Al Hamra
An outstanding BISR campus in Riyadh, offering alternative pathways in the senior years to fully complement the offerings of our sister campuses, providing an unprecedented range of pathways to support the diverse needs of our community. Al Hamra will help maintain BISR’s global recognition as the school of choice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the region.
Our Al Hamra Campus is currently home to over 1750 students from ages 3 to 18. Our youngest students follow the English Early Years Foundation Stage programme and students in Years 1 to 9 follow the English National curriculum, which is adapted and greatly enriched to reflect our local and International context. Students in Years 10 and 11 follow a two-year programme of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) subjects and our Year 12 and 13 students complete Advanced Level (A Level) studies. Students achieve well above average examination outcomes and go on to Higher Education Studies at prestigious Universities and Colleges around the world.
In the final quarter of 2021, we signed a contract with a developer to build a new campus to replace our Al Hamra site, which will open in August 2024. The new campus is a short distance from the current school site and will significantly increase space from 28,000 sq metres to 50,000 sq metres. Learning spaces will be much larger in size, with a range of exciting features to support our learning, wellbeing and enrichment programmes. You can see more about the new campus here. In September 2023, a contract was signed to keep our current campus in addition to our new Al Waha Campus.
Al Hamra will be renovated inline with all of our new BISR campuses and will re open in August 2024, initially for F1 - Y7 and Post 16.
Our much loved Al Hamra campus will reopen after the first phase of extensive renovations that will re-energise our traditional home. The renovations will future-proof our campus and ensure we maintain our reputation for outstanding teaching and learning.
Once at full capacity, the Al Hamra Campus will be home to approximately 1200 students from ages 3 to 18, with four classes in each year group. Our youngest students in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 (3- 7-year-olds) learn through playing and exploring, being active and thinking critically and creatively. A wide range of learning opportunities are provided in our inviting and enabling environments, both inside and outside and utilizing the Continuous Provision model to deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 curriculum. Children make great use of our outdoor classroom and playscapes, as well as their classrooms and shared pods.
The campus will be renovated in stages allowing for a more cautious growth plan. Starting with two-form entry in each year group from F1-Year 7 in 2024-25, the school will ensure that the sense of community is maintained through organic growth in the coming years.
All of our primary classes have well-qualified, native English-speaking teachers. Classes also have support from outstanding teaching assistants (TAs). TA provision is scaled to be more intense in the younger classes for example two TAs in each FS 1 class, and less frequent in the older age groups.
Specialist staff in the Primary School provide lessons for all students in Arabic, Performing Arts and Physical Education. Children in Years 5 and 6 also enjoy a carousel of World Languages (currently French and Spanish, as well as Arabic). In Year 6 students decide which language they will pursue in Secondary School.
Our youngest learners in FS 1 and 2 follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. Staff provide rich learning experiences and warm caring relationships to ensure every child’s unique characteristics and interests are recognised and built upon to develop resilient, resourceful, capable and confident learners. Rich opportunities help develop children across seven, inter-connected areas of learning. These include the three prime areas of Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development; as well as the four specific areas of Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the world and Expressive Arts and Design. The Foundation Stage is an exciting time for our children, their families and our staff, as the children lay down the foundations for their future success.
Within Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and 2) children build on the learning from the Foundation Stage, with a rich variety of personalised learning experiences in their classrooms, the outdoor classroom and shared spaces. The children are encouraged to continue exploring, developing curiosity and working independently and in pairs, small groups and whole class settings. Physical development, Social and emotional development remain key focuses, alongside learning in literacy, mathematics, science, history, geography, design technology and arts along with computing skills. The levels of self-regulation, independence and intrinsic motivation are key features of learning at this stage.
In Key Stage 2: Years 3-6 students enjoy a rich programme of English, mathematics, and follow 4-6 units of work each year that facilitate the learning of important knowledge, skills and conceptual understanding, These units integrate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) as well as the humanities (interculturalism, history and geography). The units are rich, engaging and relevant in developing competencies such as curiosity, critical thinking, evaluation, reflection, teamwork and collaboration. All units are underpinned by the English National Curriculum Standards.
Students in the Secondary School (Years 7-13) move through Key Stages 3, 4 and 5.
In Key Stage 3 more subject specialists are introduced to ensure the depth of subject knowledge is developed to support them in their future endeavours. With learning across a broad range of subject areas, often through an integrated unit of study, they learn key knowledge and skills in the areas of English, Maths, Science, Humanities, Visual and performing arts, computing, technology and world languages. Physical education remains a key component of the curriculum. The wellbeing of our students is critical to their success, both in terms of their study as well as in their day-to-day lives. As such Wellbeing lessons are conducted weekly by well-trained staff who are committed to giving our students the tools they need to support themselves and those around them.
At Al Hamra our Key Stage 4 (Year 10-11) students will have the opportunity to pursue a range of qualifications including General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), Business and Technology Education Council (BTECs) or a combination of the two awards. Similarly in Key Stage 5 (Year 12-13) students may follow a traditional Advanced Level (A-Level) route, or BTECs and again it will be possible for students to take a combination of the two. With the close proximity of the Al Waha campus students may undertake studies on a combination of the two campuses.
For the 2024-5 Academic year starting in September 2024 our first cohort of students in Year 12 will have three BTEC options:
Applied Science
Sport
Business, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
In subsequent years further BTEC options will be available to offer an unprecedented range of study for our students.
A Levels, BTECs and a combination of the two qualifications provide pathways to prestigious universities around the world, apprenticeships or directly into employment.
Our Al Hamra campus sits on a 7-acre site. Designed around a large central quad, the main teaching areas are on two floors with playgrounds wrapped around the building. Specialist facilities such as science laboratories, our STEAM innovation centre, Design Technology, Art, Food technology, Music and performances rooms and a well-stocked library ensure the students at Al Hamra are able to learn in the best environment possible. Sports and Physical education play an important part in both the curricular and activity programme. The school’s sports facilities include an artificial grass playing field, swimming pool, large sports hall and two gymnasiums.
ICT plays an important role in teaching, learning and communication at BISR. Our aim is to develop safe and confident users of technology. Children in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 have school-supplied iPads. In Key Stage 2 children bring an iPad as part of the BYOD programme, and in the Secondary School, the BYOD programme continues with students asked to bring a Macbook or PC laptop. The school has excellent ICT infrastructure, and invests heavily in technology to support students with their learning.
Our new Al Waha campus is a short distance from the Al Hamra site. Being in close proximity will support close collaboration for the benefit of all of our students.
