Welcome

Welcome to the Primary section of ABQ Sohar. My name is Riegardt van Heerden and I am the Head of Primary. Along with my two deputies, Ms Ameera Shariff and Mr Dewald de Lange, we are responsible for Primary students’ academic progress and pastoral welfare.

Since Primary is the start of a child’s formal education journey it is of the utmost importance to encourage a love for learning and have the opportunity to experience activities across the curriculum. We aim to nurture children to become responsible global citizens and have ample positive learning experiences during their time with us. We have high expectations of our students for learning, progression and behaviour. Every student, regardless of their individual potential, can reach their full potential and has access to all areas of the curriculum and the extracurricular activities that the school offers. We want to ensure that our students believe in themselves and their abilities so that they can aspire to ultimately achieve their personal dreams and goals.

We believe our holistic educational approach will develop the qualities of self-discipline, ambition and integrity, which will enable them to flourish throughout their time with us and in their lives beyond school.

I look forward to welcoming you to the ABQ Sohar family!

Curriculum & Aims

The Cambridge Curriculum helps students to develop thinking and learning skills so that they become:

confident
responsible
reflective
innovative and
engaged

All of these attributes make our students ready to tackle the demands of tomorrow’s world and capable of shaping a better world for the future.

Pastoral Care

There is a place for everyone at ABQ Sohar. Every parent wants their children to be safe and happy at school but the importance of pastoral care goes beyond this. Academic performance and health are closely linked, and studies have shown that students with better health and well-being are likely to achieve better academic results. We aim to achieve this by focusing on life skills, such as those taught in our highly successful Discovering You Programme (DYP), which is associated with greater well-being and higher achievement. These 21st-century skills are also fundamental to the development of character and social skills, which will be of critical importance to students in later life.

The House System at ABQ Sohar creates a sense of belonging and responsibility towards others in the same house. We currently have four houses: the Foxes, Eagles, Oryxes and Falcons. Points are awarded for every positive contribution a House member makes at school.

Achievements

Some of our most recent achievements include –

The Council of British International Schools Mangahigh COBIS Maths Challenge 2022: Finished top in Oman, 2nd in the Middle East and 6th in the world!
Literacy Planet Word Mania Competition: Our students completed 2000 literacy missions in a week.

Unique Programmes

The following adds to a unique educational experience in Primary:

Seesaw: A digital portfolio tool for students.
Google Classroom: Google Classroom streamlines the sharing of files between teachers and students. This secure platform enriches the learning experience of students and is tailor-made for our ABQ 1:1 devices.
MyMaths: This is an online Math platform that helps consolidate concepts that were taught in mathematics class.
Reading Eggs: An online reading tool which encourages students to read for golden egg rewards. The game-based design makes sure that students stay engaged and captivated.
I Read Arabic: A fun platform that develops a love for Arabic through games, challenges, and thousands of books.
Mobeen: Mobeen is an Arabic excellence program that was developed to enhance the Arabic skills of students at ABQ Seeb. The program has been designed to uphold the Omani heritage and traditions.
TALA: The Tala assessment provides a standards-based assessment for reading and writing in the Arabic language for children who are mother-tongue speakers of Arabic.
GL Assessment: GL Assessment provides the educator with detailed information about the individual needs of a student in English, Mathematics and Science. This information helps us to tailor-make our approach to teaching and learning so that every student’s needs are addressed.
CAT4 Assessment: CAT4 is an assessment of developed abilities in areas known to make a difference in learning and achievement – namely verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial reasoning – which provides us with an accurate analysis of potential student achievement. The CAT 4 tests are done in Grade 4.
Oxford Reading Tree: The series has a structured, rigorous synthetic phonics programme for early readers. Oxford Reading Tree encourages independent reading as it helps children to build fluency and become self-reliant readers which in turn leads to reading for pleasure.

What makes our section special?

To keep students motivated and engaged, we have the following internal competitions during the year:

Spelling Bee
Math Genius
Science Star
Holy Quran Reading
House Games
International Day
Charity days and fundraisers to help those less fortunate

Last but not least, our teachers are our ‘secret ingredient’. Qualified, experienced, motivated and caring staff makes the Primary section something to behold.

Facilities

Our campus provides world-class facilities that include spacious, well-equipped classrooms, six science and four ICT laboratories, indoor sports facilities which include a learn-to-swim shallow pool and a 25m pool for the more experienced swimmers, as well as outdoor sports facilities. Our Primary students also have access to a specialist Junior Science Laboratory specifically designed to accommodate Grade 1 – 4 students.

We have a library for our Primary students which has a collection of books from Oxford Reading Tree which is a trusted collection of engaging fiction and non-fiction books for young readers. Our extensive reading collection provides a variety of writing styles, genres, and artwork, and has taught children how to read and enjoy books.

we care.

Learn more about ABQ

Our Uniform

Find out more

Admissions

Find out more

Extracurricular Activities

Find out more