Underbank Primary School

Parent Glossary

Abbreviation/ Term	Stands for…	Definition	Additional notes/ Weblinks…
ACfE	A Curriculum for Excellence	Curriculum for Excellence is an education programme, which aims to achieve a transformation in education in Scotland by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from 3 to 18. The curriculum includes the totality of experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education, wherever they are being educated. It is underpinned by the values inscribed on the mace of the Scottish Parliament - wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity. The purpose of Curriculum for Excellence is encapsulated in the four capacities – to enable each child or young person to be a successful learner, a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor. - It aims to ensure that children will enjoy greater choice and opportunity to help realise their individual talents.	The changes brought about by Curriculum for Excellence should lead to improved quality of learning and teaching and increased attainment and achievement for all children and young people in Scotland, including those who need additional support in their learning. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
Active Schools	The term 'Active School' refers to a school that has a policy for promoting sport, physical activity and health. An Active School will provide and promote fun and safe activities for all children, both as part of the school day, and into the extended curriculum.	Active Schools in South Lanarkshire is a partnership between South Lanarkshire Council and sportscotland, as part of the Scottish Government's Healthy Living campaign. Active Schools is run by South Lanarkshire Leisure Trust on behalf of the Council. The aim of Active Schools is to give school-aged children the tools, motivation and opportunities to adopt healthy, active lifestyles throughout their school years and into adulthood.	The South Lanarkshire Active Schools team work with all primary and secondary schools to provide fun, innovative and sustainable activities for all young people. The fundamental aim of Active Schools is to offer children and young people the motivation and opportunities to adopt active, healthy lifestyles, which they will continue into adulthood. These opportunities will be available before school, after school and also in the local community. In addition to participation in formal sport and exercise, Active Schools also encourage children and young people to introduce more physical activity into their daily lives through walking, cycling, play and dance. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
AifL	Assessment is for Learning	Assessment is for Learning provides a coherent framework for assessment, in which evidence of learning can be gathered and interpreted to best meet the needs of learners, their parents and teachers, as well as school managers and others with responsibility for ensuring that education in Scotland is as good as it can be. In distinguishing three different uses of assessment (assessment for, as and of learning), AifL seeks to ensure that evidence of learning is gathered and used in appropriate ways, and that meaningful connections can be made between the curriculum and the learning and teaching required for its effective delivery.	Assessment for Learning is about ensuring that assessment is an integral part of and supports day-to-day learning and teaching. Research has shown that learners learn best when ... Assessment as Learning Using assessment to promote autonomy in learning Assessment as Learning is about using assessment to promote self assessment and learning how to learn. Learners who have been involved in this type of activity are more likely to develop the attributes and the skills they need to become resilient, self-motivating learners, able to keep on learning as they mature and as the challenges they face in their learning become more demanding. Assessment of Learning Using assessment to make sound judgements about learning and school effectiveness. Assessment of Learning also supports assessment for and as learning by ensuring that standards are understood and shared by teachers, the learners themselves, their parents and other adults who are either directly engaged in or supporting the learning process. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
ASN	Additional Support Needs	A child or young person is said to have additional support needs where, for whatever reason, they need additional support with their education. This applies whether the need for additional support is temporary or ongoing. The term "additional support" simply means some kind of educational provision that is over and above (or significantly different to) the education normally provided to pupils of the same age in local mainstream schools.	Depending on your son’s or daughter’s needs, different levels of planning will be needed to make sure their learning and support needs are met. These include Personal Learning Planning (PLP), Individualised Educational Programmes (IEP) and Co-ordinated Support Plans (CSP). CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
CEOP	Child Exploitation and Online Protection	The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the exploitation of children. That means building intelligence around the risks, tracking and bringing offenders to account either directly or with local and international police forces and working with children and parents to deliver our unique ThinkuKnow internet safety programme. Our approach is truly holistic, our style is totally inclusive and our appeal is to everyone out there to work with us in making every child matter, everywhere	The CEOP safety centre has useful resources to enable parents to help protect children in the real world. It promotes the view that if children understand the risks and can make sensible and informed choices online, they can get the most from the internet and stay safe whilst doing so. There are age-appropriate guidance pages for 5-7, 8-10, 11-16 age groups and also for parents/carers and teachers/trainers. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO (CEOP) CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO (THINK U KNOW)
