At Falkland House School Perth, pupils follow the Curriculum for Excellence, which enables each young person to be a successful learner, confident individual, responsible citizen and effective contributor. This approach balances academic progress with the development of social, communication and life skills.
Each student is paired with a key teacher who plans, monitors, and guides their progress, while maintaining close communication with parents, carers, and other professionals.
Whole school and mini projects ensure interdisciplinary learning and collaborative working in larger groups occur on a regular basis. The Seven Principles of Curriculum Design are integral to quality assurance process, ensuring that every pupil receive the best possible learning experience.
When a pupil arrives in the school, they will be supported in managing the routine of the school and getting to know their new peer group. Initial assessments are conducted to evaluate literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing and social skills. These assessments are shared with both education and care teams, along with some appropriate strategies to support the pupil, ensuring a consistent approach.
Formative assessment is carried out with the Big Writing Assessments, York Reading Assessments for literacy and Tee Jay for numeracy, providing a comprehensive view of each pupil’s progress.
Many young people join Falkland House School Perth after negative experiences with education or having missed significant parts of learning. To address this, classes are determined by both age and developmental stage, ensuring young people receive an education that they are ready for, not what is expected of them due to their chronological age. Classes are small, with a maximum of six pupils, allowing for personalised learning. Each young person receiving a personal Learning Journey document that tracks their progress and celebrates success, helping the Key Teacher to set individualised targets and provide additional resources if/when needed.
From S1 to S3, pupils follow a broad general curriculum with a strong emphasis on practical, project-based learning. Our interdisciplinary approach to learning encourages pupils to explore themes that inspire and motivate them, covering multiple curriculum subjects. The curriculum includes literacy, numeracy, social subject, science, art, IT, music, outdoor learning/PE and health & wellbeing, delivered by subject specialist teachers.
Senior pupils (S4 to S6) focus on discrete subject areas leading to SQA qualifications from National 2 to Advanced Higher level in a wide range of subjects. Their education is designed to prepare them for college and the workplace, with support from a Throughcare Co-ordinator who helps to organise college placements, work experience and comprehensive career guidance.
Our classrooms and learning spaces consider the sensory needs of our pupils, incorporating the latest technology such as adaptive lighting. Our integrated Occupational Therapist and Speech & language Therapist collaborate with teaching staff to create an optimal learning environment, ensuring pupils get the most benefit out of their time with us.
In addition to our core curriculum, pupils also participate in our highly successful electives programme, held on Wednesday afternoons. The electives programme focusses on specific areas, allowing pupils to work on a themed project for a term, building social and communication skills. Previous electives have included jewellery making, baking, computing and hill walking.
For pupils pursuing alternative career paths, their learning in enhanced by our School-College partnership that offers National Certificates at Levels 5 and 6 in subject areas such as Computing, Business, Tourism & Hospitality and Sport & Fitness.