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Learning and Teaching Policy

East Hunsbury Primary

School

Learning and Teaching

Policy


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1. Introduction

1.1 At East Hunsbury Primary School, we believe in the concept of lifelong learning, and in theidea that both adults and children learn new things every day. We maintain that learningshould 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 understandingnecessary to be able to make informed choices about the important things in their lives. Webelieve that appropriate teaching and learning experiences help children to lead happy andrewarding lives.

2. Aims and objectives

2.1 We believe

Our school should be a stimulating and welcoming community in which allchildren and adults feel valued, able to contribute and where relationshipsare based on mutual respect.

Children should be active participants in the learning process and beprovided with experiences that maximise their involvement, autonomy andindependence.

We should be an inclusive community where pupils are offered opportunitiesto grow together, learn together, laugh together and celebrate together.

We should equip our children with the skills they need to be happy andsuccessful in life, nurturing in them a true and lifelong love of learning.

We are responsible for the development of the whole child. We recognisediffering needs and endeavour to meet these needs, maximising theopportunities for children to explore their physical, social, emotional andintellectual potential.

We should be a community that respects and celebrates diversity.

3. Effective learning

3.1 We recognise that pupils learn in many different ways, and respond best to different typesof input (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic) and teaching styles; we must therefore deliverteaching in different ways to address the needs of all our learners. We take into accountmultiple intelligences and learning styles when planning our teaching.

3.2 We ensure the best possible environment for learning by developing a positive atmospherein which pupils feel safe and feel they belong, in which they enjoy being challenged, but inwhich they enjoy learning, and know that they will succeed. We provide 'brain breaks' atvarious points in the lesson to refocus children's attention and make sure that the childrenhave access to drinking water.

3.3 All teaching will be structured to maximise learning opportunities, and lessons will beplanned in accordance with the following principles:

the teaching should build on previous learning ;it should give pupils the 'big picture' of the lesson;


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the teacher should explain the learning objectives and where appropriate clearsuccess criteria;the lesson should be presented in a range of styles;it should allow opportunities for the pupils to build up their own understanding throughvarious activities;

it should have built-in AFL opportunities including questioning, feedback to thechildren, celebrating success and reviewing learning strategies; AFL should be used before, during and after teaching to ensure teaching is effective,dynamic and able to be adapted in direct response to the learners success ordifficulties;the teaching should indicate what the next step in the learning will be;Marking and feedback whether verbal or written should effectively support learningand teaching and enable pupil progress.

3.4 We offer opportunities for children to learn in different ways. 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 including use of Interactive whiteboards, DVDs, the internet, workstations ;using the outdoor environment and visits to places of educational interest;creative opportunities including dance, drama, music and art;debates, role-plays and oral presentations;designing and making;

participation in physical activity.3.5 We encourage children to take responsibility for their own learning, to be involved as far as

possible in reviewing the way in which they learn, and to reflect on how they learn whathelps them learn, and what makes it difficult for them to learn

3.6 We encourage pupils to reflect on what they have learnt and their next steps and/or howthey can improve.

3.7 The children are encouraged to talk about their learning, their progress and their next stepsat our Teaching and Learning Conferences.

4. Effective teaching and learning for all

4.1 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 ofpersonal achievement. We use the school curriculum plan to guide our teaching. This setsout what is to be taught to each year group. Teachers create mid -term and short termplans in their Year Group teams with clear progression and differentiation based oneffective AFL.

4.2 Teachers make ongoing assessments of each child's progress, and they use thisinformation when planning their lessons. It enables them to take into account the abilities ofall their children. Our prime focus is to develop further the knowledge and skills of all ourchildren. We strive to ensure that all tasks set are appropriate to each child's level of ability.

When planning work for children with special educational needs, we give due regard toinformation and targets contained in the children's Individual Education Plans (IEPs)/


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provision map. Teachers modify teaching and learning as appropriate for children withdisabilities. We value each child as a unique individual, and teachers provide equalopportunities in accordance with legislation covering race, gender and disability. We willstrive to meet the needs of all our children, and to ensure that we meet all statutoryrequirements related to matters of inclusion.

4.3 We set academic targets/ trajectories for the children in each year, and we share thesetargets with children and their parents/carers. We review the progress of each child atregular intervals and set revised targets/ trajectories. Pupils are involved in teaching andlearning conferences with their parents at least twice per year. Year leaders create actionplans to maximise pupil progress and accelerate the progress of underachieving pupils.Learning Ladders have been created for Mathematics and Writing to make progressionclear.

