At HeadStart our comprehensive Primary Curriculum is both creative and innovative. Children learn best when they are curious and enthused by what they are being taught and it is this type of intrinsic motivation that we encourage to inspire a lifelong love of learning.

Based upon the Cambridge International Primary Programme and the National Curriculum for England, our aim is for the children at HeadStart to gain a broad understanding and to excel at the core subjects of English, Maths and Science as well as Humanities, Physical Education, Computing, Art and Design, Music and Modern Foreign Languages (French, Mandarin and Thai).

English, Literacy (incorporating phonics) and Maths are taught daily. Further sessions throughout the school week focus on spelling, grammar and punctuation, as well as daily reading lessons in the classroom, weekly sessions in the library and the excellent online Bug Club reading program all supplement English. Numeracy sessions and the award-winning MyiMaths online learning program supplement Mathematics. Computing, Art and Design, Music, Languages and PE are taught by subject specialist teachers.

All of our classrooms are fully state-of-the-art and equipped with modern tools and trained professionals to ensure that your child receives the best educational support possible. Each class also has a fully trained and qualified Deputy Teacher to support learning, to work alongside the classroom Teachers and to aid each child in their learning and provide learning support and EAL support whenever necessary.

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Leveling and Exams

UK	Thailand	America	Key Stages	Examinations
Pre School	Kindergarten	Nursery	Foundation
Early Years	Anuban 1	Kindergarten 1
Reception	A.2	Kindergarten 2
Year 1	A.3	Kindergarten 3	Primary (KS1)	End of Year Tests
Year 2	P.1	Grade 1		End of Year Tests
Year 3	P.2	Grade 2		Cambridge Progression Tests and Inspire Maths End of Year Tests
Year 4	P.3	Grade 3	Primary (KS2)	Cambridge Progression Tests and Inspire Maths End of Year Tests
Year 5	P.4	Grade 4		Cambridge Progression Tests
Year 6	P.5	Grade 5		Checkpoint Exams
Year 7	P.6	Grade 6		Cambridge Progression Tests
Year 8	M.1	Grade 7	Secondary (KS3)	Cambridge Progression Tests
Year 9	M.2	Grade 8		Checkpoint Exams
Year 10	M.3	Grade 9	Secondary (KS4)	IGCSE
Year 11	M.4	Grade 10
Year 12	M.5	Grade 11	Secondary (KS5)	AS Levels
Year 13	M.6	Grade 12		A Levels

The Cambridge International Primary Programme

The Cambridge International Primary Programme (CIPP) will guide your children through Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) and Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6) and provides schools all over the world with a framework to develop Mathematics, English and Science skills in young children (https://cambridgeprimary.cie.org.uk).

The Primary Programme provides guidance for curriculum development and classroom teaching and learning and also allows teachers to assess children’s learning as they progress. The CIPP consists of a number of components that fit together to provide schools with tools to help their students acquire knowledge and skills.

The CIPP comprises:

The Cambridge Primary Curriculum Framework – to help teachers develop high-quality programmes for teaching young children English, Mathematics and Science.

The Cambridge Primary Progression Tests – available for the last four years of primary education and designed to allow teachers and parents to follow the progress of their students over time and analyse performance within their classes as well as against an international external benchmark.

The Cambridge Primary Checkpoint Exams – to be taken by students at the end of their final year of primary education. CIE will moderate these tests and issue students with Certificates of Achievement.

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Subjects

The subjects that are taught and are available throughout the Primary school are:

• English
• Maths
• Science
• Humanities (History and Geography)
• Computing
• Physical Education (PE)
• Art and Design
• Music
• French
• Mandarin
• Thai

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Reading

Learning to read is one of the most important gifts we can give to our children. Teaching every child to read well is vital, but it is only half of the story. For children to share all of the benefits that reading can bring, we have to help them to grow into lifelong readers and do everything we can to encourage them to actually make the choice to read.

Learning to read well and discovering the wonder of books can change children’s lives. We know from research that children who enjoy reading in their own time are more likely to achieve well at school, not just in English, but right across the curriculum.

The language and vocabulary children absorb from books can support their written and spoken language. The ideas that they take from reading improve their knowledge about the world and give them opportunities to step outside of ‘normal life’ and experience other places and times while coming across new ideas and concepts.

Not only does being able to read allow children to access the next stages of their education, it can also open a lifetime of enjoyment.

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Key Stages

The UK national curriculum is organised into blocks called ‘key stages’ (KS) as follows:

Key Stage	Classes	Typical Ages
Foundation Stage	Comprises of Preschool, Early Years and Reception	Between the age of 2-5 years old
Key Stage 1	Comprises of Year 1 and 2	Between the age of 5-7 years old
Key Stage 2	Comprises Years 3, 4, 5 and 6	Between the age of 7 to 11 years old
Key Stage 3	Comprises of Years 7, 8 and 9	Between the age of 11 and 14 years old
Key Stage 4	Comprises of Years 10 and 11	Between the age of 14 and 16 years old
Sixth Form	Comprises of Years 12 and 13	Between the age of 17 and 18 years old

Curriculum Booklets

‘The quality of the curriculum is good. It is very successful in offering wider opportunities for students to develop their particular talents and develop key skills such as teamwork, effective communication, independence, resilience and self-confidence.’ Education Development Trust (EDT) Accreditation Report, June 2017