Dumbarton Academy. S4-S6 The Senior Phase. A guide for parents and carers

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1 Dumbarton Academy S4-S6 The Senior Phase A guide for parents and carers

2 Changes to the school day Following consultation with stakeholders, the Council have voted to change the structure of the school week from 30 to 32 periods. This change will support delivery of the new curriculum at both the Broad General Education (S1-3) and in the Senior Phase (S4-6) This will allow us to create enhanced opportunities for pupil personal support; a further development of our vertical registration system. Registration will continue to be taken electronically both in the morning and each period. The 2 additional periods come from standardising all periods at 50 minutes. This standardised day across the authority will allow us to develop enhanced pupil curriculum opportunities through consortia arrangements with the local college and other schools in the council. Monday and Tuesday will have 7 periods. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will have 6 periods. Time Period 8:50-9:00 Registration 9:00-9:50 1 9:50-10: :40-10:55 Interval 10:55-11: :45-12: :35-1:20 Lunchtime 1:20-2:10 5 2:10-3:00 6 3:00-3:50 7 (Mon& Tues only)

3 Why is Scottish education changing? Curriculum for Excellence (CFE) is a major national educational reform designed to provide a richer, more flexible 3-18 curriculum which will equip children and young people for learning, life and work in the 21st century by focusing firmly on their needs. The first consultation work was undertaken in 2004 and our young people have been applying the principles behind CFE throughout their primary school years. What are the purposes of education in Scotland? The ambition of a Curriculum for Excellence is that all children and every young person will become: Successful learners learning to learn Responsible citizens learning to respect and co-operate with others Confident individuals learning to be Effective contributors to society and work - learning to do The curriculum will provide support, structure and direction to young people s learning so that they can Maximise their potential in each of these four areas. A Message from Education Scotland The voice of teachers has been essential in shaping the development of support for Curriculum for Excellence. Education Scotland, SQA, Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES) and other national bodies are working with teachers to provide a wide range of collaboratively produced materials to aid the ongoing implementation of Curriculum for Excellence. This national approach to sharing resources and expertise as part of a Scotland-wide professional learning community, is designed to complement local work, both underway and planned, by education authorities, schools and departments, and individual teachers.

4 What are the changes to the Qualifications structure? Following a review of SQA qualifications the Standard Grade and Intermediate level Qualifications, will be replaced with a new simplified structure of National qualifications. Highers and Advanced Highers will be revised. Old Qualification New Qualification Standard Grade Foundation Access 3 National 3 Standard Grade General Intermediate 1 National 4 Standard Grade Credit Intermediate 2 National 5 Higher Higher Advanced Higher Advanced Higher (New qualifications will have internally assessed units. A shadow means that the qualification has an external exam.) These qualifications will continue to be supplemented by a range of other qualifications e.g. ASDAN, DoE, City&Guilds.

5 What s happening in our school? Senior School (S4-6) S4 to S6 will comprise specialist subject teaching leading to SQA certification with the norm being one-year courses of study. In S4 all pupils will have the opportunity to study up to 6 subjects, receiving either 4 or 5 periods per week for each subject. In S4 English and Maths will be compulsory. Internal assessments will be used to provide access to SQA certification at an appropriate level in each year of the senior phase S4, 5 and 6. All S4 pupils will be certificated in Literacy and Numeracy at the appropriate level. In S5 and S6 pupils will again select up to 6 subjects to study in each year. In both of these years no subjects will be compulsory, although pupil choice will be closely monitored and advice given on the appropriateness of choices. S6 will provide further opportunity for enhancement or consolidation, depending on pupil needs. Advanced Highers will be available for those who achieved Higher in S5, as will Higher and National 5 for those who achieved the entry level requirements for these courses in S5. The opportunity will also be available for pupils to re-sit levels if they have been unsuccessful in S5. Through Council consortia arrangements senior phase pupils will have access to an even wider range of options. Information about all of the available courses will be available in the Subject information booklet, which will be issued as part of the course choice process. Please note that as ever courses will only run if there is both sufficient demand and staff availability.

6 Where can parents get further information about Curriculum for Excellence? Information about CFE is available from a variety of sources, three of which are given below: Advice and Guidance for National Qualifications CfE Briefing Series Broad General Education in Secondary Schools (including parent version) Assessing Progress and Achievement Profiling and S3 Profiles Interdisciplinary Learning List of support materials and events by subject and curriculum area SQA Final documents for new National 2, National 3, National 4, National 5 and Higher Levels Assessment Overviews from National 2 to National 5 describing the Course and Unit Assessment Support Materials that SQA will produce Material to support parental involvement is available on Parentzone