What is Curriculum for Excellence?
Curriculum for Excellence aims to achieve a transformation in education in Scotland by providing an improved, more flexible and enriched curriculum for all children and young people from 3 – 18. The curriculum includes all of the experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education, wherever they are being educated.
All schools and nurseries in North Lanarkshire are working hard to raise standards so that children and young people will develop all of the skills necessary to continue to be successful when leaving school and entering the world of higher education, training or work.
Curriculum for Excellence is underpinned by the values inscribed on the mace of the Scottish Parliament – wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity. The purpose of Curriculum for Excellence is encapsulated in the four capacities – to enable each child or young person to be a successful learner, a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor.
What are the curriculum areas in Curriculum for Excellence?
There are eight curriculum areas:-
Expressive Arts Religious and Moral Education
Health and Well Being Sciences
Languages (literacy) Social Studies
Mathematics (numeracy) Technologies
Importantly, literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing are given added importance within the curriculum because they are so vital in everyday life. All teachers have responsibility to teach literacy and numeracy. Learning, including literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing takes place both indoors and outdoors. We include opportunities for children to contribute to learning plans and we factor in elements of pupil choice in how and where learning will take place.
Children have opportunities to learn skills for learning, life and work through well-planned themes which are supported by a range of partnerships. We regularly ask parents to share their life/work skills with the children and we also ask them for suggestions for relevant topics and areas for development as part of our Improvement Plan. Parents are consulted annually on the service we provide.
Learning is divided into two phases.
The Broad Education (BGE) is from nursery to the end of Secondary School Year 3. Learning is divided into levels.
The levels are as follows:-
LEVEL STAGE
Early The pre-school years and P1 or later for some
First To the end of P.4 but earlier or later for some
Second To the end of P7, but earlier or later for some
Third and fourth S1-S3, but earlier for some
Senior Phase S4 – S6 and college or other means of study
How will my child’s learning be assessed?
Children’s progress is assessed regularly by teachers. Teachers and children engage in learning discussions which are age appropriate so that children know what steps they need to take to improve.
As a school we enjoy celebrating children’s academic success and personal achievement. Great work, effort and excellence is acknowledged at regular Award Assemblies.
At high school the following assessments are in place:
- National 4 and 5 qualifications were introduced in 2013/2014
- Access, Highers and Advanced Highers are being updated to reflect Curriculum for Excellence
- New highers in most subjects were introduced in almost all North Lanarkshire schools in August 2014 Further information on Curriculum for Excellence can be found on the Education Scotland website: www.educationscotland.gov.uk
St. Barbara’s: Curriculum for Excellence
The Curriculum for Excellence has been developed as a result of the National Debate on Education in 2002. A National Initiative, it has been introduced in schools throughout Scotland.
At the heart of A Curriculum for Excellence is the principle that through planning we should create learning opportunities which will enable children to become:
- Successful Learners
- Effective Contributors
- Confident Individuals
- Responsible Citizens
Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Well-being underpin our curriculum. This session we are also focusing on STEM: Sciences, Technologies, Engineering and Maths.
We aim to give our children the best possible learning experiences. We focus on ‘how much’ and ‘how well’ our children have learned by providing relevant contexts for learning, giving children opportunities to practise the skills they have learned across the curriculum. Through planning, we make links across the curriculum encouraging the children to engage in interdisciplinary projects.
Recognizing that no two schools are the same, one aim of Curriculum for Excellence is to give Head Teachers and staff more autonomy in planning learning experiences to meet the needs of the children within the context of their own school.
Emphasis is also placed on making connections across the curriculum and encouraging the transfer of skills to avoid unnecessary repetition.
Parents are encouraged to support their children’s learning. To assist, we run a number of parental workshops during the year including a workshop designed to help parents to understand our approach to Literacy and Numeracy specifically at Early Level (P.1 stage), including homework tasks. We build on this at First and Second levels, illustrating progression within the curriculum and tips on how parents can help their children at home.
Relationships and Moral Education form part of our Religious Education programme, ‘This Is Our Faith.’ Where topics are of a sensitive nature, parents are invited to attend an information evening prior to any lessons being taught in school. God’s Loving Plan is the core programme for Relationships and Moral Education and it is directly linked to ‘This is Our Faith.’
The Health and Wellbeing programme includes lessons on drugs and alcohol for our older children.
Information about current curriculum themes is included in monthly newsletters. Parents can also access curricular information via the Education Scotland website and also through the ‘Parent Zone’ section:
- www.educationscotland.gov.uk/parentzone/
We regularly organize educational visits associated with learning contexts. Among others, there have been recent visits to Glasgow Science Centre, Dynamic Earth, Summerlee Heritage Centre, Sky Academy in addition to cookery workshops in Pizza Express. Each session we embark on a project in association with the schools in Our Lady’s High School cluster. Last session, the children worked in conjunction with staff and students from the University of Strathclyde and City of Glasgow College on engineering projects and on a cyberbullying campaign.
Each session all of our children enjoy Enterprise Education. As well as making items to be sold, they entertain family and friends with concerts, recitals, host coffee mornings and participate in a wide range of community events.
Many of our children attend our many after-schools clubs which are run by teachers and parents. Recently we have had athletics, Fundamentals, arts and crafts clubs; in term three we will extend these.
In addition, many of the P.7 children organize and run lunchtime clubs for the younger children. These include art, musical drama, ‘Lego Stop Motion’ and dance.
