Ludlow Junior School Teaching and Learning Policy 2012

Ludlow Junior School Teaching and Learning Policy 2012

Good Quality Teaching

As a staff we strive for good and outstanding teaching.

We believe important elements in achieving this are:

A positive working environment where children and adults have a positive relationship built on mutual respect
Work that is interesting and well matched to the children’s ability, with appropriate challenge
Assessment for learning constantly being used to refine the lesson and develop children’s understanding
A fast pace to learning. This means to the pace of learning, so that children are getting it and when they do teachers are moving on. It does not mean a fast pace to delivery or speeding through lots of activities unless they are developing children’s understanding. It also means that we are committed to active learning where children get to do things. We do not expect children to sit for very long without being engaged in an activity.
We expect children to be working towards becoming more independent learners.

As a school we have agreed non negotiables .

These are things that absolutely must be in place in every classroom.

Working walls for Literacy and Numeracy
Marking- All work should be marked and there should be evidence of some developmental comments, as appropriate and linked to learning
Planning – Daily plans should be available in class for Teaching assistants and visitors to be able to see what is happening and where additional adults are working
Weekly plans for Literacy and Numeracy, and Medium Plans for other subjects, should be uploaded onto the network regularly

Lesson objectives should be shared with the children for each lesson. This may be as a title for work (WALT) or in discussion at the start of the lesson
There should be Assessment for Learning (AfL) in every lesson
The school reward system of Merits, stars and stickers should be used generously.
Do-able targets, for writing, should be shared with children and children should know what they are.

These will be reviewed in summer 2013

WALT and WILF

WALT = We are learning to….. (the lesson objective)

WILF = what I’m looking for (the marking criteria which is usually presented in a grid for children and adults to use to evaluate the work. This may also be done as a whole class activity on the board at the start and end of the session.)

Clear Learning Objectives

We believe that in good teaching there is absolute clarity about what the learning objective is, for the teacher, additional adults and the child. As a staff we have looked at how to make them clear. Below are some examples:

WALT demonstrate our prior knowledge of playscripts (AfL)

WALT look at a page from a playscript and identify some of the main features.

WALT read and perform a playscript focussing on expression and action.

WALT identify verbs and adverbs within stage directions and collect adverbs.

Assessment

For full details please refer to the schools Assessment Policy.

We believe assessment for learning is key to high quality learning.

Should be part of every lesson and is just part of evaluating where the children are in their learning and how they have moved on.

Strategies that teachers use could include:

WILF
WILF linked to APP
Whiteboards – show me
Show me using digit cards, number/punctuation fans and other equipment
Talk partners
Questioning , particularly open questions and then probing
Senteo (especially for mental maths/ beginning a new unit to inform teaching/planning
Getting children to make up questions for other people to answer about what you have learnt
observations
Activate prior knowledge
What do you know?? What do you want to know?
Cover sheets in Literacy, maths , Science and Topic work -Topic starter sheets
Draw thinking
Post its
Group mind mapping (ideally on sugar paper)
Find a connection
Thumbs up, thumbs down or marks out of 5 (using fingers grade how they feel at the start and end of a lesson)
Self-evaluation
Traffic lights
Smiley faces
Sorting activities/games
Testbase questions
Fluid teaching groups/support
Marking

Lessons should be adapted to reflect the A for L.

This may mean:

Spending longer on one aspect of the lesson
Spending time with a child/children who have not understood
Changing groupings
Moving on more quickly
Or changing the lesson completely

The behaviour Spiral

As a school we have high expectations of the behaviour of our pupils. We strongly believe that a positive ethos is fundamental to this, however, on occasions this is not enough and sanctions need to be used.

Initially this is the class teachers responsibility

They can

Take playtime or lunchtime, give additional work etc.

Talk to parents

Set up an individual reward system to address specific issues.

Sometimes a child needs to be removed from the situation and each class has a partner class where children can go to work
If the problem continues then the child can be referred to the Department Head, this may be because they need to be removed immediately, or more usually because a problem had continued and they may monitor this through a behaviour book or call a meeting with parents. At this stage detailed records should be kept identifying the issues, strategies tried and outcomes
Deputy Head If this does not work the DH will become involved
Head teacher: If none of these strategies result in an improvement in behaviour then the Head will become involved.

