Every child is allocated a 'house' at Horizon School. Our 'houses' are named after local Dubai parks, as follows:

House competitions are organised throughout the school year. House points are rewarded for good work, hard work, helping our friends and teachers or good behaviour. These are totalled each week and announced at assembly.

Al Mamzar is a large park with lots of trees and greenery. It has an amphitheatre, with open grassy spaces and paths winding between picinic areas and children's playgrounds. There are beaches that have sheltered areas for swimming, with lifeguards as well as changing rooms. The park also provides a barbecue area.

Creekside is one of the best parks in Dubai. It offers large botanical gardens, fishing piers, jogging tracks, barbecue sites, children's play areas, restaurants, kiosks and a large amphitheatre. There are extensive paths and walkways with special garden areas and a host of recreational facilities. Two wheel bikes can be hired for a family and a cable car system has recently been introduced in the park, giving beautiful views of the Creek and Deira.

Mushrif Park is located about a half hour's drive from Dubai. It is a very large park and has a miniature train which tours the park regularly in the afternoons. The park also offers pony and camel rides. "World Village" boasts miniature architectural samples from every continent: Dutch Windmills, English Tudor Cottages, Thai stilt dwellings etc. Separate swimming pools are available for men and women.

Safa is a large green park with facilities for everyone. There is a video game parlour for teenagers, along with bumper cars and a big wheel. It is like a mini-city complete with little roads, traffic lights and signs for the children. There is also a lake with a fountain, waterfall and boating facilities. For sporting enthusiasts there are three tennis courts, and volleyball, basketball and football pitches. The park is very popular with joggers and walkers of Dubai.

From September 2001 Horizon School introduced new class names. There are up to three classes in each year group - Falcons, Leopards and Scorpions. These names were chosen following a pupils' ballot and refer to the local Arabian Falcon, Arabian Leopard and the Arabian Thick-tailed Scorpion which is commonly found across Arabia..

The Falcon is the national bird of the UAE. Falcons, known for their fine hunting instincts and devastating speed as they go in for the kill, played a vital role in the lives of bedouin Arabs as providers of food. And in the modern-day Gulf Arab region the birds, a link with the population's nomadic desert past, are still widely kept and trained - but for sport rather than out of necessity. In the United Arab Emirates, falconry is particularly favoured by the royal families. The birds, often specially bred for the sport, are regarded with great respect.

The UAE is the home to small populations of the endangered Arabian leopard, or caracal. The Arabian leopard is much smaller and lighter in colour than its African counterpart. The deep golden yellow between the black rosettes is only present on the animal's back, whilst the rest of the body is beige to greyish-white. It is a nocturnal and secretive animal that is rarely seen, except by the mountain farmers, who hunt them when they eat their goats. An official estimate is that there are probably no more than 100 left in all of Arabia which would make the them 10 times more rare than the Giant Panda. In the UAE probably no more than six to 10 individuals still live in the mountains. As so few leopards are left, the Arabian Leopard Trust has taken action to protect them.