Click clever, click safe		Zip it, block it, flag it: The internet opens up a wonderful world of entertainment, opportunity and knowledge. To help children enjoy the internet safely, UKCCIS (UK Council for Child Internet Safety) have developed the Click Clever Click Safe Code. It’s been designed to act as an everyday reminder of simple good behaviours, to help you and your children avoid common risks online.	The code has been designed to: - give parents the confidence to be able to help their children enjoy the internet safely - help children and young people understand how their online experiences can expose them to risks The code has three simple actions: Zip it - keep your personal information private and think about what you say and do online Block it - block people who send you nasty messages and don’t open unknown links and attachments Flag it - flag up with someone you trust if anything upsets you or if someone asks to meet you offline It’s easy to remember when talking to children about online safety and it’s designed to help keep them safe on the internet. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
Eco Schools		The Eco-Schools programme is an international initiative designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment. It is a recognised award scheme that accredits schools who make a commitment to continuously improve their environmental performance and is also a learning resource that raises awareness of environmental and sustainable development issues throughout activities linked to curricular areas.	The aim of the Eco-Schools programme is to make environmental awareness and action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of the school for both pupils and for staff, and to engage the wider community. The Eco-Schools programme can help schools to: - Improve the school's environment - Reduce litter and waste - Reduce energy and water use - Devise efficient was of travelling to and from school - Promote healthy lifestyles - Encourage active citizenship - Build strong partnerships with a variety of community groups - Develop international and global links CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
Fairtrade Schools		Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.	A number of schools have already become Fairtrade Schools working with organisations such as People & Planet, SCIAF, CAFOD, Fairtrade Towns, Development Education Centres and others. Now these organisations have come together to develop a single, unified scheme for all primary and secondary schools across the UK. The new scheme is run by The Fairtrade Foundation. A Fairtrade School is one that is committed to Fairtrade. This means: It uses Fairtrade products as far as possible It learns about how global trade works and why Fairtrade is important It takes action for Fairtrade in the school and the wider community CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
GIRFEC	Getting it Right for Every Child	Getting it right for every child is a programme that aims to improve outcomes for all children and young people. It promotes a shared approach that: - builds solutions with and around children and families - enables children to get the help they need when they need it - supports a positive shift in culture, systems and practice - involves working together to make things better	Getting it right for every child is the foundation for work with all children and young people, including adult services where parents are involved. It builds on universal health and education services, and is embedded in the developing early years and youth frameworks. Developments in the universal services of health and education, such as Better Health Better Care and Curriculum for Excellence, are identifying what needs to be done in those particular areas to improve outcomes for children. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
Glow	Educational intranet	Managed by Learning and Teaching Scotland and delivered by Research Machines (RM), Glow is the world's first national intranet for education. Glow will break geographical and social barriers and allow on-line collaboration throughout Scotland. It will work alongside Curriculum for Excellence to build capacity and ensure a first-class education for Scotland. Schools and educators throughout Scotland are being given unique access through Glow to resources which actively promote creative learning and teaching, one of the core goals of Curriculum for Excellence.	Glow enables innovation in teaching approaches by offering unique learning opportunities (e.g using online learning resources) - Glow helps motivate young people to work independently and collaboratively (e.g can do individual research or share experiences, questions and files with other schools) - Glow supports individualised learning, allowing for personalisation and choice. (email, messaging, discussion boards, chat rooms, and web conferencing) - Glow provides children and young people with relevance in their learning. (document stores, image galleries) CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
