Mab’s Cross Community Primary School
Teaching and Learning Policy
Introduction
At Mab’s Cross Primary School we believe that learning should be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone; in short, it should be fun. Through our teaching we equip children with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to be able to make informed choices about the important things in their lives. We believe that appropriate teaching and learning experiences help children to lead happy and rewarding lives.
Aims
We believe that people learn best in different ways. At our school we provide a rich and varied learning environment that allows all children to develop their skills and abilities to their full potential.
Through our teaching we aim to:
- enable children to become confident, resourceful, enquiring and independent learners
- foster children’s self-esteem, and help them to build positive relationships with other people
- develop children’s self-respect, encourage them to understand the ideas, attitudes and values of others, and teach them to respect other people’s feelings
- show respect for a diverse range of cultures and, in so doing, to promote positive attitudes towards other people
- enable children to understand their community, and help them feel valued as part of it
- help children grow into reliable, independent and positive citizens
Effective learning
Research tells us a lot about how to maximise learning. We know that people learn in many different ways, and respond best to different types of input (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic); we must therefore deliver teaching in different ways to address the needs of all our learners.
We ensure the best possible environment for learning by developing a positive atmosphere where pupils feel safe and feel they belong, where they enjoy being challenged, but where they enjoy learning, and know that they will succeed because they know the challenge will have been set at the right level.
In structuring lessons we aim:
- to connect the learning with previous work
- to give learners the ‘big picture’ of the whole lesson
- to explain the learning objectives, and why the lesson is important
- to present the information in a range of styles
- to allow opportunities for the pupils to build up their own understanding through various activities
- to review what has been learnt, and so increase recollection
- to provide feedback, celebrating success and reviewing learning strategies
- to outline the next step in the learning before moving on
We offer opportunities for children to learn in different ways by providing a range of effective strategies. These include:
- investigation and problem-solving
- research and discovery
- group work
- pair work
- independent work
- whole-class work
- asking and answering questions
- use of ICT
- fieldwork and visits to places of educational interest
- creative activities
- watching television and responding to musical or tape-recorded material
- debates, role-plays and oral presentations
- designing and making things
- participation in athletic or physical activity
We encourage children to take responsibility for their own learning, to be involved as far as possible in reviewing the way they learn, and to reflect on how they learn – what helps them learn, and what makes it difficult for them to learn. Please see how we implement Assessment for Learning later on in this document.
Effective Teaching
When we are teaching we focus on motivating all the children, and building on their skills, knowledge and understanding of the curriculum, so that they reach the highest level of personal achievement.
Teachers make ongoing assessments both through tests and teacher assessment of each child’s progress, and they use this information when planning their lessons. It enables them to take into account the abilities of all their children. Our prime focus is to develop further the knowledge and skills of all our children. We strive to ensure that all tasks set are appropriate and differentiated to each child’s level of ability. When planning work for children with special educational needs, we give due regard to information and targets contained in the children’s Individual Education Plans (IEPs). Teachers modify and annotate planning, teaching and learning as appropriate in relation to IEPs, EAL, and Able, Gifted and Talented. We value each child as a unique individual, and teachers are familiar with the relevant equal opportunities legislation covering race, gender and disability. We will strive to meet the needs of all our children, and to ensure that we meet all statutory requirements related to matters of inclusion.
We plan our lessons with clear learning objectives. We take these objectives from the National Curriculum, the Wigan syllabus for RE and the NLS and NNS strategies. Our lesson plans contain information about the tasks to be set, the key vocabulary, the resources needed, and the way we assess the children’s work. We evaluate all lessons, so that we can modify and improve our future teaching. We promote cross-curricular teaching wherever possible and teach some subjects through a ‘Topic Approach’.
We deploy Learning/Teaching Assistants, SEN support staff, one to one workers and other adult helpers who work on a variety of intervention programmes. Sometimes they work with individual children, and sometimes with small groups. Teaching Assistants also assist with lesson preparation, classroom management and with displays.
All our teachers and teaching assistants reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, and plan their professional development accordingly. We do all we can to support our staff in developing their skills and professional development via courses chosen by staff, in and out of house training and regular INSET training. All staff have Performance Management targets on consistent themes throughout the school. We support staff progress and development through observations, monitoring, workbook scrutiny and Planning and Assessment file scrutiny and by talking to children. We ‘triangulate’ all this evidence to make our judgements on the standards of teaching and learning.
