Monday 6 February 2012

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Curriculum

In the Lower School the curriculum is designed to encourage each pupil to develop an enquiring mind, a sense of excitement about the world around them, and a hunger for learning and intellectual development.

This can be achieved because of our highly qualified and experienced teachers and our small classes.

Being an ‘all-through’ school, now from two to eighteen years, we have the distinct advantage of having specialist teachers ‘in-house’. In Lower 1 children benefit from specialist teaching in Art and Design, Music and PE and in Lower 5 onwards they then benefit from specialist French classes.

The pupils thoroughly enjoy their weekly trip to the Art studios where they are taught painting and drawing, collage, papier maché and clay modelling. These tasks provide an opportunity for pupils to develop visual awareness and an understanding of how to use a range of different media.

In Lower 1 and 2 class music lessons singing and the basics of rhythm are covered. Each class receive one period of music per week. The descant recorder is introduced to all children from Lower 3 when the lessons increase to twice a week. One lesson will concentrate on Listening and Inventing and the other on Recorder, singing and the theory of music. It is expected that there should be 10 minutes practice, 4 times a week on the recorder to progress at a reasonable pace. Singing plays an integral part of the learning of Music in the Lower School.  All pupils are introduced to basic drum kit skills in Lower 6.

The Modern Languages department visit the pupils in their classrooms. From Lower 3 to Lower 7 they are taught French. The programme is in liaison with the class teacher and the theme for each term is in connection with their class topics. Songs, poems, rhymes and rap bring a new dimension to the curriculum with fun being the most important element when learning French.

When the pupils visit the gymnasiums they again start at Lower 1 stage where ball skills, fine motor and gross motor skills are concentrated on, as well as gymnastics, dance and team games. The progression continues through the school and they have tuition in Basketball, Netball, Volleyball, Hockey, Badminton, Gymnastics, Dance, Tennis and Athletics, to name but a few.

Lower 6 and 7 are bussed out to our wonderful playing fields at Milltimber. Here they play Hockey in the Autumn and Spring Terms and then they have Tennis and Athletics for the build-up preparations for our annual Sports Day in June. All pupils from Lower 3 are bussed to the University’s swimming pool at Hilton for a weekly swimming lesson. This culminates in a most exciting (and noisy!) swimming gala at the end of the Autumn Term.

All pupils get to use the laptop bus at least once a week and ICT is used as an integral part of many subjects within the curriculum.

Naturally in the Lower School the class teacher is the key figure and will teach all the core subjects in Maths, Language and Reading. We base our teaching on the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence and seek to offer the children as wide a range of educational opportunities as possible. Progress is measured using a range of in-house and external assessments.

We feel reporting is an extremely important part of any child’s education. In the Lower School at Albyn we aim to see parents at Parent Interviews in October and March, have two mini reports in December and February and a more detailed report in June. With this reporting programme you will have either verbal or written communication from your child’s class teacher at intervals of approximately six weeks.

However, I also operate an ‘open door policy’ and ask that parents come to see me any time. I have found that a little problem will not develop further if it is addressed and dealt with in its early stages.

The pupils are delightful at Albyn, so friendly, well-mannered and enthusiastic. They gain a great deal of self-confidence because of the many opportunities they have at Albyn.