Early Level
Nursery and P1 · ages 3-6
Early Level covers nursery through to the end of P1. Learning is playful and hands-on: counting real things, spotting letter sounds, noticing the weather and asking lots of questions.
CfE levels explained: Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) has five levels: Early Level (nursery and P1), First Level (P2-P4), Second Level (P5-P7), Third Level (S1-S2) and Fourth Level (S2 into S3). Learning is grouped into eight curriculum areas, and children move through the levels at their own pace rather than by year group.
The five CfE levels at a glance
| Level | School stages | Ages | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Level | Nursery and P1 | 3-6 | Learning is playful and hands-on: counting real things, spotting letter sounds, noticing the weather and asking lots of questions. |
| First Level | P2, P3 and P4 | 5-8 | Children move from counting to calculating, from letter sounds to reading whole stories, and start explaining their thinking out loud. |
| Second Level | P5, P6 and P7 | 8-12 | Work gets more independent: fractions and decimals, longer writing, fair-test experiments and real research about Scotland. |
| Third Level | S1 and S2 | 11-14 | Ideas become more abstract — algebra, chemical reactions, analysing texts and evaluating historical evidence. |
| Fourth Level | S2 into S3 | 13-15 |
Levels overlap on purpose — a child can be working at First Level in maths and Second Level in reading, and that is completely normal.
The eight CfE curriculum areas
Every CfE subject sits inside one of eight curricular areas. ScotLearn Adventure has free activities for the six linked below.
- Expressive arts — Art, music, drama and dance — not covered here.
- Health and wellbeing — PE, food, relationships and safety — not covered here.
- Languages (literacy and English) — Phonics, reading, comprehension and vocabulary.
- Mathematics (numeracy and mathematics) — Number, money, measure, shape and early algebra.
- Religious and moral education — Beliefs, values and moral questions — not covered here.
- Sciences — Living things, materials, forces and planet Earth.
- Social studies — Scotland's history, people and places.
- Technologies — Design, engineering and problem solving.
Pick a level to explore
First Level
P2, P3 and P4 · ages 5-8
First Level usually spans P2 to P4. Children move from counting to calculating, from letter sounds to reading whole stories, and start explaining their thinking out loud.
Second Level
P5, P6 and P7 · ages 8-12
Second Level runs roughly from P5 to P7. Work gets more independent: fractions and decimals, longer writing, fair-test experiments and real research about Scotland.
Third Level
S1 and S2 · ages 11-14
Third Level is the early secondary phase, S1 to S2. Ideas become more abstract — algebra, chemical reactions, analysing texts and evaluating historical evidence.
Fourth Level
S2 into S3 · ages 13-15
Fourth Level is the most advanced work on the site, taking learners into S3 territory with multi-step problems, extended writing and deeper scientific reasoning.