Key Stage 1

Year 1 and 2

In Key Stage 1, we have created a warm, welcoming and stimulating environment where pupils feel respected and valued. In both Year 1 and Year 2, we foster a lifelong love of learning and promote inquisitive minds in our young people by teaching through a problem solving approach: Mantle of the Expert. During topics such as “Captain Nobeard’s Pirate Crew”, “Dinosaur Island” and “King Charles’ Disaster Relief Team”, children are encouraged to be independent, successful learners, through investigation and reasoning activities. We help the children to blossom and develop their confidence not only through activities such as Expert of the Week and Show and Tell, but also by creating an atmosphere where children feel safe to share their thoughts and opinions and to experiment and explore.

We believe in nurturing the whole child and achieve this by delivering a full and comprehensive curriculum, encompassing; Reading, Writing, Maths, Science, History, Geography, Art, Music, Arabic, French, Qatar History, Swimming, Computing and PSHE (Personal Social health Education), all taught through engaging, active methods. This is supplemented by an extensive After School Activities Programme, taught both by our teachers and by professionals in their respective fields. 

The Key Stage 1 students, and teachers, enjoy the outstanding facilities at DESS and use them creatively to maximise learning experiences. For example, we use the swimming pool not only for swimming but also to sail our pirate ships! We use each individual class garden not only as a space for reading, investigating, building and exploring but also for growing our own plants and caring for living things as they learn to be responsible citizens. We use our extensive ICT resources not only for Computing lessons, but in every area of the curriculum as we prepare our children for an adult life in the 21st century.

We value our children’s individuality. Therefore, our bespoke approach to teaching, planning and assessing means that we meet the individual needs of every student, through both challenging them and supporting them to achieve not only academic excellence, but also to meet their sporting, artistic and musical potential.  

The values of DESS: responsibility, kindness, perseverance and respect, are at the core of Key Stage 1. Children learn about these values directly through assemblies and lessons, but also discreetly through their daily life at school as they underpin everything they do. As a result, we help to nurture respectful, resourceful and empathetic children who leave us well rounded and ready for Key Stage 2.  

School Timings:

Sunday to Wednesday 07:30 – 13:55

Thursday 07:30 – 12:55

Registration closes at 07:30 – children arriving after registration closes will be marked as late.