Curriculum for Excellence is being implemented for 3-18 year olds. It aims to raise standards, prepare our children for a future they do not yet know and equip them for jobs of tomorrow in a fast changing world.
Curriculum for Excellence enables professionals to teach subjects creatively, to work together across the school and with other schools, to share best practice and explore learning together.
Teachers and practitioners will share information to plan a child’s “learning journey” from 3-18, helping their progression from nursery to primary, primary to secondary and beyond, ensuring the change is smooth. They’ll ensure children continue to work at a pace they can cope with and with challenge they can thrive on.
Curriculum for Excellence balances the importance of knowledge and skills.
Every child is entitled to a broad and deep general education, whatever their level and ability. It develops skills for learning, life and work to help young people go on to further study, secure work and navigate life. It brings real life into the classroom, making learning relevant and helps young people apply lessons to their life beyond the classroom. It links knowledge in one subject area to another helping children understand the world and make connections. It develops skills so that children can think for themselves, make sound judgements, challenge, enquire and find solutions.
There’s personal support to help young people fulfil their potential and make the most of their opportunities with additional support wherever that’s needed. There will be an emphasis by all staff on looking after our children’s health and wellbeing – to ensure that the school is a place where children feel safe and secure.
Ultimately, Curriculum for Excellence aims is to improve our children’s life chances, to nurture successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors, and responsible citizens, building on Scotland’s reputation for great education.
Curriculum for Excellence covers the following 8 Curricular Areas:
Health and Wellbeing
Mathematics
Literacy and English
Expressive Arts
Religious and Moral Education
Social Subjects
Technologies
Sciences
Learning in Health and Wellbeing ensures that children and young people develop the knowledge and understanding, skills, capabilities and attributes which they need for mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing now and in the future. Learning through health and wellbeing enables children and young people to:
· make informed decisions in order to improve their mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing
· experience challenge and enjoyment
· experience positive aspects of healthy living and activity for themselves
· apply their mental, emotional, social and physical skills to pursue a healthy lifestyle
· make a successful move to the next stage of education or work
· establish a pattern of health and wellbeing which will be sustained into adult life, and which will help to promote the health and wellbeing of the next generation of Scottish children.
Everyone within each learning community, whatever their contact with children and young people may be, shares the responsibility for creating a positive ethos and climate of respect and trust – one in which everyone can make a positive contribution to the wellbeing of each individual within the school and the wider community. There are many ways in which establishments can assist young people. These include peer support, buddies, breakfast or lunch clubs, safe areas, mentors, pupil support staff, and extended support teams. The responsibilities of all include each practitioner’s role in establishing open, positive, supportive relationships across the school community, where children and young people will feel that they are listened to, and where they feel secure in their ability to discuss sensitive aspects of their lives; in promoting a climate in which children and young people feel safe and secure; in modelling behaviour which promotes health and wellbeing and encouraging it in others; through using learning and teaching methodologies which promote effective learning; and by being sensitive and responsive to the wellbeing of each child and young person. Practical responsibilities include understanding of anti-discriminatory, anti-bullying and child protection policies by all staff and knowledge of the steps to be taken in any given situation, including appropriate referral.
Mathematics is important in our everyday life, allowing us to make sense of the world around us and to manage our lives. Using mathematics enables us to model real-life situations and make connections and informed predictions. It equips us with the skills we need to interpret and analyse information, simplify and solve problems, assess risk and make informed decisions.
Mathematics plays an important role in areas such as science or technologies, and is vital to research and development in fields such as engineering, computing science, medicine and finance. Learning mathematics gives children and young people access to the wider curriculum and the opportunity to pursue further studies and interests.
Because mathematics is rich and stimulating, it engages and fascinates learners of all ages, interests and abilities. Learning mathematics develops logical reasoning, analysis, problem-solving skills, creativity and the ability to think in abstract ways. It uses a universal language of numbers and symbols which allows us to communicate ideas in a concise, unambiguous and rigorous way.
To face the challenges of the 21st century, each young person needs to have confidence in using mathematical skills, and Scotland needs both specialist mathematicians and a highly numerate population.
Building the Curriculum 1
Mathematics equips us with many of the skills required for life, learning and work. Understanding the part that mathematics plays in almost all aspects of life is crucial. This reinforces the need for mathematics to play an integral part in lifelong learning and be appreciated for the richness it brings.
