Curriculum for Excellence is the school curriculum for ages 3 to 18 in Scotland. It aims to help children and young people develop the knowledge, skills, and attributes they need in life, learning, and work.

The curriculum is the learning that is planned for children and young people from early learning and childcare, through school and beyond. They can experience this across:

curriculum areas and subjects
interdisciplinary learning
ethos and life of the school
opportunities for personal achievement.

The curriculum focuses on developing 4 capacities, helping children to become:

successful learners
confident individuals
responsible citizens
effective contributors.

Curriculum phases

Curriculum for Excellence is divided into 2 phases: the broad general education and the senior phase.

The broad general education begins in early learning and childcare and continues to the end of S3 (the third year of secondary school).

The senior phase takes place from S4 to S6 in secondary schools and includes ages 16 to 18 out of school. It builds on the experiences and outcomes young people will have achieved by S3.

It enables young people to continue developing their skills for learning, life, and work through qualifications and a range of opportunities for personal development (such as work placements).

More information

Find out more about the Curriculum for Excellence (Education Scotland website).

You can find more information and guidance about the curriculum and framework at Scotland’s Curriculum website.

Archived

Show in-page menu?

Contacts

Part of

Thistle Primary School

Read more about Thistle Primary School

About the new school

We're building a new primary school in Dargavel Village.

It is called Thistle Primary School, as chosen by local pupils and residents after a public vote.

The new school will have capacity for around 800 pupils and will include a full-size sports pitch and facilities for use by the wider community.

Thistle Primary is due to open in August 2027, in time for the start of that year's new school term.

You can see how Thistle Primary will look with these videos.

Take a look inside the new Thistle Primary School.

Take a look around the exterior of Thistle Primary School.

The new school is in addition to the existing Dargavel Primary School and is needed to meet future demand as more new houses are built in the area in the years ahead.

The new primary school will be non-denominational. The denominational school for the Dargavel area will continue to be St John Bosco Primary School, in Erskine.

The associated high school for the new primary school will be Park Mains High School.

Thistle Primary School catchment

The location and catchment area for the new school were decided after a formal consultation with the community, which ran in early 2024.

Check if you live in the school catchment

You can search this interactive map using your postcode and home address to check if you live in the Thistle Primary catchment.

You can also see the agreed catchment areas for the new and existing primary schools in Dargavel on the map below.

Map of catchment areas for the new and existing primary schools in Dargavel

See a map of the agreed catchment areas for the new and existing primary schools in Dargavel

PDF | 731.95kB

These new catchment areas will come into effect when the new school opens in 2027.

Until then, the existing Dargavel Primary will continue to be the catchment primary school for all of Dargavel Village.

Starting school from August 2027

Parents of children due to start Primary 1 in August 2027 can register their child for Thistle Primary when the Renfrewshire-wide P1 registration
period opens in November 2026.

Any other family living in the Thistle Primary catchment whose child has already started school will have the opportunity to move their child there should they wish.

Community engagement

We're committed to working with the community throughout the design, planning and construction of Thistle Primary School. This has included:

a detailed space-planning exercise in late 2023, which included a series of focus groups and a community survey, where we asked what people wanted from a new school with community facilities
the formal consultation on the school's location and catchment in early 2024
a 12-week period of engagement in summer/autumn 2024 in advance of the the full planning application being submitted. This included 2 public events and a series of focus groups.