4.4 We plan our lessons with clear learning objectives and success criteria. We take theseobjectives from the National Curriculum, the national literacy or numeracy strategies, ourMaths and ECaW Learning Ladders. Our planning contains information about the tasks tobe set, what we want the children to achieve and opportunities for assessment. We

regularly evaluate lessons, so that we can modify and improve our future teaching.4.5 All of our adults establish good working relationships with all the children in the class. We

treat the children with kindness and respect. We recognise that they are all individuals withdifferent needs, but we treat them fairly, and give them equal opportunity to take part inclass activities. All of our adults follow the school policy with regard to behaviour andclassroom management. We set and agree our understanding of the golden rules withchildren. We praise children for their efforts and, by so doing, we help to build positiveattitudes towards school and learning in general. We insist on good order and behaviour atall times. When children misbehave, we follow the guidelines as outlined in our behaviourpolicy. Any children having difficulty have individualised behaviour improvement plans. Weconduct all our teaching in an atmosphere of trust and respect for all.

4.6 We try to ensure that all tasks and activities that the children perform are safe. When weplan to take children out of school, we follow a strict set of procedures to ensure safety: thevenue is visited, risk assessments are completed, and various permissions are obtained.We inform parents or carers, and obtain their permission, before the visit takes place.

4.7 We deploy teaching assistants and other adult helpers as effectively as possible.Sometimes, they work with individual children, and sometimes they work with small groups.Our adult helpers assist with the preparation of resources for effective differentiation inlearning and teaching. They support introductions, activities and plenaries, undertakeobservations to support assessment and support teaching and learning through recordkeeping, annotation and feedback to teachers. Teaching Assistants also supportinterventions at Wave 2 and Wave 3. We employ Senior Teaching Assistants to support

pupils and colleagues with a focus on Nurture, Behaviour, SEN and LanguageDevelopment.

4.8 Our classrooms are attractive learning environments. We change displays regularly so thatthe classroom reflects the children s learning and achievements . We ensure that allchildren have the opportunity to display their best work at some time during the year. Wealso use displays as learning prompts for the children e,g. Working Walls. We believe thata stimulating environment sets the climate for learning, and that an exciting classroompromotes independent use of resources, which results in high-quality work by the children.


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4.9 All of our teachers reflect on their strengths and areas for development and plan theirprofessional development accordingly. The school uses the Quality Framework forLearning and Teaching to support staff development and improve the quality of learningand teaching. The school has an increasing number of learning coaches to ensure theframework is used effectively to celebrate good and outstanding practice and provideopportunities to reflect and improve. The Teaching Standards are also used to supportPerformance Management. Staff have whole school and individual CPD opportunities toimprove their practice. Staff with particular expertise lead CPD to support their colleagues.

5. The role of governors

5.1 Our governors determine, support, monitor and review the school's approach to teachingand 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;seek to ensure that our staff development and our performance management bothpromote good-quality teaching;monitor the effectiveness of the school's teaching and learning approaches throughthe school's self-review processes. They have an understanding of the QualityFramework for Learning and Teaching, visit the school for discussions with subjectleaders, monitor the School Improvement Plan, attend LA School Effectivenessmeetings, discuss IP reports, Headteacher Reports and attend an annualPerformance Pack presentation;Governors Report on their visits at Full Governors Meetings and keep visit records;Governors visit records and meeting minutes reflect their support, monitor andchallenge roles.

6. The role of parents and carers

6.1 We believe that parents and carers have a fundamental role to play in helping children tolearn. We do all we can to inform parents and carers about what and how their children arelearning:

by holding parents' sessions to explain our school strategies for Literacy, Back toSchool Maths Workshops, demonstration lessons, Open days and Drugs educationpresentations;by sending information to parents and carers, at the start of each term and on theschool website, which outlines the curriculum areas that the children will be studyingduring that term at school;by holding two Open Evenings/Teaching and Learning Conferences for pupils andtheir parents to share pupils work, their progress and next steps;by sending parents and carers annual reports in which we explain the progress madeby each child, and indicate how the child can improve further;by explaining to parents and carers how they can support their children withhomework through newsletters and on the website.by consulting parents on how we can improve our communication and theirunderstanding and responding to this where we canby providing access to My Maths, Mathletics, Spellodrome, MathsWatch andsuggesting useful websites;

inviting parents to our Open School Events and celebrations and encouraging parentsto help in school when they can.


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6.2 We believe that parents and carers should work in partnership to support their children andthe school in implementing school policies. We would therefore like parents and carers:

to ensure that their child has the best attendance record possible;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'sperformance 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 ensure that their child understands and adheres to our school Behaviour Policywhich will help us ensure that pupils can learn in a safe and purposeful learningenvironment.

7. Monitoring and review

7.1 We will review this policy every two years, or earlier if necessary.

Signed: Alastair Brenan

Date approved by the Governing Body: Thursday 24 th January 2013

Date of Next Review: January 2015