The mathematics experiences and outcomes are structured within three main organisers, each of which contains a number of subdivisions:
Number, money and measure
· Estimation and rounding
· Number and number processes
· Multiples, factors and primes
· Powers and roots
· Fractions, decimal fractions and percentages
· Money
· Time
· Measurement
· Mathematics – its impact on the world, past, present and future
· Patterns and relationships
· Expressions and equations.
Shape, position and movement
· Properties of 2D shapes and 3D objects
· Angle, symmetry and transformation.
Information handling
· Data and analysis
· Ideas of chance and uncertainty.
Literacy
Language and literacy are of personal, social and economic importance. Our ability to use language lies at the centre of the development and expression of our emotions, our thinking, our learning and our sense of personal identity. Language is itself a key aspect of our culture. Through language, children and young people can gain access to the literary heritage of humanity and develop their appreciation of the richness and breadth of Scotland’s literary heritage. Children and young people encounter, enjoy and learn from the diversity of language used in their homes, their communities, by the media and by their peers.
Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning, as it unlocks access to the wider curriculum. Being literate increases opportunities for the individual in all aspects of life, lays the foundations for lifelong learning and work, and contributes strongly to the development of all four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence.
The Literacy and English framework promotes the development of critical and creative thinking as well as competence in listening and talking, reading, writing and the personal, interpersonal and team-working skills which are so important in life and in the world of work. The framework provides, for learners, parents and teachers, broad descriptions of the range of learning opportunities which will contribute to the development of literacy, including critical literacy, creativity, and knowledge and appreciation of literature and culture.
Throughout education, effective learning and teaching in literacy and English will involve a skilful mix of appropriate approaches including:
· the use of relevant, real-life and enjoyable contexts which build upon children and young people’s own experiences
· effective direct and interactive teaching
· a balance of spontaneous play and planned activities
· harnessing the motivational benefits of following children and young people’s interests through responsive planning
· collaborative working and independent thinking and learning
· making meaningful links for learners across different curriculum areas
· building on the principles of Assessment is for Learning
· frequent opportunities to communicate in a wide range of contexts, for relevant purposes and for real audiences within and beyond places of learning
· the development of problem-solving skills and approaches
· the appropriate and effective use of ICT.
The balance between these approaches will vary at different stages and across different sectors and areas of the curriculum. Continuing dialogue about learning and teaching approaches within and across sectors will help to ensure continuity and progression.
The inspiration and power of the arts play a vital role in enabling our children and young people to enhance their creative talent and develop their artistic skills.
By engaging in experiences within the expressive arts, children and young people will recognise and represent feelings and emotions, both their own and those of others. The expressive arts play a central role in shaping our sense of our personal, social and cultural identity. Learning in the expressive arts also plays an important role in supporting children and young people to recognise and value the variety and vitality of culture locally, nationally and globally.
The expressive arts experiences and outcomes will support staff in planning challenging, inspirational and enjoyable learning and teaching activities in the following areas:
· art and design
· dance
· drama
· music.
Scotland is a nation whose people hold a wide range of beliefs from the many branches of the Christian faith represented throughout the land to the world’s other major religions and to beliefs which lie outwith religious traditions. Such diversity enriches the Scottish nation and serves as an inspiring and thought-provoking background for our children and young people to develop their own beliefs and values.
Religious and moral education enables children and young people to explore the world’s major religions and views which are independent of religious belief and to consider the challenges posed by these beliefs and values. It supports them in developing and reflecting upon their values and their capacity for moral judgement. Through developing awareness and appreciation of the value of each individual in a diverse society, religious and moral education engenders responsible attitudes to other people. This awareness and appreciation will assist in counteracting prejudice and intolerance as children and young people consider issues such as sectarianism and discrimination more broadly. Learning through religious and moral education enables children and young people to:
· recognise religion as an important expression of human experience
· learn about and from the beliefs, values, practices and traditions of Christianity and the world religions selected for study, other traditions, and viewpoints independent of religious belief
· explore and develop knowledge and understanding of religions, recognising the place of Christianity in the Scottish context
· investigate and understand the responses which religious and non-religious views can offer to questions about the nature and meaning of life
· recognise and understand religious diversity and the importance of religion in society
· develop respect for others and an understanding of beliefs and practices which are different from their own
· explore and establish values such as wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity and engage in the development of and reflection upon their own moral values
· develop their beliefs, attitudes, values and practices through reflection, discovery and critical evaluation
· develop the skills of reflection, discernment, critical thinking and deciding how to act when making moral decisions
· make a positive difference to the world by putting their beliefs and values into action
· establish a firm foundation for lifelong learning, further learning and adult life.
