At RD American School, physical education is a daily class for every child. It is central to our program because we believe movement shapes far more than the body. In PE, children progress systematically in each skill and sport, from first discovery through foundation and refinement to mastery.
At least forty-five minutes every day from Monday to Friday, extended to 90 minutes on Thursday, for a weekly total of 270 minutes. This total reflects a core belief:
Movement should be woven into the rhythm of every day.
Regular, sufficient, daily activity benefits children far more than occasional, concentrated training.
Why Sufficient Movement Matters
Why do we give time to movement every single day? Because a growing body of evidence shows that sufficient, regular activity is a catalyst for a child's mind and mood.
After moving, children often engage with the classroom more attentively. Research links regular physical activity with stronger cognitive function and academic performance.
Better attention and focus
Stronger working memory and self-regulation
Greater focus on classroom tasks soon after activity
A positive long-term link with academic results
Physical activity is a recognized regulator of mood, helping children stay balanced under pressure.
Eases anxiety and relieves stress
Improves sleep quality
Builds confidence and social skills through team play
Helps regulate emotion and maintain balance
For children in their growing years, regular movement shapes their physical foundation and lifelong habits of health.
Strengthens cardiovascular and muscular fitness
Supports bone health and development
Maintains healthy weight and metabolism
Builds habits that last a lifetime
These points draw on public guidance from the WHO and the CDC on physical activity for children and adolescents, together with systematic reviews on the relationship between physical activity and cognition, executive function, and academic performance. Movement is one important contributor to a child's holistic development.
The Big Picture
One principle runs throughout. The younger the child, the greater the emphasis on whole-body coordination and quality of movement; strength and load are introduced only gradually with age.
Whole-body coordination of major muscle groups
Emerging core stability
Lower-body spring and balance
A prime window for rapid neurological development. The aim at this age is to lay down fundamental movement patterns, through hours of play: running, jumping, climbing, rolling, and throwing games, with a first playful introduction to swimming and ball sports. Building muscle comes later.
Core (abdominals, spinal erectors)
Legs and lower body
Shoulders and back (climbing, hanging)
Coordination and agility continue to grow. More structured movement can be introduced, though still without added load. This is a good stage to begin teaching the basic skills of basketball, soccer, badminton, and similar sports in a deliberate order.
Continued core stability
Lower body (quads, glutes, calves)
Upper-body push and pull
Coordination is close to maturity, and this is a sensitive window for speed and agility. Children can now handle fuller bodyweight work and sport-specific practice, still without heavy loads.
Core (rectus, obliques, erectors)
Lower body (quads, glutes, hamstrings)
Upper body & back (chest, lats, shoulders, arms)
As puberty arrives, real muscle growth becomes possible. Light loads may be introduced gradually, but correct form remains central. Each sport can move into a more specialized, higher-intensity stage, and during growth spurts we pay close attention to protection and stretching.
Systematic whole-body development
Maximal strength and muscle (with guidance)
Targeted core and weak-point work
The body nears maturity, muscle and strength grow faster, and more systematic strength training becomes possible under professional guidance. The emphasis shifts toward the individual: a student can go deep into the sport they love and keep it as a skill and a habit for life.
Photo — children across the age stages, on the field
Principles Across Every Grade
Whatever the grade, the sport, or the step, the following always hold true. They are the thinking our program is built on.
The abdominal and back muscles need work at every stage, because they steady every other movement. In swimming, ball sports, or running, a stable core is what generates power and what keeps a child from getting hurt.
Correct, safe movement always comes before how much weight is lifted, especially in the early years. We would rather a child perform a movement well than rush to add difficulty or load. In the language of cognitive science, encoding a movement correctly from the start is far easier than unlearning a bad habit later.
Before the skeleton has fully matured, especially during growth spurts, we avoid heavy loads on the spine and joints. This is why, in the younger years, we rely on play and bodyweight movement.
Thorough warm-up and stretching support flexibility and reduce injury risk. The habit itself is part of physical literacy, and it serves a child for life.
Every child develops at a different pace, so we go by a child’s physical maturity. The grades here are a general guide; our attention is always on the individual child.
We avoid training any single area in isolation; upper and lower body, front and back, develop together. That is exactly why our sports are varied and complementary. Balance matters more than the number of sports.
Consistency is what a growing body responds to. We weave physical education into each day for precisely this reason: body and brain both prefer a steady rhythm.
A child sticks with a sport only if they enjoy it. Every journey begins with "Discovery" precisely because interest always comes first.
Mastering how to breathe and how to generate power in each sport, along with good warm-up and stretching habits, stays with a person for life.
Swimming and soccer build cardiovascular endurance; basketball, squash, and baseball train power and reaction; badminton and tennis sharpen agility and coordination; and the foundational running, jumping, climbing, rolling, and throwing lay the groundwork of movement for all of them. Variety of this kind, where the sports complement each other, is what keeps a child’s development balanced.
Our structure
Every sport is laid out as a step-by-step path. That design is deliberate; it follows what cognitive science tells us about how a person learns a skill: build interest and a sense of safety first, then deepen the challenge gradually. The four steps below apply across all sports, but different sports begin at different ages. Running and swimming can start early, while sports demanding greater coordination and strength, such as baseball, tennis, and squash, begin later. That is why the grade ranges differ from sport to sport.