There are a few children who have specific difficulties, such as autism, attention defecit hyperactivity disorder, who will need a behaviour plan which very carefully identifies strategies and additional rewards and sanctions.

Although the Head and Deputy do not become involved in the behaviour spiral until relatively late on in the process they both have a huge amount of experience in managing challenging behaviour and staff would be encouraged to talk to either of them , or the SENCO, for advice at any stage in the process.

Teaching Assistants

Teaching assistants play a vital role in the teaching and learning of our pupils

Their main role is to support the learning of pupils through :

1 to 1 support
Group support
Leading programmes such as Letters and Sounds and Springboard Maths
General class support
Checking Reading Diaries
Marking work for the group they have been working with
Doing some of the admin tasks for the teacher.

Resources

There are some resources available in classrooms. Other subject resources are located in practical areas. It is vital that all staff take responsibility for shared resources and that they are kept tidy at all times!

Maths – class resources should include materials which children can access freely to develop their understanding including number lines, whiteboards, calculators, etc.

Larger equipment such as capacity containers, shapes and scales are located in Corve.

Science

most equipment is located in science cupboards in Corve, this includes planning boards, which are differentiated for different ages and abilities.

Equipment specific to Science topics should be ordered at the end of the previous term.

Special Educational Needs

There is a cupboard holding resources for children with SEN, located outside the SENCOs classroom. Please talk to her for advice about suitable resources.

Design and Technology

Resources are held centrally in the ‘Studio’.

Consumables need to be ordered in the half term prior to the time when they will be needed.

History

History resources are collected in year groups to support topics that they study, they are stored in cupboards near to the classrooms. ????

Geography

Resources specific to year groups are stored close to the shared area close to the classrooms. Other more general resources, such as maps, globes and Atlases are stored in Corve. ??????

P.E.

There is an indoor P.E. store which hold indoor equipment and some outdoor equipment linking to P.E. units currently being taught.

The outdoor P.E. store holds larger and less frequently used items of equipment.

It is requested that children only collect and return equipment under supervision. If this is not possible then they should leave equipment outside the P.E. store and the teacher should put it away later. Keeping the P.E. Store tidy is a major issue and staff are asked to take particular care to be vigilant in this.

The Learning Environment

Over the last few years we have worked hard to develop and improve the learning environment, both inside and outside of our school. It is expected that within school

Classrooms and shared areas should be tidy and ordered so that children are trained in good routines, know where to find resources and expect to return them to the correct place.

To assist children in this and to encourage them to be more independent all resources should be clearly labelled and easy to access

Resources to aid learning, such as number lines, calculators, word banks etc. should be available for children to access at any time.

All working areas should be attractive, pleasant places to work and reflect the high expectations we have of our children.

Displays

As stated in the non-negotiables all classes should have a working wall for literacy and numeracy.

There should also be examples of finished work in classrooms as this helps value children’s work and shares expectations with all. This might be part of a display showing the process that children have gone through to develop the work, or it could be just the end product.

Study Visits

We believe that it is important for children to have a range of first hand experiences during their time in our school. Visits and visitors into school are an important part of this. When we remodelled our curriculum in 2010 we began with children’s interests and then looked at where these best matched National Curriculum objectives. Study visits and visitors should support and enhance these topics.

When a year group decides to go on a study visit they need to complete a planning form outlining details such as costing, staff medical needs etc. This should be submitted at least two weeks priorto the visit.

Over the last few years the governors have shown their commitment to the importance of such visits by assigning £1000 per year group, each year, for this purpose.

The Studio

The Studio was set up as a facility for Art and Technology. It was funded through extended schools for after school clubs, school use and community use. Any use needs to be booked out in the Studio Diary, located in the Office.

It must be tidied to a high standard immediately after use as it may be needed by other groups. The staff using it needs to ensure it is locked after use and that the key is returned to the School Office immediately.