Curriculum

Our Junior School Academic Curriculum

We pride ourselves on creating an environment where your child loves to learn.

Our personalised approach achieved through smaller classes and expertise in teaching girls means each child can thrive academically and personally.

We balance the necessary formal approach to learning needed for children to have a secure grounding in the key building blocks for literacy and numeracy with opportunities for active, purposeful learning woven into our school day. We assess and track pupil learning carefully through each term, especially in literacy and numeracy, so that we can be confident that the children are making the progress we expect at every stage.

Our curriculum is designed with an active approach to learning, prioritising STEM, digital skills, and leadership development. We embrace collaborative lesson planning and success criteria, shared and tailored to each student, which helps our pupils feel more connected to their learning journey. This student-led learning not only enhances their enjoyment of school but also builds confidence and independence.

As our children progress through primary their timetable enables a breadth of lessons covering not only core learning in literacy and numeracy but also subject specialists in Music, PE, Art, and Languages enriching our primary curriculum.

We employ teachers with strong educational histories themselves and as a Junior School team, we bring expertise across many areas of learning.

For our classes in the lower primaries, we have a dedicated classroom assistant working alongside the class teacher so that the learning of all children is supported both individually and also within a group setting.

Girls clock classroom edinburgh stgeorges

Curriculum Structure

The curriculum is divided into eight areas, including Literacy and Languages, Numeracy and Mathematics, Social Studies, Sciences, Health and Well-being, Religious and Moral Education, Expressive Arts, and Technologies. We introduce technology in computing lessons and across the curriculum, teaching students the fundamental skills needed to prepare them for the next level.

Specialist subject teaching in Languages, PE, Music, Art, Computing and Drama gradually increases as the pupils move through the junior years.

We prioritise the development of core digital competency skills that are appropriate for each age and learning stage, which allows students to expand their knowledge and ability.

Enrichment

We are active in seeking out enrichment opportunities, and also in creating them for the benefit of all learners. During each term pupils will experience regular involvement in assemblies, including those specifically focused on celebrating achievements in all areas of a child’s life. Each class teacher will plan for educational excursions and invite visitors to the school with the aim of generating enthusiasm and showcasing real-life aspects of classroom topics across all subject areas.

Our Junior School House and vice captains take an active lead in organising themed House activities for all Junior School pupils. Teachers will also help guide children towards participation in appropriate local and national competitions and activities, seeking experiences that children will find empowering and rewarding.

Read the students' accounts of recent enrichment activities in the Junior School:

Digi Club: Preparing for a Spooky Coding Competition

In Digi Club, we are working towards a coding competition. We have to code and create a monster-themed Hallowe'en project...

Maths Week

On European Day of Languages, which fell during Maths Week, the Primary 5s undertook an exciting project for the Junior School. We carried out a survey to find out the languages that our junior school students spoke at home...

Hike to Scald Law

Primary 5 went on a hike to Scald Law, which is one of the biggest hills in the Pentland Hills. Before we went on the trip, we looked up Scald Law on Google Maps and we marked the route and carried our own maps...

Tinsel, Sprouts, and Storytelling: Sibéal Pounder's Festive Visit

Author Sibéal Pounder paid a special visit to St George’s. Primary 4, 5, 6, and Remove came together in the Lower School Hall to hear from the bestselling visiting author.

Sibéal Pounder is well loved for her series Witch Wars and Bad Mermaids, but this morning she was here to talk all things Christmas. Sibéal brought festive cheer as she shared the inspiration behind her book Tinsel and her newest novel, Sprouts. Read full story

Find out more about our academic enrichment in Upper School and Sixth Form

"You’ve got the right balance of support and challenge for learning.”

Parent

In the Junior School, digital skills are developed by classroom teachers. Much of the learning is play-based, and with a focus on engagement and gamifying learning. A range of iPad-specific applications are used to make learning fun, and to demystify technology; parallel to this, students engage in lessons using laptop and desktop computers, gaining important hand-eye coordination skills, and initial exposure to the Microsoft 365 apps they will rely on as they progress through the school.

Find out about our whole school approach to E-Learning and digital skills

Our Support for Learning team works alongside class teachers to provide specialist assistance to students in developing early literacy and numeracy skills. Our Early Intervention programme works hard to ensure all students have a strong foundation for literacy and numeracy.

P1 and P2

In P1, pupils may participate in our Early Intervention programme, which aims to ensure all the students have a good foundation for literacy. By intervening early, it is hoped that the foundation will be achieved through consolidating class work. The length of time students participate will vary depending on their individual needs.

In P2 our Early Intervention programme also helps those children who need support with early numeracy skills as well as early literacy skills.

P3, P4 and P5

In P3, P4 and P5 students identified either by class teachers or outside agencies, as requiring support in meeting their long-term targets, are taught either individually or in small groups. This means that students in Junior School with identified additional support needs have access to a specialist member of staff who works in conjunction with their class teacher to ensure that their individual needs are met.

Find out about our whole school approach to Support for Learning

In Junior School we run a Digital Exchange for P5 students with a partner school in Fort Worth, Texas and a Pen pal programme with a partner school in Spain.

Find out about our whole school approach to International Education

St George’s boasts three distinct library spaces which includes one in the Junior School. Across the three libraries, the collection includes over 12,000 books, magazines and journals, over 500 ebooks and audiobooks plus subscriptions to 9 online research databases.

Classes in Primary 1 through Primary 5 attend library lessons once a week. They’re led in a library activity or story time with the librarian before having an opportunity to browse and borrow books and enjoy quiet reading time individually or in small groups. Find out about our school libraries.

Find out about our school libraries