Photo — from first discovery to mastery
Become familiar, unafraid, playful. The goal is enjoyment and a feel for the sport.
Learn the core skills and perform the full basic movements with proper form.
Refine technique and raise intensity, handling more complex situations.
Train systematically, combining fitness and skill, ready for competition.
Our Sports
From the water to the court, from solitary running to team play, each sport builds something different. Here is how each progresses from discovery to mastery.
Photo — Running on the track
Running is the foundation beneath almost every sport, the most democratic of activities, and a lifelong companion. The path runs from running for the joy of it, to running well, to running farther, to running fast.
Run naturally through chasing games, enjoying movement without worrying about speed or form.
Learn proper form and breathing rhythm, understand warm-up and cool-down, and build a steady jogging habit.
Build aerobic endurance for longer steady runs; explore interval and tempo work.
Systematic endurance and speed training, with pacing strategy, for distance or sprint events.
Photo — Swimming in the pool
A full-body, low-impact aerobic activity. Water resistance works nearly every muscle group, which builds cardiovascular fitness and improves posture. Swimming is also a survival skill.
Get over any fear of the water; learn to float, hold a breath, and breathe while staying relaxed.
Learn freestyle and breaststroke, swimming short distances with coordinated form.
Master several strokes, improve efficiency and turns, swim longer with a sense of pace.
With fitness in place, train endurance and speed systematically, refine technique, and race.
Photo — Soccer on the field
A sustained aerobic sport combining sprints, changes of direction, and shooting. It develops lower-body strength and endurance, and is an ideal vehicle for teamwork and tactical awareness.
Get a feel for the ball through dribbling and target games, running freely in small spaces.
Learn passing, trapping, dribbling, and basic shooting; understand rules and positions.
More consistent skills, movement off the ball, and small-sided matches.
Greater fitness and physicality, understanding of formations, and full-field competition.
Photo — Basketball on the court
A high-intensity interval sport. Frequent stops, jumps, and direction changes build lower-body power, spatial awareness, and teamwork.
Dribble in place and on the move, with two-handed shooting games to build feel.
Sound dribbling, passing, and shooting form; understand the basic rules.
Learn layups and changes of direction, pick up offense and defense, and play half-court.
Greater power and physicality, tactical play, and full-court competition.
Photo — Baseball on the diamond
An explosive combination of throwing, hitting, and running that develops rotational power, hand-eye coordination, and split-second reaction. Because it is technically demanding, it begins a little later.
Practice catching, throwing, and swinging with soft balls, building hand-eye coordination and a sense of safety.
Learn pitching, batting, and base-running basics; understand the rules.
Improve pitching and hitting consistency; understand fielding positions and play.
Strengthen rotational power and tactical awareness, and play competitive games.
Photo — Badminton rally
A fast net sport with constant movement. Frequent quick starts and swings develop reaction speed and lower-body agility.
Learn the grip and bounce the shuttle in the air, finding the feel and the fun of making contact.
Learn clears, serves, and basic footwork; sustain simple rallies.
Refine court footwork, expand shot variety, sustain longer rallies.
Build speed and fitness, learn tactics, and compete in singles and doubles.
Played across a larger court with constant running and rotational strokes, tennis builds whole-body coordination, rotational power, and sustained movement. Because it asks so much of coordination, it begins a little later.
Use shorter rackets and slower balls on small courts to build hand-eye coordination.
Learn forehand, backhand, and serve basics, sustaining baseline rallies.
Improve footwork and consistency, sustaining rallies with movement.
Develop spin and power, learn to read the rhythm of a match, and play competitive singles.
A high-intensity sport played in an enclosed court. Fast balls and relentless rallies push reaction, power, and cardiovascular fitness hard. This is a sport we will introduce in the next year or two, with a dedicated squash center expected to open in 2027.
Understand how the ball rebounds in an enclosed court; practice hitting against the wall.
Master forehand, backhand, and serve, sustaining simple rallies.
Learn to control placement and court movement, with longer, more intense rallies.
Strengthen power and fitness, learn attacking and defensive strategy, and compete.
High School · Grades 9–12
In high school, the sports no longer move forward side by side. After the broad exposure of elementary and middle school, a student knows what they love and where they excel.
As the body nears maturity, we also introduce more systematic strength and conditioning under professional guidance, always following the same principles: correct form first, protection of the spine and joints, and steady progression. We want a student to leave us with the skills of a sport and, above all, with a way of understanding their own body and taking care of it for the rest of their lives.
We connect them with higher-intensity specialized training and competition against other schools, refining fitness, technique, and mindset to help them progress toward varsity-level play and beyond.
We help them refine a sport into a pastime for life: dependable technique, healthy training habits, and the lasting ability to find joy and release in movement.
We do not rush. We give them room to try different sports and, with a teacher's observation and guidance, gradually find the one that lights them up and keeps them coming back.
Our Promise
Long after these years have passed, when the child is grown, their body will still carry what we taught them: the right way to breathe and move, an easy and open posture, and a love of movement. To learn more, explore the programs below.
This page is based on general patterns of child and adolescent development and on public guidance from organizations such as the WHO and CDC. The grades indicated for each stage are a general guide; actual teaching is arranged around each child's individual development.
