St Philip Neri Policy for Teaching and Learing

St Philip Neri RC Primary School

Teaching and Learning Policy

ST PHILIP NERI RC PRIMARY SCHOOL

TEACHING AND LEARNING POLICY

Vision, Values and Ethos

At St Philip Neri we aim to promote a learning community based upon the Gospel values of love, trust and respect, where the achievements of everyone are recognised and celebrated.

‘Living and Learning Together with a Joyous Heart.

Amen

Aims of the policy

This policy will guide and support staff in order to….

Improve the quality of teaching and learning

Focus learning and improve progress and attainment

Raise the professional status of teaching and the teachers

This will be achieved by providing ….

Whole staff targets for teaching

A common vocabulary

A tool for appraisal

An outline of relevant skills from which to focus staff development.

By providing this outline of teaching and learning philosophies, the staff can work as a team to improve the quality of teaching and learning at St Philips.

St Philip’s teaching and learning philosophy

We are a learning school and we value this as an experience for both adults and children. At St Philips, we have key notions on the development of children’s learning. We believe that:

Teaching and learning is a cycle:

Teaching facilitates learning, learning invites higher order teaching, and teaching promotes more complex learning. In this way teacher and pupil strive to achieve a deeper understanding.

We learn together:

At St Philips, we try to maximise the potential of all pupils by increasing the probability that learning will take place.

We believe that….

All pupils have the capacity to learn

Where teacher-pupil contact takes place there are gains in learning

Pupils are not empty cells waiting to be filled with knowledge but require experiences and situations which allow social and intellectual development

Understanding is not the same as knowing

Understanding requires performance

The performance of understanding is best achieved through activity

Part of our learning as staff revolves around certain practices.

As teachers we….

Are aware of our own strengths and weaknesses and show a concern to develop them further

Work as a member of a team, planning co-operatively, sharing information, ideas and expertise

Are aware and make use of the expertise of other members of staff

Are open to new ideas

Consult and plan with appropriate learning support staff

Understand the school’s organisation and management

Are confident in the support network of the school

Meet with parents to discuss the progress of individual pupils

Ensure that short and long term evaluations take place as part of the planning process

Are willing to be involved in further professional development

Teachers will ……

plan carefully for all pupils
deliver purposeful lessons linking them to real-life situations and problems
build on links with other subjects
include open-ended questions and challenges in our lessons
check on what pupils already know and help tem to learn more
deliver lessons with pace and challenge
share the next steps for learning with pupils
share with you what you are going to learn and how you will know if you’re successful
expect you to work hard and do your best
assess your learning every day and use this to help you move on to the next stage
make sure that in lessons use different methods to help pupils to learn
work closely with other adults to help pupils in their learning
try to make lessons interesting and exciting

Other considerations for effective planning

Planning should:

Focus on pupil learning & assessments

Promote continuity and progression

Provide a variety of tasks to support pupils’ learning

Ensure that differentiation is accounted for in learning and resource requirements

Clearly identify learning outcomes. Success criteria and related assessment opportunities

Make clear organisation required in order to meet planned outcomes

Show how homework is used to extend understanding

Planned learning experiences should ensure that children have appropriately balanced opportunities to develop knowledge, skills and understanding through:

Social interaction and autonomy –thinking

negotiation

role-play

discussion

investigation

presenting

Research and presentation - reading

writing

explaining

hypothesising

handling artefacts

ICT

Self-assessment reflection

evaluation

target-setting

Assessment including self-assessment should be an integral part of the planning process – it should inform future planning and build on pupils’ experiences.

