As a new school – we are able to make a huge number of decisions about how our school will operate – and one of the most important decisions we are making involves the curriculum.

In simple terms, this means what the children will all learn on a day to day basis.

Although there are many different curriculums available – not only globally but also here in Dubai – the underlying principles are the same – the curriculum is designed to prepare children to live and work in an uncertain future.

As such, curriculums will provide children with a range of skills – a depth of knowledge and will also develop their attitude to be caring, independent, and responsible individuals.

The English National Curriculum is often referred to as the British curriculum in this part of the world. The areas covered in our curriculum are English, maths, science, history, geography, music, PE, computing, and art & design. These subjects are not always taught in a subject-specific way as we often look at ways of linking subjects together. For example, the children could be learning about different types of weather in geography and how to write a non-chronological report in English. We would join the two areas of learning together so that children make links between different areas of learning. Thus, making sure learning is in context and relevant.

When meeting families we are very careful to stress that we only teach what we believe are the best bits of the English Curriculum. The presence of the Ministry of Education subjects of Arabic, Islamic, Social Studies and Moral Education means that there is substantially less time than schools in England have and so it is not physically possible to teach the whole curriculum in the time available. A further factor is that much of the curriculum is not relevant to the global community here in Dubai. I often use the anecdote of asking why we would teach six-year-olds from all over the world – about the Great Fire of London. For most children, it is of no interest or relevance – and against the principals of having an engaging and relevant curriculum.

At the Aquila School we are designing our curriculum around our pupils – and what better place to start than with our host city. The culture and heritage of Dubai coupled with the exciting plans for the future – provide so much scope for providing amazing learning. From the discovery of oil to landscaping – to designing sustainable buildings to learning about traditional desert life, there are so many ways to engage and motivate children to learn using the amazing resource on our doorstep.