HGIOS	How Good Is Our School	People have always reflected on the quality of local schools and of education nationally. HM Inspectorate of Education’s (HMIE) reports go a long way towards answering the national question: How good is Scottish education?. Standards and quality reports produced by local authorities aim to answer the question: How good is education in this authority?. How Good Is Our School is a publication that seeks to help teachers answer this question. It suggests how to identify strengths and areas for improvement, report on standards and quality and draw up plans for action.	HGIOS promotes self-evaluation, using quality indicators to assess: How are we doing? - asks us to consider how our school is performing in relation to the aims we have identified and suggests how self-evaluation can help us. How do we know? - describes the use of quality indicators to measure how we are doing within key areas of provision and indicates reference points for evaluation. What are we going to do now? - describes how to report and take forward what we know about standards and quality in our schools. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
HMIE	Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education	HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) in Scotland is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Ministers. As an agency, we operate independently and impartially whilst remaining directly accountable to Ministers for the standards of our work. This status guarantees the independence of our inspection, review and reporting within the overall context of the Ministers' strategic objectives for Scottish education. The core business of HMIE is inspection and review. Successive Ministers have emphasised this distinctive contribution to improving the quality of education and raising attainment.	The core objective of HMIE is to promote and contribute to sustainable improvements in standards, quality and achievements for all learners in a Scottish education system which is inclusive. Working in partnership we seek to ensure that: • children, young people and adults in Scotland become successful learners, confident individuals, active citizens and effective contributors in the workplace and community; and • providers of educational and children's services in Scotland enable children and young people to be safe, nurtured, achieving, healthy, active, included, respected and responsible. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
HPS	Health Promoting Schools	In 1986, the World Health Organization generated a framework illustrating the concept of health promoting schools, which was based on a broad definition of health; the mental, physical and social dimensions of health and well-being. There was recognition that in order to maximise improvement in health and education for children and young people it would be necessary to consider them in the context of their home and community environment. In Scotland, the WHO framework was used as a basis for 'Promoting Good Health - proposals for action in schools'. Within this policy statement key principles of health promoting schools were established. This document laid the foundation for policy development, curriculum development and research and evaluation in relation to health promoting schools. Scotland joined the European Network of Health Promoting Schools as part of the UK in 1993.	Health promotion in schools is not just about encouraging children and young people to eat well and to exercise; it encompasses a much broader holistic approach. This approach is called the 'whole school approach', which includes promoting the physical, social, spiritual, mental and emotional wellbeing of all pupils and staff. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
ICT	Information and Communication Technology	This is the term used for the processing, transmission and storage of information and data using modern day technology.
IWB	Interactive White Board	A large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. A projector projects the computer's desktop onto the board's surface, where users control the computer using a pen, finger or other device. The board is typically mounted to a wall or on a floor stand.	Interactive whiteboards are used in many schools as replacements for traditional whiteboards or flipcharts or video/media systems such as a DVD player and TV combination. Users can also connect to a school network digital video distribution system using an interactive whiteboard. Interactive whiteboards can also interact with online shared annotation and drawing environments in the form of interactive vector based graphical websites. The software supplied with the interactive whiteboard will usually allow the teacher to keep notes and annotations as an electronic file for later distribution either on paper or through a number of electronic formats. In addition, some interactive whiteboards allow teachers to record their instruction as digital video files and post the material for review by students at a later time. This can be a very effective instructional strategy for students who benefit from repetition, who need to see the material presented again, for students who are absent from school, for struggling learners, and for review for examinations. CLICK FOR MORE INFO
LLC	Lanark Learning Community	Lanark Learning Community intends to develop confidence, improve attainment and leaver destination statistics. The Learning Community aims to generate a new culture of shared ambition in which pupils significantly increase their aspirations and staff increase their expectations and aspirations for their pupils. The schools will use ICT to create a dynamic learning community, linking all schools in the area to increase motivation and engagement in learning.	Schools in LLC include: Lanark Grammar: Braehead Primary, Carmichael Primary, Carstairs Junction Primary, Carstairs Primary, Douglas Primary, Kirkfieldbank Primary, Lanark Primary, New Lanark Primary, Rigside Primary, Robert Owen Memorial Primary, Stablestone Primary, Underbank Primary.
