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The British School of Washington offers a personalized education. Our student-centric, individualized approach to teaching and learning is called differentiation. It’s a learning philosophy and way of teaching that considers the unique learning needs of each child, and in which our teachers are highly trained.

Teachers get to know each child extremely well, and understand their individual learning style. Each student has an individual learning plan, describing learning goals and the strategies that teacher and student will use to reach them together.

Students work in the way that offers them the most success, tackling new learning when they’re personally ready and revisiting concepts that need more work. Continual assessment, that identifies strengths as well as areas of improvement, ensures that students make progress in all areas.

We also layer the curriculum, to reinforce and deepen learning. This means that all subjects are taught each year from age 5, creating a spiral curriculum that builds on your child’s skills and knowledge from year to year. We continue to revisit topics and strands within subjects every year to further develop them, and reinforce learning, also giving students new to the school the opportunity to access previous learning. As your child moves through the school, we extend topics and examine them in greater depth to deepen understanding and skills. 

Student assessment and reporting is continuous and an essential ingredient of our approach. By assessing students according to standardized levels as well as personal progress, our teachers are able to adapt teaching and learning activities every day. Parents receive four reports on their children’s progress throughout the school year, tracking progress and attainment. Parents and pupils are also invited to attend two formal Learning Review Conferences during the year and can contact teachers at any time to discuss student progress.

We embrace learning outside the classroom, making excellent use of the unique cultural opportunities offered in a capital city and enriching the curriculum with adventures, day visits and longer trips. Children in Year 1 and Year 2 learn outdoors every week using the nearby Dumbarton Oaks Park as their outdoor classroom.

At the British School of Washington we develop the whole child. We ensure all children meet their full potential in 3 areas; academic learning, personal learning and global learning.

 Read more about our approach and how we enhance your child’s learning.