WHY CHOOSE OUR SCHOOL

Why choose us

Early Years Foundation Stage and primary

Early Years Foundation Stage and primary

Early Years Foundation Stage and primary

Star delivers a broad international curriculum underpinned by the National Curriculum of England

Our personalised learning approach offers and incorporates digital learning and music with a focus on STEAM – integrating Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering and Mathematics – embedded into the curriculum, all carefully adapted to the specific needs of our children. 


Wellbeing and happiness are at the heart of our school

We ensure this is at the forefront of everything we do. We have worked very hard to develop our wellbeing initiatives, using natural resources and the ​Hygge wellbeing methodology to create a calm environment, which instils a sense of happiness, a cosy atmosphere and promotes togetherness and enjoyment.


Small class sizes

Our small class size model contributes to the warm, nurturing environment of our Primary school. This enables us to provide small group teaching (as opposed to whole class teaching), so it's very personalised; each child’s interests and needs are followed and catered for. 


We are a warm and friendly community school

Our school is like a home away from home for our children and their parents. We know all of the children and the families on an individual basis and this helps us to provide a personalised learning experience for all of our children. 
 
All parents and families are also welcome to attend our school assemblies, to see for themselves the wonderful progress and achievements of our children.


Every teacher takes a personal interest in every child

Our teachers are genuinely interested in the wellbeing of our children, and they feel a true sense of belonging.  Teachers are very collaborative and are always working on ways to support the children within lessons.


Early Years Foundation Stage and primary

Secondary

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Secondary

Small class sizes

Our small class size model contributes to the warm, nurturing environment of our secondary school, with class sizes no more than 16 in Years 7, 8 and 9, and even smaller in Years 10 and 11 and Post 16 (Years 12-13), where we’re often able to offer one-to-one teaching in some subjects.


British qualified teachers across all specialist subjects

All of our teachers have degrees in the subject they teach, with all earning their teaching qualifications from universities in the UK and Ireland.


We are very progressive in our teaching methodology

All of our teachers are at the forefront of educational research and we have been following a progressive teaching approach called ‘Adaptive Teaching’ for the last four years, which has recently been adopted by the education authorities as ‘adaptive teaching’.   

The traditional style of teaching is the ‘differentiation by task’ method, where there are three separate tasks for three different abilities, whereby if a child enters a class as a ‘lower ability child’, it’s very difficult to move up. We've always taught to the highest standard in every class and all of our students move through those levels. We’re proud that as a result of this, for the last four years, Star students have achieved the highest mark on the English as a Second Language examination.


We provide support to ensure every student achieves to their full potential

At Star, we pitch all our lessons and set standards to the highest level. We provide bespoke support for every student, at every level, to ensure all students can achieve the highest marks available. We believe this is the most equitable form of education, where every child can achieve as well as their peers.

We don’t simply give predicted grades based on previous attainments or records - we closely monitor their progress to ensure they’re always learning to their full potential and provide a current and projected grade for students to see how their current levels will impact them later in life - through this, we create ‘attainment mobility’.  We know from extensive research that if we can raise the attainment of a child to a point where they're competing for the best places at universities or jobs, then their life chances improve significantly.


We support our students to master self efficacy

Research has shown that students’ resilience and self confidence dramatically improves when they're in an environment that offers a high level of challenge, but also support to help them navigate those challenges.  It’s important that we encourage and reward progress, not just good grades.


We don’t set task-based homework or traditional worksheets

This is something some parents have grappled with in the past, as understandably, most parents have been educated in the ‘old way’, and education has developed significantly since then.  

Rather than send a child home with a worksheet whereby they have to answer questions (which is more rote learning rather than the attainment of real knowledge and understanding), we ask our students to do research on the key facts on a topic at home themselves.  Then in class the next day, we are able to build upon their existing knowledge levels and teach at a much higher level.  A good example of this is learning about reptiles; students would research the key facts about reptiles at home and then in the following lessons, we would analyse why reptiles are suited to live in Dubai. What would happen if temperatures suddenly plummeted? What would happen to the reptile population, where do you think they would go, and why?  It’s an enquiry-based teaching approach, where we spend more of our lesson time (about 80%) on critical thinking - it’s a research and revision model of learning.


Our style of teaching supports students joining from different curriculums and ensures maximum progress

This is something some parents have grappled with in the past, as understandably, most parents have been educated in the ‘old way’, and education has developed significantly since then.  
 
Rather than send a child home with a worksheet whereby they have to answer questions (which is more rote learning rather than the attainment of real knowledge and understanding), we ask our students to do research on the key facts on a topic at home themselves.  Then in class the next day, we are able to build upon their existing knowledge levels and teach at a much higher level.  A good example of this is learning about reptiles; students would research the key facts about reptiles at home and then in the following lessons, we would analyse why reptiles are suited to live in Dubai. What would happen if temperatures suddenly plummeted? What would happen to the reptile population, where do you think they would go, and why?  It’s an enquiry-based teaching approach, where we spend more of our lesson time (about 80%) on critical thinking - it’s a research and revision model of learning.


We nurture a calm environment in the school and strong teacher/student relationships

There is no disruption, all students are engaged, and the corridors and classrooms are very calm in terms of how students conduct themselves.  Mutual respect for everyone - teachers, staff, children and support workers - is prevalent throughout the school.


Amazing Learning is our core purpose

Amazing Learning is our core purpose

You will see learning that will amaze you. Wherever you think your child might be in any subject or area, we will assure you that they will do better than you can ever imagine possible.