the world around them. While safety is paramount, we want to create a nurturing environment to encourage our children to take on tasks and challenges that push them beyond their comfort zone.
“In the Early Years Foundation Stage, teachers have an excellent understanding of how young children learn most effectively. Teachers use open questions skillfully to probe students’ thinking and enable them to communicate their ideas in depth.”
– KHDA Inspection Report
Lower primary/ Key stage 1 Curriculum
Key Stage 1 Curriculum (Y1 & Y2)
We see the Lower primary years (KS1) as an important bridge between the fundamentals grasped in the Foundation Stage and the more rigorous concepts being grasped at Key Stage 2, and we work hard to make the transition a smooth one for our students.
Our curriculum comprises: English, Maths, Science, Arabic (Islamic Studies for Muslim pupils), French, Music, PE, Swimming, Topic (encompassing Geography and History), Art and Design, Social Studies and Moral Education, with specialist teachers delivering Computing, French, Music, Swimming, PE, Arabic & Islamic studies.
The timetable for the three terms evolves, as we tailor the learning to take into account the rapid development our children are making at this stage. In the autumn term of Year One, lessons are tailored to mirror FS2, with child-initiated play timetabled in a central area that has been carefully designed to focus on STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths). As the children adapt to more formalised teaching and develop their learning stamina, lesson time is extended so that by the summer term, the timetable replicates Year Two, allowing the children to begin the next stage as confident, enthusiastic learners.
“All students have a very strong sense of personal responsibility both within the classroom and in the wider school community. Students are committed to doing their very best in all aspects of school life.”
– KHDA Inspection Report
Across every subject, we place an emphasis on independent learning – using a range of creative methods to engage our children’s enthusiasm. This is also the stage where we teach children to work together; developing the 21st century collaborative learning skills that they’ll need in the future. Where possible, we try to make all topics cross-curricular, so that children can put what they are learning into context and develop their real-life problem solving skills too.
We fully encourage investigation and inquisitiveness in all our students. At Horizon, it’s not enough to simply know something – we want our children to understand what they’re learning. Although the jobs of the future are impossible to predict, we believe that teaching children to apply what they know to the world around them, and learning with purpose, is the best way to prepare them going forward.
Upper primary/ Key Stage 2 Curriculum
Upper Primary/Key Stage 2 Curriculum (Y3 - Y6)
“Which person, living or dead, has had the greatest impact on the world we live in? What does it take to be a CSI investigator? Could superheroes really exist in everyday life?” These are just some of the questions we ask our Key Stage Two pupils to consider, as we encourage them to make the links between what they’re learning and the world they’re living in.
We continue to follow the National Curriculum of England and Wales, increasing our children’s time with specialist subject teachers (French, Arabic, Islamic studies – for Muslim students, Computing, Art and design, Music, PE and Swimming) and extending their depth of knowledge over the core subjects: English, Maths, Science, Social Studies and Moral Education. We make links between topics wherever possible and provide enriched learning opportunities through school trips, outdoor adventure opportunities and residential trips (in Year 5 and 6).
“Students are appreciative of the school’s cultural diversity. They enjoy talking about their own cultures and are enthusiastic to learn even more about the cultures of others. Students have an exceptional knowledge and understanding of worldwide cultures.”
– KHDA Inspection Report
Computing is a key focus throughout the school and is introduced as a specialist subject significantly earlier than many of our contemporaries. In Years 3-6 we take it even further, by introducing limitless learning through the provision of an iPad pro device for every child. iPads are only used for learning, and are modified to ensure total child safety online. We encourage students to continue learning after hours and foster an independent approach to knowledge.
As well as striving to ensure that every child has the understanding, readiness and knowledge for their final years in the school and beyond, it’s at this stage that we cement values of leadership and communication that we’ve been instilling in our children from the Early Years. We provide a series of leadership roles across Upper Key Stage Two (Year 5 and 6) giving children the opportunity to become a sports leader, house captain or prefect, or to be elected Head Boy or Head Girl. Children across the school can also enjoy leadership roles by representing their class in the School Council and the Green Team. One of our Year 6 children will also be awarded the ‘Spirit of Horizon’ award, a much coveted award for the student with the self-reliance and resilience to better themselves, while thinking of others too.