The P.7 children get the opportunity to attend a residential visit to NLC’s outdoor learning centre in Kilbowie, near Oban. This is always a terrific and very rewarding experience for the children – and it is talked about throughout the year!
Children participate in many sporting activities outwith the school throughout the year, including: SFA coaching, rugby, hockey, football tournaments, tennis, dancing, the Primary Games and many more!
We encourage our children to have a meaningful voice within the school. Consequently, all of our children are represented in Pupil Voice groups which operate within our four houses: St. Bernadette’s, St Andrew’s, St Lucy’s and St. Francis’. Children are regular contributors to a variety of issues throughout the year, including curriculum development.
There is also a Pupil Council with representatives from P.4 – P.7. The Council supports the work of the school and liaises periodically with the Parent Council.
St. Barbara’s staff and children work closely with a number of European schools. Five years ago we were delighted to win the prestigious International School Award – the first school in North Lanarkshire to do so. In May 2014, children from Primary 6 – Primary 7 visited Paris. This was our second European visit. The trip included a tour of the Stade de France, a cruise along the Seine, a visit to the Eiffel Tower and a tour of Paris culminating in a day in Disneyland Resort, Paris.
Transition Information
We have a detailed transition programme for children who will be joining the school at Primary 1 which is delivered in conjunction with our three main local nursery centres: Jigsaw Nursery, Lochview Nursery and Snowdrop Nursery.
Within the school, teachers complete detailed information at the end of each year which is then passed to the receiving teacher.
Our Primary 6 children benefit from a full day visit to Our Lady’s High School where they follow the high school programme for the day.
At the Primary 7 stage, the children enjoy regular learning blocks from the high school staff. They visit OLHS for two days and participate in an inter-house sporting competition. They visit the NLC Confucius Hub within the school and enjoy learning some Mandarin.
Additional Support Needs
St. Barbara’s Primary School complies with Learning (Scotland) Act 2004 as amended by the Education (Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2009.
North Lanarkshire Council’s policy is contained within “Support for Learning Policy into Practice 2,” a copy of which is available in the school. The school has a Support for Learning Policy, available from the school on request, which is consistent with North Lanarkshire Council guidelines.
It is school policy to continually monitor pupils’ progress to alert staff to possible difficulties. In line with North Lanarkshire Policy, we operate a system of staged intervention to support the children. Support may be required as a result of a concern in respect of one or more categories which you can see in the diagram above.
Staged Intervention
Level 1
Where a child has been identified in need of support, the area of difficulty will be specified and discussed with the teacher, Head Teacher, parents and the child – where appropriate. Initial support will be planned and provided for internally within the classroom setting.
Level 2
Where more targeted support is required, this will again be provided internally within the school. This might involve additional support from our Support for Learning staff. Some children requiring support for learning or who have emotional difficulties will have an Additional Support Plan (A.S.P.) which will set out short and long term targets to be addressed. This will be done in consultation with parents and plans will be reviewed termly.
Level 3
Sometimes children need support which is provided by education services but comes from outwith the school. In this case, support could be provided from Psychological Services.
Level 4
External support involving multi agencies (e.g. Health, Social Work and/or voluntary services etc.) will be organized where a need is identified and likely to last for more than one year. In this instance a detailed Co-ordinated Support Plan (C.S.P.) may be drawn up. This will also be done in full consultation with parents.
Our Support for Learning Policy enables us to identify both more able and less able children who will be challenged or supported according to their needs.
Support will be provided for children for whom English is a second language.
Looked After Children i.e. children who are cared for directly or whose care is supervised by the local authority are deemed to have Additional Support Needs unless assessment determines otherwise. The Head Teacher is the first point of contact for guardians in this matter.
Parents and young people can request an assessment at any time to establish whether a child or young person has additional support needs or requires a Co-ordinated Support Plan. Please contact the Head Teacher in the first instance.
Parents and pupils are an essential part of the assessment, planning and review processes and your views will be actively sought.
Planning
Additional Support Plans (ASPs) enable staff to plan for children with Additional Support Needs.
Some children and young people may require significant support from education and at least one other agency such as health, social work and/or voluntary agency to help them meet their learning targets. Where this support requires a high level of co-ordination the opening of a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP) may be considered.
A CSP may be initiated by the school or another agency.
Parents and young people can, if they wish, request that a CSP be considered and would be involved in the process. Parents will receive letters from the Education Authority throughout the CSP process. Parents and young people will be invited to take part in multi-agency meetings and their views will be recorded in the plan. In the first instance, parents should contact the Head Teacher who will be happy to assist.
Dispute Resolution
North Lanarkshire Council is committed to resolving any differences of views through discussion, dialogue and building on common ground.
If the matter cannot be resolved with the Education Authority, you have the right to request mediation. An independent mediation service is available to parents and young people through Resolve (see contact details at the back of this handbook). Mediation is free and independent of the Education Authority.
In the event that a disagreement cannot be resolved through mediation, then an application for Independent Adjudication (see contact details at the back of this handbook) can be made by parents free of charge. The Independent Adjudicator will make recommendations to the Education Authority about how the dispute should be resolved.
The Additional Support Needs Tribunal has been set up to hear appeals made by parents or young people on the decisions made by the Education Authority relating to the Co-ordinated Support Plans, placing requests and post school transition. If you disagree with any decision relating to your child’s Co-ordinated Support Plan or the content of it, you may be able to refer to the Tribunal.
