Our Curriculum Rationale

During session 2022/2023 at Newton Primary we worked with parents, children and staff to create our new ‘Curriculum Rationale’.  This document and accompanying visual share what as a collective we agreed we wanted for our children at Newton based on the 4 Capacities and 4 Contexts for Learning within Curriculum for Excellence, Scotland’s national curriculum. The 4 Capacities encompass all of the work we do and we aim to support, encourage and challenge children to be ‘Confident Individuals’, ‘Successful Lifelong Learners’, ‘Responsible Citizens’ and ‘Effective Contributors.’

The 4 Contexts for Learning ensure our curriculum is broad and balanced taking into account all aspects of learning. Children learn in different ways through ‘Interdisciplinary Learning’, ‘The Ethos and Life of the School as a Community’, ‘Curriculum Areas and Subjects’ and through ‘Opportunities for Personal Achievement’ allowing us to help children to play, learn and grow through a range of learning techniques and styles.

At Newton Primary School we believe that we have high and attainable expectations for all of the children in our care. We aspire to provide the highest quality learning and teaching experiences for our children. We do this by offering exciting, relevant and challenging contexts or ‘topics’ within a stimulating environment. Where possible, children have choice in their learning, and by relating learning to real life relevant experiences, children can link and apply learning across the curriculum, helping to give them invaluable skills and a real sense of purpose to their learning. We aim to ensure all our children feel school is a dynamic, active, caring and happy place to learn and where parents feel confident to trust us with their child’s education. Our school values of ‘Kindness, Fairness, Respect, Unity and Responsibility’ are very important to us and are an integral part of everyones learning.