S3 Curriculum structure

What will WE study in S3?

Our S3 curriculum diagram looks like this (click on the diagram to open the Google Doc):

Students continue learning in Maths, English, and choose in all other curricular areas.  Students make a choice of one further subject in our Options column.  Students participate in two periods of 'Schools Of'.

Core Time 

In order to ensure that S3 students are following a Broad General Education they will all study courses in each of the eight Curricular Areas.

In Numeracy, S3 students will participate in four periods of Mathematics. In Languages they will participate in four periods of English and three periods of Modern Languages.  In Health & Wellbeing students will encounter Home Economics, PE and Personal & Social Education.

In Social Studies, Technologies, Science and Expressive Arts students will each have three periods of study.  Students will also study one period of Religious & Moral Education.  

We call work that students undertake in the eight Curricular Areas Core Time.  However, within S3 Core Time, there will be a high degree of personalisation, i.e. student choice.  You can find details of each Curricular Area’s use of Core Time here

Options Courses

Students will also choose an Option Course.  Most courses in this column are repeats of Core Time courses available in that Curricular Area. 

A summary of the available Option Courses is provided below: 

Whether your child is interested in science, music, art, technology or many other areas, there will be something for everyone here, and our planned launch of the ‘Schools Of’ programme takes place at the start of the June timetable.

How does S4-6 look at Preston Lodge High School? 

The appendices page provides further detail on our S4-6 curriculum.  Some key features of our S4-6 Senior Phase are:  

• A timetable model which provides students with five to seven subjects for study each year.  

• Students entering S4-6 sitting National Qualifications in mixed year group classes.  This approach allows us to provide a more diverse and relevant curriculum for all of our students.  This means some classes our current S2 students enter in S4 will also contain S5 and S6 students learning alongside them. 

All parents of S2 students will be able to have further conversation about our S4-6 curriculum at a forthcoming Parental Options Event (Wednesday 22 February), and if you would like to talk further about this aspect of the choice process please contact your child’s guidance teacher.

How do the choices my child makes for S3 affect the choices that they make as they move into the Senior Phase next year? 

In most cases we expect the choices students make for S4 to be selected from the subjects they study in S3.  There are some obvious exceptions to this, because some of our Senior Phase courses cannot be studied in S3. Such courses can, of course, be picked up in S4 without having been studied in S3. 

It is possible to pick a new subject in S4 which could have been, but was not, studied in S3.  So, for example, if a student studied History in S3 but wished to study Geography in S4 they could do so.  However, this may affect the level of qualification studied in S4.  Further advice on this approach can be given by guidance teachers, Heads of House or subject Principal Teachers.

How do we start to think now about a Senior Phase pathway for our child? 

Pathways really just mean the route that individual students take through school that best allows them to develop their skills and interests whilst achieving as many positive outcomes as possible.  It is important that all children and their families have a clear idea of potential pathways in the Senior Phase as they make choices for S3.  Although changes can always be made it is wise to have a plan. 

Information about pathways can be found in Appendix 3.   Full details of our Senior Phase curriculum can be found in the Publications section of our website http://www.prestonlodge.net/publications

The Careers Adviser

Choosing courses can often be difficult. Whether considering staying on at school, going to college, university, entering employment, training or taking up a Modern Apprenticeship our Careers Advisers Eoin Walsh and Deirdre Bell are available to discuss ideas, provide guidance and offer impartial advice.

Students should refer to the Skills Development Scotland site, My World of Work.  Following this, students can arrange to see their Careers Adviser by requesting an appointment through their Guidance Teacher. They are based in the seminar room beside Business Education classrooms.  As well as students requesting appointments themselves, they work closely with Guidance Teachers who make referrals to them and they also offer appointments to S4 and S5 pupils prior to them leaving school.

Eoin holds a breaktime drop-in service.  If pupils have a quick question or would like help in finding information, they should come along to the drop-in session.  No appointment needed.

When not in school, Eoin can be contacted at eoin.walsh@sds.co.uk or mobile 07584 145679 and

Deirdre at deirdre.bell@sds.co.uk or mobile 07881 464643

So what Core Time choices do students have to make? 

S3 students at Preston Lodge will spend 27 of their 32 periods in S3 studying Core Time courses in the eight Curricular Areas.  In some areas there is no choice to be made, whereas in some areas choices are required.  The eight Curricular Areas are operating S3 courses as follows:

Option Course 

Three periods of each S3 student’s week will be spent in an Option Course.  The Option Courses available are detailed above.

How will students let the school know their Core Time and Option choices? 

All students will fill in an online Course Choice form where they will be asked for their Core Time and Option Course choices.  For both Core and Option Course choices they will need to provide reserve choices.