The Federation of the Church Schools

of Shalfleet and Yarmouth

Achieving Together for a Brighter Future

LEARNING & TEACHING

A STATEMENT OF POLICY

Approved by	TG/CW
Portfolio	Standards
Approved on	Autumn 18
Review date	Summer 19
Review Cycle	1 Year
Policy Type	Non-Statutory
Ratified/FGM Date

Signed___________________________ Date ___________________

LEARNING & TEACHING POLICY

Introduction

At the Federation of the Church Schools of Shalfleet and Yarmouth we believe in the concept of lifelong learning and the idea that both adults and children learn new things every day. We maintain that learning should be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone; it should be fun. Through our teaching we aim to 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

To ensure that all our pupils are provided with rich and varied learning experiences which lead to them developing their skills and abilities to equip them for adult life.

This policy guides what teachers and support staff do, how time is managed, the organisation of the classroom and what our school does to create an effective learning environment.

Planning the curriculum

A long term plan has been drawn up to provide a full coverage of subjects.

Medium term plans are produced by the staff and they show which topics will be taught.

Short term plans are produced by class teachers to enable them to deliver what is in the medium term plan.

Quality of Learning

We acknowledge that people learn in many different ways and we recognise the need to develop strategies that allow all children to learn in ways that best suit them. We take into account these different forms of intelligence when planning teaching and learning styles.

We offer opportunities for children to learn in different ways. These include:

Investigation and problem solving

Research and finding out

Group work

Pair work

Independent work

Whole class work

Questioning

Computing

Educational visits

Creative activities

Sporting activities

Assessment for Learning

Assessment exists to help the teacher to help the child. It ensures more effective teaching by providing the evidence for closer matching of tasks to the child’s needs. It assists the children by providing them with an indication of what stage they have reached in the learning process. It helps to identify future planning and teaching strategies. It also helps us to recognise and move on from success.

Assessment for Learning:

Focuses on how children learn

Is central to classroom practice

Is a key professional skill

Promotes self esteem

Affects learner motivation

Helps learners discover how to improve

Encourages self-assessment

Quality of Teaching

Teachers should:

Seek to inspire pupils

Challenge pupils and have high expectations

Plan to use a variety of teaching methods which take into account different learning styles

Plan the use of resources including additional adults

Give clear and specific instructions and explanations

Follow the Federation policy with regard to behaviour

Praise pupils to build a positive attitude towards school and learning

Assess pupils to inform future planning

Structure of lessons:

Lessons will start promptly

Resources should have been planned and prepared before the lesson

The lesson will normally be linked to previous learning or teaching

The teacher will use enabling questions to motivate, stimulate, assess and keep pupils on track

The lesson should have a good pace and structure to it, activities will vary to respond to children’s different ways of learning

Usually each lesson will have a plenary which will reinforce the learning objective

Lessons will always have success criteria which is set with the children when appropriate

Lessons will support and extend or deepen the learning through split introductions and cut away groups

Classroom environment

Our classrooms are attractive learning environments. We seek to use displays to deepen learning and promote our pupils as independent learners. Displays should take the form of learning walls as well as celebrating the work of our children.

The role of parents

We believe that parents have a fundamental role to play in helping children to learn. We do all we can to inform parents about what and how their children are learning by:

Holding parents evenings

Providing information to parents at the start of each term in which we outline the topic that the children will be studying during that term

Providing reports to parents in which we explain the progress of each child and indicate how the child can improve further

Explaining to parents how they can support children with their homework