Our Classes - Junior School
At Woods, fun and learning aren't opposites. We follow the British National Curriculum and we take it seriously, with English, Maths every day and science mutliple times a week and high expectations of every child. But children learn best when they're curious, engaged and having a good time, so lessons here are still full of play, adventure and plenty of fresh air.
Our forest campus is a working classroom. Science often means heading outside to test, measure and observe. History and Geography come alive through themed projects, and children learn Kiswahili and French with us too. Classes are small, which means our teachers know exactly where each child is, what they're ready for next, and when they need a bit more support or a bit more challenge.
And because children stay with us from their early years, there's no big jump into "big school". Children move up surrounded by friends, teachers and a place they already know and love.
Year 1
Key Stage 1 · Age 5 by 1 September
Year 1 marks the move from the Early Years Foundation Stage into Key Stage 1. It's a big, exciting step up from FS2. Children spend more time on focused learning each day, but in a way that still feels familiar and fun. Daily phonics carries on, and most children really take off as readers this year. They begin writing simple sentences on their own, and in maths they work with numbers to 100, adding and subtracting with growing confidence.
Topics like "Treetop Explorers", where we travel from the Amazon to Kakamega, bring science and geography together, and much of it is done outside in our own forest. Children also start getting ready for French, with songs, games and simple words.
Year 2
Key Stage 1 · Age 6 by 1 September
Year 2 completes Key Stage 1, and it's the year everything starts to click. Children become confident, independent readers and begin writing longer pieces, like stories, letters and reports, with better handwriting, spelling and punctuation. In maths, they get to grips with place value, times tables, money, time and fractions.
French begins formally this year alongside Kiswahili. Science gets more hands-on still: children plan simple investigations, make predictions and record what they find. By the end of Year 2, children have the solid foundations they need for Key Stage 2.
Year 3
Lower Key Stage 2 · Age 7 by 1 September ·
Year 3 is the first year of Key Stage 2, and children really notice the step up. They read more widely and deeply, write for different audiences and purposes, and start to edit and improve their own work. In maths, they work with bigger numbers, written methods, more times tables, and fractions and measurement.
They also take on more responsibility for their own learning: researching topics, presenting to the class and working together on projects. The forest remains a big part of their week, whether it's for science investigations, geography fieldwork or simply a place to think.
Year 4
Lower Key Stage 2 · Age 8 by 1 September
We're excited to be adding Year 4 to Woods soon, so children can complete Lower Key Stage 2 with us. Year 4 builds on everything children have learned in Year 3. They aim to know all their times tables up to 12 × 12, work with decimals and more complex problem-solving, and write extended pieces with real structure and style.
As the oldest children in the school, Year 4s will have the chance to take on more responsibility and become role models for our younger children. If you'd like to find out more about joining Year 4, please get in touch with our admissions team.
What comes next?
Most of our children go on to the larger international schools in Nairobi, or to schools abroad when their families move on. We take that next step seriously and work hard to make it a smooth one. Because we follow the British curriculum, children can move straight into the next year group elsewhere, and we keep a close eye on making sure they're where they need to be academically.
Just as important, we want them to arrive feeling confident: able to walk into a new classroom, make new friends and settle in quickly.
Class timings per year group
Year 1 : 8:00 am - 3 pm
Year 2 : 8:00 am - 3 pm
Year 3 : 8:00 am - 3 pm
Class Times
While each class has a maximum capacity of 18 children, we aim for smaller groups of 12-15 students.