Welcome to Lathallan School

ENGLISH

Our fundamental focus in the early years is the development of reading skills for which we use the Ginn Reading Scheme and its accompanying Reading Skills workbooks. The  Nelson Spelling and Grammar scheme is also used. The children are encouraged to read both for leisure and for research purposes and may borrow books from the school library.

Creative writing encourages children to allow their imaginations to run free and our younger pupils enjoy displaying their colourfully illustrated work in their classrooms. As children move up the school they shown how  to analyse texts and poetry in greater depth and undertake a wide variety of creative writing assignments. Form 6 pupils also have the opportunity to prepare a talk on a topic of their choice to sit the examination of the English Speaking Board.

MATHS

Lathallan uses the Scottish Heinemann Maths scheme which we believe is the most comprehensive and well structured framework for primary mathematics. We follow the 5-14 National Curriculum for Mathematics throughout the school.

This recommends 4 main Attainment Outcomes: 1.Problem-Solving;

2. Information Handling;

3. Number, Money and Measurement and

4. Position and Movement.

Additionally, pupils in the top 2 years may also cover some more advanced work in preparation for Scholarship examinations. By Form 5 (Primary 7) children work in 2 separate ability streams for maths. Pupils are encouraged to develop good mental maths skills and given ample opportunities to learn using practical exercises- measuring, weighing and estimating.

LANGUAGES

(French and Latin)

Pupils are introduced to French from Primary 1. In the early years the focus is on speaking and listening and taught through games, songs, videos and puzzles with an emphasis on the fun of learning a new language. Children are introduced to a range of vocabulary topics such as the classroom, animals, numbers , simple conversation questions.

During Primary and 4 the focus remains the same but pupils are introduced to writing and spelling as well as continuing with oral work. From Primary 5 upwards more formal grammar is introduced and regular testing ensure continuous progress. Topics now include Home and School Life, Transport and Holidays, Food and Eating Out, money and shopping, sports and leisure activities. By the end of Form 6 children can use past present and future tenses, in regular and common irregular verbs, and use prepositions, adverbs and adjectives. They are able to compose short essays using these skills and undertake French comprehension exercises, both written and aural.

In Form 5 (Primary 7) children are introduced to Latin and then may choose to continue with Latin in Form 6 (if for example preparing for Scholarship examinations) or instead to take up Spanish. Pupils moving into Lathallan senior school continue with Spanish and French in S2 before choosing examination options for S3.

ICT

Lathallan is fortunate to have a dedicated networked IT laboratory where each pupil uses a dedicated PC and is able to store their own work in personal files. All pupils receive one lesson a week from an IT specialist. Pupils are taught to use the internet responsibly and develop skills in using the most common software packages enabling them to prepare presentations, documents, pictures and spreadsheets. The children also have the opportunity to use the laboratory as part of the curriculum in other subjects, for example researching in Science and Geography.

HUMANITIES

In the early years History, Geography and Religious Studies are taught by the class teacher. The curriculum is supported where possible by excursions and trips . In the last few years those at the lower end of the school have supported their history topics by visiting Archaeolink, Bannockburn, Stirling Castle, Glamis Castle and a 2 day residential trip to York to support studies on the Romans, Vikings and Victorians.

Religious Studies looks at  stories from the Bible, but also considers all the major world religions. As the pupils move toward the top end of the school, Geography also includes a field work expedition from which pupils write up a field work study as part of their final year Geography course.

SCIENCE

Until Primary 5 science is taught by the classroom teacher and pupils are able to make full use of our coastal location and rural environment to complement biology studies - looking in the rockpools on our private beach and “mini-beast” hunting in the grounds make early science fun.

From Primary 5 science is taught as a separate subject by specialist staff and full use is made of our science laboratories to allow the pupils to conduct their own experiments and learn how to record and interpret their results. By Primary 7 pupils work on discrete topic areas in each of Biology, Chemistry and Physics as they prepare for the Common Entrance examination.

LEARNING SUPPORT

The school operates a Learning Support (LS) Department to help children with minor learning difficulties. Pupils use this department for varying reasons; ‘catching up’ in specific areas following a relocation or school transfer, assistance with a specific learning need or support with levels of work and homework.

The number of lessons required by a pupil can vary and a room is set aside for one to one tuition which is the norm. Other teachers communicate regularly with the LS Department and will seek support for pupils if required. An Educational Psychologist is in regular contact with the school and is engaged to work with pupils after consultation with the parent.