Curriculum for Excellence has been introduced to raise standards of learning and teaching for all 3 to 18 year olds. It aims to help prepare children and young
people with the knowledge and skills they need in a fast changing world. As part of Curriculum for Excellence all children from pre-school to the end of S3 will
receive a rounded education known as a Broad General Education(BGE). Curriculum for Excellence is all about bringing real life into the classroom and taking lessons beyond it.
You can find more information about the Curriculum for Excellence from the Education Scotland website at http://education.gov.scot
Aspect
Information
Agreed Outcome
Every child has the right to an equitable experience across all stages, with consistency in learning and teaching approaches and moderated programmes of skills progression.
Values and Aims
We wish to meet the needs and rights of the child by providing a safe, caring, well ordered environment promoting positive partnership between home, school and community and to provide a well-balanced, stimulating curriculum for every child, in line with local and national priorities.
We embed a cohesive, progressive curriculum that fully develops the four capacities of child, improving achievement and attainment, and we ensure all pupils feel valued and able to fully participate in the life of the school.
Time Allocation
The curriculum is the core to learning and all aspects of the curriculum and stakeholders contribute to learning both in and out of the classroom.
Maths and Language are the foundation to all learning- health and wellbeing sits above all we do and interdisciplinary working is at the core of what we do. Other aspects surround and support this.
Subject-specific learning is embodied within interdisciplinary learning, but can be discrete as appropriate and agreed by staff.
Meeting Learner’s Needs
The staff at Bankhead Primary work together to provide self-management through a policy of promoting positive behavior, and learning experiences matched to the needs of the pupils, and they promote an effective system of home, school, and community links for the benefit of all.
Roles and Responsibilities
Implementation
It is the responsibility of all staff to promote the highest standards of literacy and numeracy, health and wellbeing and to collaborate in planning, learning and sharing assessment information to ensure smooth transitions for learners across all curricular areas.
Stakeholder Involvement/Information
Parental
Pupil
Wider Community
Parental Information/Involvement
Collaboration with stakeholders has informed the design of the curriculum and further partnerships extend learning opportunities for example- Dumbarton Road Generations, Glasgow Life, Active Glasgow and Knightswood Learning Community.
Parents and Carers are partners in learning and we ensure there are informal and formal reporting opportunities. We value information and support each other through regular communications and engage actively in planning for improvements to children’s outcomes.
Learning and Teaching
Learning and Teaching is developed within the agreed policy and guidelines of the school and of Glasgow City Council. Children, teachers and parents collaborate to use assessment information and a holistic understanding of the child to plan and evaluate the learning.
Review, Monitoring and Evaluating
In line with Curriculum for Excellence and in the context of raised expectations (Education Scotland), identified aspects will be evaluated and developed through the SIP.
Bankhead Primary school was built in the 1930s, bombed during the Second World War and partly rebuilt in the 1960s. It is a traditional red brick building which, over the years has been adapted to meet the changing educational needs of our pupils; including an ICT zone, Inclusion bases, additional classroom and improvements to our playground to create outdoor learning spaces. We are developing the grounds to improve opportunities for outdoor learning experiences. Visits to Knightswood Park including the BMX Park enhance this provision. The local community provides a wealth of opportunity for working in partnership. Our value of inclusion is integral to everything that we do.
Staff, pupils, parents/carers and the wider community are proud of Bankhead Primary School. Through Restorative Approaches, we promote high standards of behaviour for all. We have a strong community spirit, and make good use of our local environment for learning.
We have a very strong staff team with a broad skills base, who work very well together to support and nurture our learners. We value our Parent Council and our school volunteers who support us in school.
Developing a positive ethos lays the foundations on which to build learning and teaching. We have a focus on our shared values that were agreed with all stakeholders and they underpin all our work. These are respect, resilience, fairness and equity, responsibility, honesty and achievement. Our curriculum offers a broad range of learning experiences, taking in to account the needs and interests of our pupils. Children’s opinions and ideas are listened to and valued, and through our committees and friendship groups, all children are encouraged to be involved in developing the work of the school and thus having a positive impact on school improvements. We work in partnership with parents to instil a sense of pride for our learners and demonstrate mutually respectful relationships. Children learn, that together, we have high expectations of behaviour, good manners, fairness, equity, inclusion and learning potential. Children also have opportunities to learn through a range of annual events that feature in the life of our school. Some examples of these are annual class assemblies to parents and visitors, annual class trips, residential trips at P7. These experiences are valued by our parents, and support for funding is provided by the Parent Forum and Parent Council.
We work very closely with a range of partners such as the Aberlour Family Link Worker, Dumbarton Road Corridor and DRC Generations, Active Schools co-ordinators, swimming etc. We also work with the Volunteer Student teachers, parents and grandparents who support our paired reading programme. Together we can support our learners more effectively and these partners are key to our effective curriculum.
Throughout their time at Bankhead Primary School we place high value on learners’ personal successes. Recognising and supporting wider achievement provides children with a sense of satisfaction and helps to build motivation, resilience and confidence. Through assemblies we share and celebrate achievements within and out with the school environment. Children’s successes are also rewarded with star of the week, Dojo and class points. Our house points system also recognises a wide range of achievements and the house reward is awarded termly to the house with the most points.
Through the development of Learning Journey jotters, children will be encouraged to reflect on their progress and identify next steps in their learning, thus becoming independent and
responsible learners. Extra-curricular activities and clubs are offered to maximise opportunities for our pupils to actively engage in a wide variety of activities, encouraging the development of skills and knowledge in a wider context.
We have a responsibility to provide children with a Broad General Education from pre-school to S3. Within Bankhead Primary and LCR we will use well planned pathways to ensure coverage of experiences and outcomes across all 8 curricular areas, allowing flexibility to cater for pupil needs and interests. Opportunities for Interdisciplinary learning will be encouraged where possible, maximising the teaching and learning experiences for our young learners, encouraging transfer of skills and knowledge across curricular areas. Children will be involved in planning their learning experiences, thus enhancing the depth and breadth of our curriculum. The 7 design principles are considered to ensure our curriculum offers Challenge and enjoyment, Personalisation and choice, Progression, Coherence, Relevance, Breadth and Depth for our young people. Active learning will be encouraged both inside our classrooms and using the outdoor learning environment.
At Bankhead Primary our curriculum will have a strong focus on developing Literacy across all curricular areas. We will also ensure our curriculum has a focus on developing skills for learning, life and work. We ensure that our learners are exposed to relevant curricular experiences, helping them to identify how their learning will provide strong foundations for future life and work. We encourage children to be reflective learners, identifying when and how they will use what they have learned in later life. A key area for our learners is to develop their emotional literacy and build resilience to deal with challenges they will encounter. Through changing our pedagogy in Primary 1 we are developing our early years curriculum and approaches through play to develop the vocabulary children have.
Bankhead Primary School 66 Caldwell Avenue Glasgow G13 3AS Phone: 0141 959 3531