Ralston Primary School

RALSTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

Parents’ Guide to

Curriculum for Excellence

Overview

As you will no doubt be aware, the curriculum in Scotland is currently in a transition phase. We are moving away from the existing 5-14 curriculum, which is very prescriptive in nature, to the new Curriculum for Excellence, which offers greater flexibility for teachers and pupils.

This curriculum provides an education programme for children and young people aged 3-18 years with skills and opportunities to equip them for the 21st century. Furthermore, it encourages learning and teaching to be more creative, innovative, challenging and fun. This flexibility provides pupils with more opportunities to pursue areas of personal interest and have greater choice as to how they learn.

The Curriculum

The curriculum is now categorised into eight main areas. These are as follows:

Numeracy and Mathematics

Number, money and measure
Shape, position and movement
Information handling

Literacy and English

Reading
Writing
Listening and talking

Health and Wellbeing

Mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing
Planning for choice and changes
Physical education, physical activity and sport
Food and Health
Substance misuse
Relationships, sexual health and parenthood

Sciences

Planet Earth
Forces, electricity and waves
Biological systems
Materials
Topical science

Technologies

Design and Technology
ICT to enhance learning

Social Subjects

History
Geography
Social Studies

Religious and Moral Education

Personal and Social Development
Christianity and other world religions

Expressive Arts

Art and design
Dance
Drama
Music

German

German is taught from P4 with enterprise and citizenship permeating the curriculum.

Noticeable Changes

With a greater emphasis on pupils becoming more involved in their own learning, you may begin to see some changes. For example:

Some work in you child’s jotter may not appear as if it has been marked. This is because the work may have been self or peer assessed by pupils. However, please be assured, that on these occasions, the class teacher, although not ticking everything, still looks at the completed work and comments where appropriate.
Some curricular areas e.g. Science, Art may not be taught every term, as may not link in with the class topic being covered. Please be assured that, by the end of the session, all curricular areas will be covered as required.
Homework can involve research or personal topics as well as the standard Language and Mathematics activities.
You may hear your child talking about being a Successful Learner, a Confident Individual, an Effective Contributor or a Responsible Citizen. These are the four capacities which the new curriculum and we as a school, are aiming to develop in all our pupils.

Your Role in Curriculum For Excellence

As a parent, you too have an important role in helping your child benefit fully from the new curriculum.

Some suggestions could be:

Spend a few minutes each night talking to your child about their homework activities.
If possible, provide your child with opportunities to develop/research a personal interest.
Remind your child of the four capacities as outlined above.
Encourage your child to take pride in their work and maintain high standards.
Where possible, attendance at class/school activities (e.g. parents’ meetings, assemblies, open days) help to motivate, encourage and raise the self esteem of your child.

Dear Parent,

I hope that you have found this leaflet useful. However, if you would like more information about Curriculum for Excellence, then please log on to:

www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk

If you have any ideas, thoughts or opinions on this new development in education, then please do not hesitate to contact me here at the school.

Yours sincerely

Gail Copland

Head Teacher

Ralston Primary School

School Road

Paisley

PA1 3AT

Phone: 0141 882 3451

Fax: 0141 810 5646

Email Enquiries:

Website:

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