INTERNATIONAL STREAM

By choosing the International Stream at FIS, students follow a dynamic International English Curriculum that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and global citizenship, leading to the internationally recognized IGCSE and IBDP qualifications. Delivered by a native English-speaking faculty and enhanced by continuous exposure to French language and culture, this pathway ensures a rich, well-rounded education that prepares students for success in a global society.

SEE THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM OVERVIEW

IS PRIMARY

Students follow the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), engaging in thematic units that build essential skills, knowledge, and understanding. Our goal is to foster a love of learning and equip students with the confidence and skills to succeed in their education. Teachers collaborate across year groups to ensure consistent, high-quality learning experiences, using a mix of whole-class and individual instruction, with an emphasis on verbal work and higher-order thinking. A cross-curricular approach connects subjects and deepens understanding.

Learning is at the heart of everything we do. We define learning as the lifelong process of acquiring knowledge, developing skills and making connections in order to understand the world and our place within it. We value strong partnerships with parents and the community to promote global citizenship and international mindedness, which we define as being inclusive, respectful, accepting, and open-minded toward cultural differences.

WHAT ARE Entry & Exit Points ?

They are special, engaging events that frame each unit of learning.

An Entry Point is a launch event that introduces a new IPC unit in a fun, exciting, and memorable way. An Exit Point is a celebration at the end of the unit that allows children to showcase and reflect on what they’ve learned.

Each IPC unit begins with an exciting Entry Point and ends with an Exit Point where parents are invited to take part in the learning journey.

MORE ABOUT OUR THE IPC & TEACHING SUPPORT PROGRAMMES

LANGUAGES

IMMERSIVE BILINGUAL CURRICULUM (English / French)

As the French International School, we pride ourselves on offering a rigorous and extensive French programme to complement classroom learning, while also giving students the opportunity to learn an additional language. Each year group is taught by native French speakers. Students have four lessons per week, with each lasting 45 minutes. We also provide home learning activities and a dedicated French learning website for international stream primary students.

Examples of learning aims for various year groups:

Year 3: to develop listening and speaking skills as well as starting to write a short message with a few simple sentences
Year 4: to reach level A1* (Breakthrough) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
Year 5: to develop grammar skills such as using different tenses (near future, future and passé composé), consolidating key structures (il y a, il faut, ce n’est pas, etc.) and developing vocabulary and the use of connectors
Year 6: to reach level A2* (Elementary) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

MANDARIN

The Mandarin programme provides students with opportunities to learn basic and intermediate phrases that can be used in day-to-day life. It aims to help students develop oral communicative competence and gain a greater appreciation of the Chinese language and culture.

Students have one Mandarin lesson per week, from NS all the way through to Y7
In each lesson there is a specialist teacher and two specialist teaching assistants so that students can be taught in groups tailored to their abilities
Parents can sign their child up to a range of Mandarin extracurricular activities if they would like them to spend more time on this language
We provide home learning activities and a dedicated Mandarin learning website for international stream primary students

ENGLISH SUPPORTING PROGRAMME - Wordsmith

Wordsmith is a fully integrated programme for reading comprehension, speaking and listening, grammar and writing, designed to help every child progress. Wordsmith provides a consistent approach to teaching English with detailed plans.

Students learn to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry and drama, as well as of non-fiction and media. They gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins.

MATHS - Abacus

Abacus is a unique maths toolkit that is carefully crafted to support the teaching and mastery of mathematical concepts. It provides in-class and home learning support through interactive online activities, practical application and written support work.

As students move through kindergarten, they will be able to confidently solve problems, reason mathematically and successfully carry out investigations by drawing upon the mathematical experiences and knowledge gained through a rich, broad and exciting mathematics curriculum.

INTERNATIONAL PRIMARY CURRICULUM - IPC

The International Primary Curriculum (IPC) is a thematic, inquiry-based program that engages students in meaningful learning. Each unit revolves around an exciting theme, starting with an Entry Point and ending with an Exit Point, often involving parents. Through this approach, students build knowledge, skills, and understanding across subjects in a connected and relevant way.

The IPC promotes curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity, integrating subjects like science, history, and geography with literacy and numeracy. Taught in English, lessons use a mix of group and individual activities to develop communication, collaboration, and higher-order thinking skills, all within a hands-on, cross-curricular framework.

The IPC focuses on International Mindedness. FIS students, parents and staff have worked together to establish a shared our definition of international mindedness, which is: being inclusive, respectful, accepting and open-minded about each other’s differences and cultures.

The IPC nurtures Globally Competent learners—those who are inclusive and diverse, respect others’ backgrounds, and apply critical thinking to global issues.

THEMATIC UNIT EXAMPLES

The transformational curriculum is made up of exciting, engaging and globally relevant thematic units of work covering 10 subjects: Art, Geography, History, ICT & Computing, Music, Physical Education, Science, Technology and International.

Every year group works on diverse, carefully selected units throughout the school year. Below are some examples of the themes your child could be learning about at primary level.

Examples of units in Year 1 / Year 2

FREEZE IT

We are going to be looking at water and ice from different viewpoints. As scientists, we will investigate water and what happens if we cool it. Do you know that water is sometimes solid and sometimes a liquid? We will be geographers and explore cold and icy places around the world. Have you been to any cold and icy places? What makes them so cold… and what happens if they warm up?

LIVE AND LET LIVE

In Live and Let Live, we will be learning about living things and what they need in order to survive. How do we know what living things need? How do you know that you are alive, but a stone has never been alive? To find out the answers to these questions, we will need to be scientists, geographers and ecologists.

Examples of units in Year 3 / Year 4

INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

We will be learning about inventions and how they can transform our lives. We will need to be historians and scientists in order to study inventions from the past that have changed our world. Can you think of ways we could use our knowledge to think about current problems and what inventions may be necessary in the future?

IS Primany - Live and let live unit.webp

DIFFERENT PLACES, SIMILAR LIVES

In Different Places, Similar Lives we will be learning about the similarities and differences between how people lead their lives in different countries throughout the world. We will need to be global ambassadors as we compare our school life with another school internationally, geographers as we explore how the climate affects the way people live and historians as we learn about how important people in the countries we are studying have changed lives. Can people have similar interests and lifestyles even if they live in different countries of the world?

Examples of units in Year 5 / Year 6

BAKE IT

We are going to ﬁnd out about science by making bread. The processes involved in bread-making can teach us how molecules behave in different materials (solids, liquids and gases) and how these materials can be changed.

BRAINWAVE

Our brain is special because we can use it to learn lots of new and different things every day, enabling us to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding that we will need to become successful adults. By finding out more about how we learn, and how we can improve the way that we learn, we will be better equipped for meeting the many challenges ahead of us.

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