Kelaafaru School Ninety four children, six teachers, and two grades in most rooms
The preschool room to grade six

A school small enough that everybody knows every child

Ninety four children, six teachers, four classrooms and two grades in most of them. This page has the term dates, the uniform, how to join, what we can offer, and the things we cannot, which we would rather you read here than find out in March.

Ask the office The classes

What a school this size is good at, and what it is not

Good at: knowing a child. There are ninety four children here and six teachers, and every teacher knows every child's name, family, reading level and the thing they are best at. A child who is struggling is noticed in days. A child who is quiet is not invisible, because there is nowhere here to be invisible.

Not good at: choice and specialists. Two grades share a room and one teacher for most of the week. There is no laboratory, no separate library room, no art teacher and no full time physical education teacher. A child who needs specialist assessment for a learning difficulty cannot get it on this island and we will say so and help a family arrange it elsewhere.

Both halves of that are true at once, and a family choosing to move here should know both. Everything on this site is written on that basis.

The classes

How ninety four children are taught in four rooms

Seven parts: the preschool room, the three multi grade classes, the reading corner, the shared teacher arrangement, and what happens after grade six.

The preschool room

Eighteen children, three mornings of play and two of getting ready for grade one, eight until eleven.

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Grades one and two, together

Sixteen children, one teacher, one room, and reading heard every day without exception.

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Grades three and four, together

Twenty two children, and the two years where a child who cannot read fluently starts to look like a child who is bad at mathematics.

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Grades five and six, together

Twenty four children, the oldest in the school, and two years pointed at a move to another island.

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The reading corner and the books

No library room. A corner of the hall with nine hundred books, built and stocked by parents, open all day and after school.

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The shared English teacher, over the video link

One teacher, three small schools, two islands away. What it does well and what it cannot do.

Read more
See all of them
How we work

Four things a small school can do that a large one cannot

The principal is at the gate twice a day

Every morning and every home time. No appointment is needed to speak to anybody in this school, and there is no message book, because there is a gate.

Reading heard every single day

Every child, every day, aloud, to an adult. In a school of ninety four that is possible, and it is the reason we do it.

Older children teach younger ones

Twenty minutes a day, grade five and six with grade one and two. It helps the little ones and it does more for the older ones.

We say what we cannot do

No laboratory, no specialists, and a teacher shortage most years. Families hear that from us rather than discovering it.

The school this year

94
Children, preschool to grade six
6
Teachers
4
Classrooms
16
Children in the largest class
What the school has done

Three things worth reading about

The multi grade timetable that took three attempts, an English teacher shared with two other islands by video, and the reading corner the parents built.

The multi grade timetable, on the third attempt
Kelaafaru School 2024

The multi grade timetable, on the third attempt

Two grades in one room can be taught well or badly, and the difference is entirely in the timetable. It took us two bad years to work out how.
An English teacher shared with two other islands
Kelaafaru School 2025

An English teacher shared with two other islands

Three small schools, none of which could get an English teacher, one teacher between them over a video link.
The reading corner, built by parents over three weekends
Kelaafaru School 2023

The reading corner, built by parents over three weekends

No room for a library, so the east end of the hall became one. Shelves, a mat, a fan and nine hundred books, almost none of it bought.
Read about them
From parents

What families tell us

Somebody hears my son read every single day and I see it in the book he brings home. In the school we came from he was heard twice a term and nobody knew his name.

F Fathimath Sheereen Parent, grades two and five, Kelaafaru

They took the whole class over on the boat twice to sit in lessons at the big school before the move. My daughter knew where the rooms were on her first day. That was thoughtful.

A Ahmed Samah Parent, grade six, Kelaafaru

The principal told us straight that they have had four English teachers in six years and what they were doing about it. I would rather be told that than find out in the third term.

A Aminath Rizmee Parent, preschool room and grade four, Kelaafaru
Joining the school

Admission, the preschool room and moving here

How does a child join the preschool room or grade one?

Come to the gate any morning and say so. There is no admission month, no form to collect and no test.

The preschool room takes children in the year before grade one, and grade one takes children who turn six before the school year begins. Bring the birth record and the immunisation card when you have a moment, and the child can start before the paperwork is finished if that is easier.

We are moving to the island. What should we know?

Two things, and we would rather say both before you arrive.

What this school does well is know your child. Ninety four children, six adults, reading heard every day, and a problem noticed in days rather than terms. What it cannot offer is choice or specialists: two grades to a room, no laboratory, no art or music teacher, and four English teachers in six years. Come and see it any morning. Somebody will show you every room in ten minutes and answer anything.

My child may have a learning difficulty. Can the school help?

We can help and we cannot assess. There is nobody on this island qualified to diagnose a specific learning difficulty and we will not guess at one.

What we do: give a child who needs it fifteen minutes of one to one every day from whichever adult is free, tell you plainly what we are seeing, and help you arrange an assessment elsewhere, including the boat and the appointment. Three families have done this in four years and the school arranged all three.

Does the school charge anything?

No fees. A family pays for the uniform, shoes, and stationery.

Books from the reading corner are free and nothing is ever charged for a lost or ruined one. The two clubs are free. The boat for matches and for the grade six visits is paid for by the association. A family who cannot manage the uniform should speak to the principal at the gate, and it will be dealt with quietly the same week.

Come and see the school any morning

There is no open day and no need for one. Walk in at eight, and somebody will show you every room in ten minutes.

Send us a message Ring the office
Get in touch

Write to the school

Useful if you are moving to the island or if you would rather write than come to the gate. Everything is read by the principal, because there are six of us.

We reply to every message. Leave a phone number if you would rather we called.

  • Where we are Kelaafaru School
    Magu Dhekunu, Kelaafaru
    Maldives
  • Call us +960 672 4108
  • WhatsApp 9607724108
  • Email us office@kelaafaruschool.edu.mv
  • Opening hours School day: Sunday to Thursday, 7.45am to 12.45pm Preschool room: Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 11am Office: Sunday to Thursday, 7.30am to 1.30pm The principal is at the gate every morning and every home time