The City School International Saudi Arabia

The City School was established in 1978 and the years of experience show – in our expertise, in our commitment, and in our quality. We have moved with the times, but we have not lost sight of our values and traditions. At The City School, we genuinely believe in educating ‘the whole child’ so we provide our students with every opportunity to discover and build upon their strengths. We also expect them to face up to the challenges of an economically globalised and socially changing world – one in which they will have to take their place as independent, responsible citizens.

Our commitment to providing consistently high quality, accessible education underpins everything we do. We support and encourage high academic achievement, but we also recognise that individual students have different learning needs.

We guide our students through Early Years Education all the way to the Cambridge International Examinations. Our preparation supports them throughout their lives, as students of the City School have the knowledge, understanding, skills and values necessary to prosper both in their future careers and in life. Along with academic rigour, our campuses broaden horizons with an enrichment programme that engenders social awareness, responsibility, innovation and creativity in equal measure.

The City School International now has schools in the UAE, the Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Its future plans include the establishment of further schools in the Arab states, South East Asia, and Africa.

Our aim is to create a better world by educating and developing happy, enquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people. Our commitment to educational excellence includes, but extends beyond, outstanding academic preparation. Our motivation lies in helping our students acquire the skills and social awareness to enable them to become independent and valued members of society.

The true philosophy of The City School is reflected in our motto, “I Am To Learn”. When our students move on to higher education, we expect them to have gained an enthusiastic and lasting interest in learning, and to have recognised that there are always new things to discover.

The world of work and life in general are today more competitive than they have ever been and we want our students to have the confidence, independence, and intellectual ability to apply what they learn in the classrooms to life. We believe that when young people are empowered and facilitated, they rise above expectations.

The broader aspirations shared by our faculty and staff include giving every opportunity to students to develop into well-rounded individuals. We know how important it is to create ideal academic and social environments that allow them to flourish and to acquire the skills and attributes that will enable them to make valued contributions to society.

The progress and achievements we see in the classrooms are only part of the experience at The City School International. We believe in providing consistent support in all aspects of school life – academic, co-curricular and extracurricular – to encourage a genuine love for learning. We are dedicated to helping our students achieve the abilities and personal qualities that will prepare them for a rewarding and productive life.

Developing confidence and creativity, independent thought and consideration for others, an enquiring mind and a social conscience, are all integral to our learning process. We want to give our students every opportunity to fulfill their potential and excel in everything they do.

We offer the British curriculum, affiliated to the University of Cambridge and which is accepted worldwide. We prepare our students to appear for their O Levels, IGCSE examinations conducted by CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) centres all over the world.

The focus of The Foundation Stage is on

• welcoming the child into the schooling environment, making the journey exciting and fun, opening new vistas of knowledge and making him/her want more.
• Giving the child confidence to try out new things, initiate ideas and put them into practice.
• Special emphasis on reading with phonics to help the children understand, comprehend and speak the language with ease and fluency.
• Practical hands-on activities help the child practically cope with the daily activities.
• Subjects taught include the Quran, English, Maths, General Knowledge/Science, Rhymes, Reading, Practical work (PG, Nursery, KG), Art, ICT, Islamic Studies, Easy Arabic (Class 1 and 2 for non-Arabs only), Physical Education and Second Language Urdu/Advanced Arabic.
• Children are assessed on a daily, ongoing basis and informal assessments are held twice a year at the end of each term.

The curriculum follows the key principles of the Early Learning Foundation Stage. The programme for children aged 3 to 5 is called the Foundation Stage. It is designed to prepare children to begin the National Curriculum for England, which begins around the age of five in Key Stage 1 and continues through to Key Stage 4. A child’s progress is closely monitored and assessed against appropriate age performance standards. Every encouragement and help is provided for children to attain their full potential. Ongoing assessments, formal and informal and examinations at the end of each term ensure that each child’s progress and development is continuous and the predetermined standards are met.

At this stage students are encouraged to think independently and be able to speak confidently in front of an audience. We motivate our students to put on their thinking caps and be able to express their ideas and views on paper in a clear concise manner with proper sentence structure and punctuation.

Subjects taught at this stage include Quran, English, Math, Science, Geography, Islamic studies, Saudi Studies (as prescribed by the MoE), Second Language Urdu/Advanced Arabic, ICT, Easy Arabic (compulsory for all non- Arab students) Physical Education and Art.

In Key Stage 3; Subjects taught include Quran, English, Maths, Science, Geography, History, Islamic studies, Saudi Studies (as prescribed by the MoE), Second Language Urdu/Advanced Arabic, ICT, Easy Arabic (compulsory for all non- Arab students) Physical Education and Art.

The IGCSE curriculum is introduced at this stage. We offer compulsory subjects English, Maths, Science, Islamic Studies, Urdu, and Science subjects: Physics, Chemistry and Biology.