Religious and moral education is therefore an essential part of every child or young person’s educational experience.
Through social studies, children and young people develop their understanding of the world by learning about other people and their values, in different times, places and circumstances; they also develop their understanding of their environment and of how it has been shaped. As they mature, children and young people’s experiences will be broadened using Scottish, British, European and wider contexts for learning, while maintaining a focus on the historical, social, geographic, economic and political changes that have shaped Scotland. Children and young people learn about human achievements and about how to make sense of changes in society, of conflicts and of environmental issues. With greater understanding comes the opportunity and ability to influence events by exercising informed and responsible citizenship.
Children and young people as they participate in experiences and outcomes in social studies will:
· develop their understanding of the history, heritage and culture of Scotland, and an appreciation of their local and national heritage within the world
· broaden their understanding of the world by learning about human activities and achievements in the past and present
· develop their understanding of their own values, beliefs and cultures and those of others
· develop an understanding of the principles of democracy and citizenship through experience of critical and independent thinking
· explore and evaluate different types of sources and evidence
· learn how to locate, explore and link periods, people and events in time and place
· learn how to locate, explore and link features and places locally and further afield
· engage in activities which encourage enterprising attitudes
· develop an understanding of concepts that encourage enterprise and influence business
· establish firm foundations for lifelong learning and for further specialised study and careers.
The social studies experiences and outcomes have been structured under the three main organisers:
· people, past events and societies
· people, place and environment
· people in society, economy and business.
Science is an important part of our heritage and we use its applications every day in our lives at work, at leisure and in the home. Science and the application of science are central to our economic future and to our health and wellbeing as individuals and as a society. Scotland has a long tradition of scientific discovery, of innovation in the application of scientific discovery, and of the application of science in the protection and enhancement of the natural and built environment. Children and young people are fascinated by new discoveries and technologies and become increasingly aware of, and passionate about, the impact of science on their own health and wellbeing, the health of society and the health of the environment.
Through learning in the sciences, children and young people develop their interest in, and understanding of, the living, material and physical world. They engage in a wide range of collaborative investigative tasks, which allows them to develop important skills to become creative, inventive and enterprising adults in a world where the skills and knowledge of the sciences are needed across all sectors of the economy. Children and young people participating in the experiences and outcomes in the sciences will:
· develop a curiosity and understanding of their environment and their place in the living, material and physical world
· demonstrate a secure knowledge and understanding of the big ideas and concepts of the sciences
· develop skills for learning, life and work
· develop skills of scientific inquiry and investigation using practical techniques
· develop skills in the accurate use of scientific language, formulae and equations
· recognise the role of creativity and inventiveness in the development of the sciences
· apply safety measures and take necessary actions to control risk and hazards
· recognise the impact the sciences make on their lives, the lives of others, the environment and on society
· develop an understanding of the Earth’s resources and the need for responsible use of them
· express opinions and make decisions on social, moral, ethical, economic and environmental issues based upon sound understanding
· develop as scientifically literate citizens with a lifelong interest in the sciences
· establish the foundation for more advanced learning and, for some, future careers in the sciences and the technologies.
Interdisciplinary Learning
In Lorne Street Primary we are committed to interdisciplinary learning.
Interdisciplinary learning enables teachers and learners to make connections across learning through exploring clear and relevant links across the curriculum. It supports the use and application of what has been taught and learned in new and different ways. It provides opportunities for deepening learning, for example through answering big questions, exploring an issue, solving problems or completing a final project.
Learning out of the Classroom
Residential visits offer intensive learning experiences which provide a focus for learning both before and after the visit itself. Lorne Street Primary offer our pupils the opportunity of residential visits in the upper stages of the primary.
Using the area which surrounds the usual learning setting can provide opportunities to extend and deepen learning. Local areas can also be differentiated from the school or centre environment on the basis that they can move learning into a different or wider cultural and sociological context. In Lorne Street Primary we frequently take advantage of our local area to support learning and experiences.
Sensitive Aspects of Learning
Lorne Street Primary School will always inform parents of any sensitive aspects of learning such as relationships, sexual health, parenthood, drug awareness.
Please see the link below for Lorne Street's Curriculum Rationale:
Curriculum Rationale
Lorne Street Primary School 28 Lorne Street Glasgow G51 1DP Phone: 0141 427 1315 Fax: 0141 427 5185 Email: headteacher@lornestreet-pri.glasgow.sch.uk