WELCOME FROM THE HEADTEACHER

A warm welcome to Callander Primary School. We hope you find the information contained in this website useful.

Callander Primary is situated in the heart of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. Nearby is the River Teith and dominating the sky line is the magnificent Ben Ledi.  At Callander Primary there are currently 10 primary classes from P1-P7, an Autism Provision and a Nursery with places for 60 children across morning and afternoon sessions. There is a gym hall, dining hall, nurture room, a G.P Room and two community learning spaces. There are playground facilities at the rear of the school which include two playgrounds and a large field area, flower beds and vegetable garden . There are also local woodlands situated near by which the children access to enrich their learning. The school is part of the McLaren Learning Community and most of our Primary 7’s transfer to McLaren High School. There are strong links with the high school and with the other 10 primary schools in the learning community.

We have a highly committed staff at Callander Primary who provide high quality learning and teaching experiences, and who contribute to the creation of a positive, vibrant learning environment. Our school aims are:

• To promote the personal growth of children and adults so that all can achieve their full potential.
• To provide a happy, nurturing and safe environment where all are valued and respected.
• To promote the important partnerships within the whole school community, and to develop the skills necessary for pupils to become active and responsible citizens.
• To equip pupils with the skills and attitudes necessary to adapt in a changing society, by encouraging creativity, enterprise and ambition.
Together, we ensure a nurturing, safe, caring ethos where every child is valued as an individual.

Our school motto of
“Dream, Believe, Achieve”

encourages the children to develop a passion for learning and curiosity that will help to develop high aspirations. We encourage the children to develop their own talents and interests and we support this by ensuring the children experience a wide range of activities both within and out with the school day.
We are committed to building close, effective partnerships with families and the wider community so that together we can support the children to become enthusiastic learners who are motivated to achieve endless possibilities. We regularly plan opportunities to share the children’s learning experiences through a variety of different ways. We work closely with both our Parent Council and our Parent Reps group as well as benefitting from a large number of parent volunteers who support our children in class alongside the class teachers.
In consultation with children, families and staff we have developed our Curriculum Rationale which we have refreshed in August 2019. Our rationale represents our ethos, our values and rules as well as all the things we want our learning to include and to be. It has been encapsulated within the infographic at the top of the page:

We are always striving to make improvements to the service we provide for the children who attend Callander Primary School and Nursery Class. We plan all learning tasks and activities using the Building The Ambition, Pre-Birth to 3 and Curriculum for Excellence Learning Outcomes and Experiences to ensure that children at this school and nursery have a broad education, working towards high expectations and developing their capacities and skills. The school has entered national and local competitions and has been very successful in many of these. We provide pupils with opportunities to participate in a variety of curricular activities out with the classroom and class settings. We also have Citizenship groups and provide opportunities for developing Enterprise skills. More information on these can be found in this handbook.

To ensure that we meet the needs of all pupils we have systems in place to provide additional support for individuals as and when that is needed. One of the ways that we aim to meet children’s additional support needs is through the Staged Intervention process which you can read about in detail in this handbook.

Over their seven years, we will work with pupils to develop the skills necessary for them to succeed in education, and in life, with confidence and enjoyment. Our refreshed school rules, developed in consultation with the children, have identified the following three key themes:

Ready, Respectful, Safe.

These rules are further underpinned by our core values for of:

Honesty, Respect, Co-operation, Responsibility, Fairness

At Callander Primary School the children are at the heart of every decision we make to ensure that they feel listened to and are happy, confident and enthusiastic. We strongly believe that learning should be fun, innovative and motivating ultimately ensuring the children become successful learners, confident individuals responsible citizens and effective contributors.

If you have any questions or queries with regard to anything within this handbook please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Tanya Starkey
Headteacher