St Francis' Primary School

Our school values underpin everything we do at St. Francis and we are committed to advancing equality of opportunity for all by demonstrating these values and work towards eliminating all forms of bullying and discrimination. We use the legal definition of ‘equalities’ which gives protection to people who have specific characteristics - for example being gay, lesbian or bisexual or from a minority ethnic group or disabled or old. It also includes boys and girls and anyone undergoing gender change, as well as those of particular faith groups.

At St.Francis’ Primary we are aspirational for all our children and believe strongly in the equity of opportunity to ensure all our children achieve in life.

School Aims:

• We aim to encourage our children to be Responsible Citizens, Successful Learners, Confident Individuals and Effective Contributors
• We aim to provide our children with high quality learning and deliver the national priority of ensuring excellence and equity.
• We aim to place the mental, emotional, social and physical well being of all our children and staff at the centre of everything we do.
• We aim to develop positive and effective relationships between home and school, external support agencies and the wider community in order to support the learning process.
• We aim to promote equality and prevent discrimination with regard to children’s needs.
• We aim to provide religious education programmes and shared experiences of prayer and liturgy which enable our children to develop their understanding of the gospel values and how to apply them in life.
• We aim to provide all members of staff with opportunities to participate in professional development and for teaching staff to engage in professional learning, self-evaluating their learning against the General Teaching Council Standards and maintaining a record of this.

Religious Education is a core subject in all schools and at St Francis’ our Catholic values permeate throughout our school. ‘This is Our Faith’ is the main programme used to teach the Catholic Faith in a way that is appropriate to age and circumstances. ‘God’s Loving Plan’ is a resource that has been designed to deliver relationship and sex education in ways which are faithful to Christian moral teaching. It helps children to develop healthy and respectful attitudes to their bodies and to all aspects of God’s gift of life. This is a programme created to focus on the purpose of relationships and promoting positive examples of this.

Curriculum for Excellence aims to achieve a transformation in education in Scotland by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from 3 – 18. It allows us to prepare our children to respond to a fast changing world. To give them transferable skills and future proof them. We strive to teach them how to learn; to investigate, analyse and collaborate.

Our curriculum is designed on the basis of the following set of key design principles, Children should find their learning challenging, engaging and motivating. The curriculum should encourage high aspirations and ambitions for all.

All children should have opportunities for a broad, suitable weighted range of experiences. The curriculum should be organised so that they will learn and develop through a variety of contexts within the classroom and on other aspects of school life.

Children should experience continuous progression in their learning from 3 – 18 within a single curriculum framework. Each stage should build upon earlier knowledge and achievements.

There should be opportunities for children to develop their full capacity for different types of thinking and learning. As they progress, they should develop and apply increasingly intellectual rigour, drawing different strands of learning together.

The curriculum should respond to individual needs and support particular aptitudes and talents. It should give each child increasing opportunities for exercising responsible personal choices as they move through their school career.

Children should understand the purposes of their activities. They should see the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, present and future.