Our Curriculum
Creating an environment which develops a love of learning
Academic
Curriculum for Excellence
The curriculum at Kirkcudbright Academy is founded and grounded on the government’s Curriculum for Excellence programme, a philosophy and approach in Learning and Teaching with the aim of achieving the very best outcomes for all pupils in terms of attainment, achievement, skills development and a sustained quality positive destination in life after school.
‘Curriculum for Excellence – helps our children and young people gain the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for life in the 21st century’
Broad General Education - Junior School
Our S1-S3 students continue with the Broad General Education they began in Primary School. This ensures coverage of eight curricular areas:
- English
- Mathematics
- Expressive Arts (including Art & Design, Drama and Music)
- Health and Wellbeing (including Physical Education and Personal and Social Education)
- Modern Foreign Languages
- Religious and Moral Education
- Sciences (including Biology, Chemistry and Physics)
- Social Subjects (including Geography, History, Modern Studies and Business Management)
- Technologies (including Home Economics, Computing, and Design, Engineering & Technology)
At the end of a students second year they are provided with the opportunity to specialise in specific curricular areas, and subjects, to prepare them for the Senior Phase in S4.
Academic
The Senior Phase
Moving into S4 marks the transition between the Broad General Education and the start of the Senior Phase. This is the period where students will begin to engage with the process of compiling a portfolio of qualifications which will create opportunities for them to realise their future career aspirations, whether this is Higher/Further Education or further training/employment
The broad general education phase of CfE is closely connected to the senior phase with the learning undertaken up until the end of S3 providing a strong foundation for choosing and specialising in a range of subjects. In the senior phase, young people will have the opportunity to take qualifications and courses that suit their ability and interests.
The main provider of qualifications tostudents at the Academy is the SQA, Scottish Qualifications Authority, however we use other providers to meet the varying needs of our students.
Click on the link below to find out more about our Junior and Senior school and to view the courses on offer.
The Junior school comprises of our S1-S3 year groups who follow the BGE curriculum as outlined by the Scottish government.
The Senior school, our S4-S6 students, follow courses offered by the SQA supplemented by opportunities to broaden the learning experience.
Academic
Class Sizes
Class sizes in Scotland are kept to manageable sizes, allowing teachers to provide focussed support to individual students in the class. Non practical classes, such as English, Maths, Languages and Social Subjects, are kept to maximum student numbers of 30, where as practical subjects, such as Sciences, Home Economics and Technology, are capped at 20 pupils.
To provide a wide range of subjects across the curriculum classes are often composed of students across a range of age groups and are taught in presentation level groupings, occasionally also comprising of bi or try level classes.
The Academy have teamed up with local Agricultural Merchants to offer a variety of opportunities for our students.
The Open University provide the opportunity for our S6 students to study a variety of on-line courses under the heading of YASS.
The Academy have worked along with Scotland’s Rural College to provide a number of on-line courses.
Foundation Apprenticeships are offered in conjunction with Dumfries and Galloway Education and Dumfries and Galloway College
Dumfries and Galloway College offer a variety of courses through their College Academy offer.
