A child's first years at school decide something that lasts: whether learning feels like something they can do. Everything else we work on rests on that.

Preschool at Albayan covers ages 3 to 5, across our three kindergarten levels, KG1 to KG3. It runs in both our English and French sections, and this is where parents choose the language their child will learn in.

Three years of change

A child arrives at KG1 learning which way up a book goes and how to make a pencil do what they want. They leave KG3 reading a short passage aloud, answering questions about what happened in it, writing a sentence with a capital letter at the start and a full stop at the end, and working out what four plus three comes to.

In between, a great deal happens that is harder to see. Hearing the separate sounds inside a spoken word. Understanding that the marks on a page mean something. Counting objects rather than just reciting numbers. Each of these is a genuine leap, and each takes a year of patient work.

Learning to be a person in a room full of people

For most children this is the first place they have to share, wait, and get along with twenty others. We treat that as real work, not something that happens around the edges of the lessons.

Children learn to take turns and settle disagreements without an adult stepping in. They learn to look after their own things, follow the shape of a day, and stay with something difficult instead of abandoning it. They learn to ask for help, which sounds small and is not.

How we teach

We follow the child. Each stage of preschool has its own needs, and the day is built around what children of that age are ready for.

Learning happens through doing. Children handle, build, cut, draw and move, and then talk about what they noticed. Movement and art are not breaks from the academic work; the hand that manages scissors is the hand that will manage a pencil, and the child who can hold a rhythm is building the same attention that reading demands.

KG1 begins with a phased settling-in period, so every child has time to feel safe and confident before the full day starts.

How we know it is working

Our teachers work from a defined set of skills for each year of preschool, covering language, mathematics, science, movement, the arts, and how children learn and work with others. It tells us where each child is and what comes next, so progress is followed skill by skill rather than reduced to a single mark.

Our classrooms

Preschool has its own building at Amrousieh and its own space within the school at Hadat. Children sit in small groups around shared tables rather than at separate desks, so they are always working next to someone. Each child has their own cubby, and the toilets are close by and sized for children this age.

Every classroom has an interactive screen, and teaching assistants work alongside the teachers so children get individual attention through the day.

The playground is the preschool's own, away from the older cycles, with climbing equipment and open ground to run on.

Medical care is available on site, and drop-off and collection follow set routines so we always know where every child is.

Staying connected

Seesaw captures your child's work as it happens, giving you a real window into their day rather than a summary of it. Alongside parent-teacher conferences and everyday contact with your child's teacher, it means you are never guessing how things are going.