Curriculum for Excellence
CurriculumFOREHILL PRIMARY SCHOOL
Our Curriculum
Curriculum for Excellence has now been implemented across Scotland for all 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 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. Every single teacher and practitioner will be responsible for literacy and numeracy – the language and numbers skills that unlock other subjects and are vital to everyday life.
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.
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.
The curriculum in Forehill is designed to ensure:
- Challenge and Enjoyment
- Breadth
- Progression
- Depth
- Personalisation of Choice
- Coherence
- Relevance
All pupils work at their own level, with all pupils setting achievable targets in their learning. There will be increased opportunities for personal achievements, which are planned, recorded and celebrated by pupils and by staff.
Within Curriculum for Excellence, learning is arranged in levels as follows:
Early Level Nursery and Primary 1, or later for some.
First Level Primary 2 – Primary 4, but earlier or later for some.
Second Level Primary 5 – Primary 7, but earlier or later for some.
Third Level Secondary 1 – Secondary 3 but earlier for some.
Fourth Level Secondary 4 – Secondary 6.
Across all stages of the school, our pupils learn in an active way. Children are given opportunities to interact, discuss, discover and learn from each other, in a very active practical way.
They work and learn together in a co-operative way, making decisions and directing a lot of their own learning. Across the school, many opportunities are provided for the young people to take on leadership roles. These include: Pupil Council, Eco Committee, Junior Road Safety Officers, Junior Sports Leaders, Digital Leaders, Spanish Ambassadors, Sports Committee, Dyslexia Friendly Schools Group and our Head Pupils.
Within each classroom, pupils are encouraged to work collaboratively, with a good understanding of how an effective team works. They are also given opportunities to learn in an active and experiential way. In all of the classrooms co-operative learning techniques and strategies are used.
Numeracy & Mathematics
Within our programmes, children will learn about:
-
Information handling
-
Exploring, understanding and developing secure skills in using
-
Data and analysis
-
Ideas of chance and uncertainty
-
Number, money and measurement:
-
Exploring, understanding and developing secure skills in using
-
Basic arithmetical and other number processes, including estimation
-
Measurement
-
Patterns and relationships
-
Equations and expressions
-
Shape, position and movement
-
Exploring, understanding and developing secure skills in using
-
Properties of 2D shapes and 3D objects
-
Symmetry, angles and transformations
Curriculum for excellence
Download the Numeracy & Mathematics documentation here.
Literacy & English
All children in Forehill, from Nursery through to Primary 7 experience a range of learning activities within Reading, Writing and Talking & Listening. They will develop and extend their literacy skills through opportunities to:
- Communicate, collaborate and build relationships;
- Reflect on and explain literacy and thinking skills, using feedback to help them improve and sensitively provide useful feedback for others;
- Engage with and create a wide range of texts in different media, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by ICT;
- Develop an understanding of what is special, vibrant and valuable about our own and other cultures and their languages;
- Explore the richness of what is special, vibrant and valuable about our own and other cultures and their languages;
- Explore the richness and diversity of language, how it can affect us, and the wide range of ways in which we can be creative;
- Extend and enrich vocabulary through listening, talking, watching and reading.
Curriculum for excellence
Download the Literacy & English documentation here.
Health & Wellbeing
Children need to learn to experience what it feels like to develop, enjoy and live a healthy life-style. Forehill is a health promoting school.
Our programme in health promotes:
- Mental, social, emotional and physical development;
- Physical education and physical activity including sport;
- Eating for health, and hygienic practices;
- Personal safety;
- Drugs, alcohol and tobacco;
- Relationships and parenthood;
- Planning choices.
Curriculum for excellence
Download the Health & Wellbeing documentation here.
Science
In Forehill, our science programme has been designed to ensure all children experience learning which is relevant to them and the world in which they live. It is arranged as follows:
Our living world: including:
- The diversity of living things, the uniqueness of being human and the importance of cells
Our material world: including
- Uses and properties of materials, sustainability, the chemistry of life processes and the applications of chemistry in society
Our physical world: including
- Harnessing and using energy sources, motion and travel on land, sea air and space
- The development of communication systems
Curriculum for excellence
Download the Science documentation here.
Social Subjects
In Forehill, our social studies programme has been designed to ensure all children experience learning which is relevant to them and the world in which they live. It is arranged as follows:
People in the Past: including
- . People in societies
- People and events in the past
People in place: including
- People and landscapes
- People and communities
People and Society: including
- Society and the economy
- Decision-making in a democracy
Curriculum for excellence
Download the Social Subjects documentation here.
Expressive Arts
Experiences in the expressive arts involve creating and presenting and are practical and experiential.
Learning is organised in four areas:
- Art & Design
- Drama
- Music
- Dance
Evaluating and appreciating are used to enhance enjoyment and develop knowledge and understanding.
We are extremely fortunate in the school to be able to provide our young people with weekly teaching from experienced and enthusiastic staff in Music and Drama.
Curriculum for excellence
Download the Expressive Arts documentation here.
RME
Religious and moral education includes learning about Christianity and other world religions, and supports the development of beliefs and values.
A programme in religious and moral education has been agreed to help our pupils 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.
Curriculum for excellence
Download the RME documentation here.
Technologies
In Forehill, our technology programme has been designed to ensure all children experience learning which is relevant to them and the world in which they live. It is arranged as follows:
- Investigating and designing: including
- Learning about technologies and their effect on society
- Investigating resources and materials
- Developing design skills and knowledge
- Producing: including
- Using technologies effectively
- Planning and organising
- Evaluating: including
- Evaluating and improving products and solutions
- Evaluating the impact of products, systems and processes
It includes creative, practical and work-related experiences and outcomes in business, computing science, food, textiles, craft, design, engineering, graphics and information technologies. We benefit in the school from having the use of a fully equipped technology suite.