At Sunmarke, we firmly believe in equipping our students with the skills they’ll need in the ever-changing landscape of 21st Century thinking and work. We do this by empowering our students through an innovative and character-building education that inspires them to thrive and achieve with purpose. Our curriculum design serves to reflect this. Whilst maintaining academic rigour through the British National Curriculum, our holistic Positive Education ethos and ambitious commitment to innovative technology ensures our children achieve outstanding academic, social and personal success. Additionally, opportunities for Forest School lessons and outdoor learning are provided to all Primary students.
Therefore, the drivers for our curriculum are based on two principles: all learning is purposeful with real-life application and context; and students can make connections across interdisciplinary skills.
With the opening of our dedicated STEAM Centre, SPACE-X, and the addition of specialist resident design technology and computing teachers, we have redesigned our curriculum to take us from our thematic roots to design thinking, using the Stanford d.school approach below.
Whilst English and maths remain explicitly on the timetable, children work on STEAM theme projects across science, design technology, engineering, the arts, maths and humanities, with the option to also make purposeful links to our UAE moral, social and cultural studies and Values in Action objectives. Living in the UAE, it is vital we also make purposeful links to our local surroundings, Islamic culture and Arabic language. This hands-on approach to problem-solving enables each STEAM theme to culminate in a proposed project which requires the students to design/make/create something which draws upon the knowledge and skills which they have learnt over the course of the project. During each STEAM project, each class will spend two weeks in SPACE-X, where the support of our specialists will enable children’s designs to come to life.
| Primary Core Subjects | Primary Foundation Subjects |
|---|---|
| English | History |
| Mathematics | Geography |
| STEAM (including science) | Modern Foreign languages (MFL): French/Mandarin |
| Arabic | Art & Design |
| Islamic | Computing |
| Values in Action/moral, social and cultural studies | Music |
| Physical Education (including swimming) |
In addition to the subjects above, Sunmarke offers a diverse range of sports, co-curricular and enrichment activities to supplement the academic programme.
