Greenway School

Teaching and Learning Policy

Teaching and learning is at the heart of this school’s business. The policy document will be regularly discussed, both formally and informally, during the course of the school year. Most importantly, the document will be updated in the light of experiences, feedback and new initiatives.

The advance in medical science, in particular the ability to image the brain, has given educators a deeper understanding of how a person learns. The As a consequence a heightened awareness of preferred learning styles and multiple intelligences has better informed educators.

These generic elements will underpin the delivery of any lesson.

· The big picture

· Connecting learning

· Stating the outcomes

· Chunking the lesson through the use of brain breaks or diffusion activities

· Demonstrating learning

· Review

Over the course of one or more lessons the same content will be presented in different ways to ensure that a child’s preferred learning style VISUAL, AUDITORY, KINAESTHETIC or MULTI-SENSORY is accessed.

Grouping of children

Children will be grouped on ability in Language, Mathematics, Science and Spelling. Grouping will take place within a year group and sometimes across two year groups. For some lessons, e.g. Physical Education classes within a year group may double up. Whole year grouping will also occur for such things as drama productions or design technology workshops.

The school will pursue a ‘buddy mentoring’ system so that children can support each other’s learning. This system will involve children within the same ability group e.g. mathematics’ lessons and across different year groups e.g. paired reading.

The ‘buddy mentoring’ system is also used very effectively in supporting a child’s emotional intelligence.

Deployment of staff

Teachers will be asked to deliver aspects of the curriculum both to their designated year group and to other year groups. The school is targeting Group 1 and Group 3 children to provide a knowledge rich teacher to deliver the given subject. The school will continue to provide specialist support in French, Music, SEN, ICT and PE.

Classroom teaching assistants will provide support for

· Named children

· Groups of children

· ICT

· Administration

· Other duties linked to workforce remodelling

Trainee teachers will work alongside one or more teachers. The school will continue to promote both team teaching and ‘observatories.’ Both of these will ensure that best practice can be disseminated to/accessed by all staff.

Classroom organisation

Creating and supporting the learning environment is critical in optimising learning opportunities. The teacher will consider

· Specific curriculum matters

· Use of space

· Use and access to resources

· Pupil movement

· Display

· Pupil responsibility

· Negotiated learning

The school promotes the use of conferencing seating and encourages a ‘tidy base-camp’ approach in all teaching classrooms.

Outcomes and responses to learning

The introduction of an ALPs’ (accelerated learning in Primary Schools) approach and the substantial investment in ICT has enabled the school to cater more readily for different learning styles. The school has moved significantly away from the use of printed worksheets.

Specific outcomes for the children will be that their individual learning styles will be better matched to the teaching provided. The school will also utilise the technology to ascertain the views of children e.g. activote on what works well for them.

Specific outcomes for teachers will be the need to develop proficiency in

· Delivering content through an ALPs’ approach

· Interactive whiteboard technology

These are two of the three key components of CPD in Greenway. The third being ‘work with trainee teachers’.

Teachers will also find reduced workload over time once they begin to operate the ALPs’ approach in automatic mode and the sharing of quality interactive resources.

Links with other schools will also provide a further enrichment outcome for both children and teachers.

Specific outcomes for other staff, e.g. teaching assistants and cover supervisors will be

· Understanding of the ALPs approach

· Raising of specific skills e.g. ICT, counselling, supporting learning

Enriching and enabling activities

The school provides an environment in which children can learn and play in a structured, safe and challenging way. A child’s perception of self, his/her social, emotional and physical development is intimately linked to his/her cognitive development. The school will provide opportunities for all children, at some time during their four years, to engage in

· Educational visits

· Residential trips

· Extra-curricular activities

The first priority before participation in any of the above will be health and safety requirements. Risk assessments are carried out on the activity itself and then participation by individual children is considered. An individual risk assessment would be conducted in the case of educational and residential visits in a case where a child is de-selected.

Children will also benefit by the

· Use of outside agencies and visitors

to support specific children or initiatives, or to enrich learning experiences.

Relationships

The raising of self-esteem (emotional intelligence) underpins the ALPs’ approach.

· How we feel is how we perform.

The school will provide a positive learning environment where children and adults have no fear of failure, are risk takers and are not exposed to ridicule by their peer group.

The teacher will secure the positive learning environment by challenging the children to achieve their full potential. In its simplest form children need to know their current level of performance and what their target is. Praise and celebration is used to highlight ‘what is expected’ and ‘what can be delivered’ by each and every child.

Teachers, other staff and parents will also expect and receive the most supportive relationships from the school.

Appendix I

We retain:

Appendix II

	Create the Supportive Learning Environment		Sustain the Supportive Learning Environment
Create the Supportive Learning Environment
		Sustain the Supportive Learning Environment