LTS	Learning and Teaching Scotland	Learning and Teaching Scotland is the national body responsible for reviewing the curriculum, developing assessment to support learning and providing national guidance and advice to the education system on the use of ICT to support learning and teaching. In addition, LTS manages the provision of the national ICT infrastructure to support education, Glow, work with partners to support the development of the National Assessment Resource and ensure that practitioners have easy online access to advice and support through the LTS Online Service. They also work with partners to manage the effective provision of research and professional development.	LTS has five programmes of work. All the work that LTS undertakes is organised under these five programmes, each of which has a particular focus. Curriculum and Assessment Review Programme - Developing Curriculum for Excellence, supporting appropriate approaches to assessment and recognising achievement, and support for National Qualifications. Glow Programme - Creating the world's first national schools intranet - a broadband connection, users' tools and content development. Developing Global Citizens - looking at citizens' rights and responsibilities within communities at local, national and global levels; and making informed decisions, and taking thoughtful and responsible action, locally and globally Schools' ICT Programme - Providing the LTS Online Service, online communities, new technologies for learning, the Scottish Learning Festival and the Virtual Advisory Service. Targeted Support Programme - Supporting learners in literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, financial education, personal support, early years, enterprise, youth work, outdoor learning, physical activity, parental involvement CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
Parents as Partners		A policy of encouraging active involvement of parents in the life of the school to help promote a learning community in which pupils can engage positively with school staff and their peers. Schools can benefit from developing positive partnerships with parents by involving them in all decisions affecting their children’s education and learning	In May 2006 the Scottish Parliament passed an Act that aims to help parents to be: - involved with their child’s education and learning - welcomed as an active participant in the life of the school - encouraged to express their views on school education generally. Initiatives such as A Curriculum for Excellence and Assessment is for Learning regard parents as integral to providing effective education and learning for children and young people. The Act identifies three elements that are important and that schools have a role in promoting and developing: Learning at home - by providing information and support to parents and carers to help develop their child's learning at home and in the community. Home-school partnerships - recognising the shared role and responsibility that schools, parents and the community have in working together to educate children. Parent Councils - a mechanism for parents to have the opportunity to express their views and have these taken into account on policy matters affecting the education of their children. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO (LTS) CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO (SLC)
Parentzone	LTS Website for Parents	Information about education in Scotland for parents of children aged 3 to 18, including ideas on how to support your child's learning	CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
PC	Parent Council	The Parent Council is a group of parents selected by members of the Parent Forum to represent all the parents of children at a school. Parent Councils are very flexible groups and the Parent Forum can decide on the type of group it wants to represent their views. Parents might decide they want a representative from each year group in the school. They might want to include pupils, other teachers at the school or parents from a feeder or secondary school. This flexibility allows parents to choose a Parent Council which reflects their school and will encourage parents to get involved. The type of things a Parent Council could get involved in include: - Supporting the work of the school - Gathering and representing parents' views to the headteacher, education authority and HMIE - Promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils, providers of nursery - Fundraising - Organising events - Being involved in the appointment of senior staff.	Membership of a Parent Forum is made up of parents who have a child at an education authority school. Parents are automatically members of the Parent Forum for their school. It is important that all parents know about their membership of the Parent Forum. As a member of the Parent Forum, each parent can expect to: - receive information about the school and its activities - hear more in future about what partnership with parents means in their school - be invited to be involved in ways and times that suit them - participate in deciding how the parent representative body, the Parent Council, is organised and how it operates - identify issues they want the Parent Council to work on in the school - be asked their opinion by the Parent Council on issues relating to the school and the education it provides - work in partnership with staff - enjoy taking part in the life of the school in whatever way they can. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