We conduct all our teaching in an atmosphere of trust and respect for all.
The Role of Assessment of Learning
- Autumn, Spring and Summer tests using SATs and Optional SATs papers and Teacher Assessments
- Regular tests for year 2 and 6 in preparation for SATs
- Weekly spelling tests in most years
The Role of Assessment for Learning
- Pupils assess their own learning
- Quality marking on a carousel basis, whereby pupils have the opportunity to respond to teachers marking.
- Opportunities for pupils to self and partner mark.
- Annotated and ability/age appropriate planning.
- Key vocabulary and learning objectives displayed.
- Formative assessment such as collection of written work, photos, recordings of music etc, particularly in the Foundation Stage
The School Learning Environment
Our classrooms are attractive learning environments. We ensure that all children have the opportunity to display their best work at some time during the year. The classrooms have displays relating to Literacy, Numeracy, Science and other curriculum subjects. We also use displays as learning prompts for the children to reinforce learning objectives and to enhance our VCOP strategies. Foundation Stage and KS1 classrooms have role-play areas. We believe that a stimulating environment sets the climate for learning, and that an exciting classroom promotes independent use of resources, which results in high-quality work by the children.
All classrooms have a range of dictionaries, reference books, dual text books in a variety of levels and languages, fiction and non-fiction books.
Positive statements are displayed around the school reinforcing our whole school Behaviour Policy and Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL).
Weekly themes, with relevant statements are displayed in both key stage halls.
Learning areas in the school include a library, two computer suites, a Special room, Nurture Room and various areas around the school.
Intervention Groups and Strategies
- Small group or individual support for children with EAL requirements (English as an Additional Language).
- Support for children who have been identified as underachieving or in need of ‘boosting’.
- IEPs (Individual Education Plans) for pupils with pupils with learning behaviour or emotional needs.
Intervention groups and strategies to underpin and support the above include:
- Springboard – for pupils with low attainment in numeracy.
- Wave 3 – for pupils with low attainment in literacy and numeracy
- EAL Group – for pupils new to speaking English and new to the British Education System
- Booster groups – for pupils in 6 in preparation for SATs.
- ALS, ELS and FLS – for pupils below expectations in Literacy.
Behaviour and Code of Conduct
Our Whole School Behaviour policy supports our intentions to promote excellent learning opportunities. (Please refer to Policy)
The Role of Governors
Our governors determine, support, monitor and review the school’s approach to teaching and learning. In particular they:
- Support the use of appropriate teaching strategies by allocating resources effectively
- Ensure that the school buildings and premises are used optimally to support teaching and learning
- Check teaching methods in the light of health and safety regulations
- Seek to ensure that our staff development and our performance management both promote good quality teaching
- Monitor the effectiveness of the school’s teaching and learning approaches through the school’s self-review processes, which include reports from subject leaders, the termly Headteacher’s report to governors, a review of the in-service training sessions attended by staff and lesson observations
The Role of Parents
We believe that parents have a fundamental role to play in helping children to learn. We inform parents about what and how their children are learning:
- By holding parents’ meetings to explain our school strategies for literacy, numeracy and SATs information
- By sending Newsletters to parents, which outlines the topics that the children will be studying during that term at school and gives information such as events, holiday dates etc.
- Explaining to parents how they can support their children with homework, and suggesting, for example, regular shared reading with very young children, and support for older children with their projects and investigative work
- By holding parents’ evenings for teachers to report to individual parents about their child’s progress
- By sending out our ‘Home-School Agreement’
We believe that parents have the responsibility to support their children and the school in implementing school policies. We would therefore like parents:
- To ensure that their child has the best attendance and punctuality record possible
- To ensure that their child is equipped for school with the correct uniform and PE kit;
- To do their best to keep their child healthy and fit to attend school;
- To inform school if there are matters outside of school that are likely to affect a child’s performance or behaviour;
- To promote a positive attitude towards school and learning in general;
- To fulfil the requirements set out in the home-school agreement;
- To encourage their children to take part in one of the many before and after school clubs operating.
Monitoring and Review
We are aware of the need to monitor the school’s Teaching and Learning Policy, and to review it regularly, so that we can take account of new initiatives and research, changes in the curriculum, developments in technology or changes to the physical environment of the school.
S. Santus M. Wilson 02/10
Review date 02/12