Developing the learning environment

Improving the range, quality and number of learning opportunities

Through linked units – including

relating work to real life

enhancing inter-subject understanding

providing stimulating and inspiring projects

At home with parents – including

setting and marking high quality homework

updating of new curricular targets

two parents’ evenings with information about targets and levels

literacy and numeracy workshops

family learning sessions

spelling booklets & multiplication challenges

Through our displays – including

Literacy, Numeracy and science boards in each classroom

interactive displays on corridors

Through learning first hand (visits and visitors) - including

all year groups to have a termly visit and or visitor related to a linked unit

emphasis on investigation and experiment

bringing in artefacts and examples from home

experiencing a residential visit in Key Stage 2

Through paired and group work – including

paired reading between year 6 and reception

emphasis on investigation and experiment

bringing in artefacts and examples from home

Through planning and assessing for learning opportunities – including

learning opportunities and success criteria clearly identified on planning

evidence of continuous assessment taking place in lessons and informing planning: use of whiteboards, informal checks on learning, discussions with pupils

setting of individual targets – reviewed regularly

identification of ‘next steps’ for learning and discussion with children

marking for learning – comments indicating what children need to do next

opportunities for children to respond to teacher’s comments

time for reflection and discussion of learning strategies

‘talking learning’ on a regular basis

Through problem – solving and real-life examples including

giving relevant real-life examples during unit introductions

explaining the purpose and reason for learning

problem-solving in lessons – using real-life examples where possible children bringing their own examples

Through creativity, drama and self-expression including

role play and improvisation to stimulate discussion and empathise with individuals and circumstances

visual and expressive arts to represent events in different ways

using different mediums for representing learning and valuing these

Through extra – curricular opportunities including

real-life scenarios

those that enrich the curriculum

those that reflect the children’s interests

those that engage children in a range of healthy activities that will encourage a healthy life style for the future

an emphasis on enjoyment

Developing the teaching environment

Improving the quality of and opportunities for teaching through:

Providing support for teachers to meet their performance management objectives

INSET course

resources

advice from colleagues

non-contact time

Providing professional development opportunities

in-house

LA and externally provided

Ensuring the necessary resources are readily available to:

support subjects/topics/units

support classroom management

support independent learning

support preparation and planning

support the assessment process

Protecting the work-life balance for teachers by:

monitoring of number and duration of meetings

use of IT to reduce workload

creative use of INSET

monitoring the number of observations

careful timing of events across the year

Ensuring that PPA time takes place

carefully considered plans in place to enable best value and quality

ensuring reliability

agreed methods of planning, recording and reporting

Ensuring that there are a minimum number of interruptions to classes during the school day

agree less disruptive methods of passing on information

agree ground rules for when it is reasonable to interrupt and when not

Providing an exciting and stimulating curriculum map

have established a considered approach to the curriculum which makes teaching interesting and fulfilling

develop the curriculum in consultation with staff to consider what is best for this particular context

have established ways of sharing expertise between staff and cutting down on overlap

Requesting only necessary planning

have agreed approaches to sharing planning enabling those needing access to it to see it without duplication

have opportunities established for sharing and co-operating in the production of planning

have advice available from subject leaders to support planning

Ensuring that additional adult support is available when necessary

through the effective deployment of TAs

through the use of volunteers

through team-teaching and paired teaching.

Target – setting

Teacher and pupil should work together to:

Set clear and achievable targets

Set short and long term targets

Consider current achievements and levels and how they can be built upon

The role of pupils in effective lessons

Pupils should:

Keep on task

Know what they are doing and why

Organise themselves and take responsibility for their behaviour and learning

Think, talk, listen, make decisions, enquire/investigate, ask questions, hypothesise

Interact with the teacher and other pupils

Work in a range of groupings (individual, pairs, groups, classes)

Evaluate their own work and that of other pupils, using the given success criteria

Set themselves targets for future learning

Enjoy themselves

As learners pupils will:

participate in paired talk
stay on task
follow agreed classrooms rules, rewards and sanctions
complete homework on time
read and reply to teachers’ comments
take responsibility for their own work e.g. editing
be ready to answer
feel comfortable and confident in asking for help
help others if needed

Teacher – pupil relations

Teacher and pupil should work together and learn together

Pupils should learn in a safe and caring environment.

At St Philips, we will employ a range of strategies to help us understand the needs of individual pupils and the factors which affect their learning.

We will try in our teaching to develop positive relationships with our pupils, based on mutual respect and a genuine interest in them as individuals.

Date for next review April 2016