PPB	Promoting Positive Behaviour	The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the creation of peaceful learning environments and promoting positive behaviour in schools. To this end the Positive Behaviour Team currently supports schools and local authorities to introduce and embed approaches to positive behaviour. The approaches include: - Framework for Intervention/Staged Intervention (FFI/SI) - Nurture - Restorative practices - Solution-oriented approaches - The Motivated School and Social and Emotional Learning Frameworks (SELF)	Restorative practices describe a range of approaches to prevent and repair conflict in schools. These practices range from: - developing a restorative climate in schools with activities such as circle time and peer support - ‘restorative conversations’, when teachers or peer mediators intervene in a situation - formal restorative conferencing involving all those affected by an incident, including families where appropriate. Restorative practices can: - manage the varied expectations of behaviour standards which exist among all school staff - help develop a whole school positive ethos - encourage members of the school community to effectively resolve and learn from conflict in a way which maintains relationships, or terminates them in a positive way - support any necessary sanctions by processes of learning and reconciliation. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
QI's	Quality Indicators	Criteria used for self evaluation of a school under the HGIOS (How Good is our School) standard. There are seven Key Areas relating to the main aspects of a school’s work that are considered: 1. Curriculum 2. Attainment 3. Learning and teaching 4. Support for pupils 5. Ethos 6. Resources 7. Management, leadership and quality assurance	CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
Respect me	Scotland's Anti-Bullying Service	Launched in March 2007, respectme is funded by the Scottish Government and managed in partnership with SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health), and LGBT Youth Scotland. respectme works with all adults who have a role to play in the lives of children and young people to give them the practical skills and confidence to deal with bullying behaviour, wherever it occurs. It offers free training at events across Scotland and work with organisations at a local and strategic level to develop and review anti-bullying policies and practices.	respectme is not a helpline - it provides practical advice and guidance on developing and reviewing anti-bullying policies and initiatives and identifying the best ways of putting them into practice CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
S.M.A.R.T	Stay Safe; Make Connections; Be Assertive; Realise your options; Talk it out	Anti-bullying strategy, originating from California	Various anti-bullying tactics are available from a number of organisations, including RespectMe (above) CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
SHANARI	Safe, Healthy, Active, Nurtured, Achieving, Respected and Responsible and Included.	The desired national outcomes for children and young people, from the Curriculum for Excellence, are that all children can be: Confident Individuals Effective Contributors Responsible Citizens Successful Learners To achieve this all children need to be Safe, Healthy, Active, Nurtured, Achieving, Respected and Responsible and Included. These are known as the ‘wellbeing indicators’ and are remembered by the acronym S.H.A.N.A.R.I.	Scottish Ministers have articulated a vision that all Scotland's children and young people should be safe, nurtured, healthy, achieving, active, respected and responsible, and included and a shared ambition for children and young people that will enable them to develop their capacities as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors to society and work The Quality Improvement Framework for Integrated Services for Children and Young People aims to develop a coherent and sustained approach by inter-agency children's services partnerships to raising quality across all services for children and young people to achieve this shared vision.
VCOP	Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers and Punctuation	Writing is a major part of the curriculum and along with reading, listening and talking makes a significant contribution to the development of children as thinkers and learners. At Underbank Primary we are using the Ros Wilson approach to writing. This is based on child-centred, interactive learning with a focus on 4 core targets of Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers and Punctuation. (VCOP)	CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
WALT	We Are Learning To	the learning objective for a learning session	AifL related focus on ensuring children, staff and parents are clear about what is to be learned and what success would be like. WALT and WILF criteria ensures that we are clear about our learning intentions and appropriate experiences for achieving these.
WILF	What I'm Looking For	the success criteria for a learning session	Some schools have devised characters to represent these acronyms, and then the learning objectives and success criteria are shared with children and displayed in the classroom for that lesson.