Teaching and Learning

We define learning by Dan Willingham’s definition: ‘a change in long term memory’. Students need to be able to retain and recall knowledge so that they are then able to apply it in different contexts. Students learn when they connect new knowledge to what they already know. We recognise that genuine progress will not be seen during a lesson but must be seen and observed over time, as Robert Bjork says, “Performance is measurable but learning must be inferred from performance: it cannot be observed directly.”

* Classroom practitioners have the autonomy to deliver lessons in a manner that they see fit in order to best support the students to achieve genuine learning and enhance their enjoyment of the subject.
* Alongside this, we also recognise the importance of the evidence that is available regarding the most effective classroom practices and teachers will be expected to use this evidence to inform their lesson delivery and long-term planning.
* Retrieval practice, such as quizzing, is paramount to ensuring students retain new knowledge and should be used as part of effective classroom pedagogy.

Intervention:

* The majority of intervention will come at classroom level with teachers delivering high quality lessons that are responsive to students’ needs.
* We recognise the importance of reading and vocabulary acquisition to support all groups of students to be able to access the curriculum and, therefore, explicit vocabulary instruction will be incorporated into lessons and form time.
* Formal intervention sessions will be delivered using Lexonik and Lexonik Leap for targeted students to improve their reading comprehension and/or understanding of phonics.