Rationale

We believe our role as teachers is to help each student to reach their full potential. We believe that students make the best progress as a result of the skills and craft of the teachers in front of them in each lesson. In planning, delivering and evaluating lessons teachers must be at all times be conscious of the impact they are having on students’ learning and in doing so must strive to ensure students are:

• Engaged and enjoying their learning
• Developing and displaying characteristics of self-discipline, determination, resilience and responsibility for their own learning
• Aware of their strengths and areas for improvement
• Able to communicate effectively and accurately
• Able to work independently and collaboratively
• Able to develop and refine skills of knowledge and understanding, analysis and evaluation
• Able to develop an enquiring mind about the world around them

Roles and responsibilities

Senior Leadership Team

• Create and maintain an atmosphere and environment in which learning and teaching can take place in a calm, orderly and purposeful way.
• Through effective line management, performance management and INSET support, develop and challenge teaching staff to strive to be the best that they can be as professionals.
• Develop and refine a broad and balanced curriculum provision to meet the needs of all learners.
• Ensure cross curricular strategies for Literacy, Numeracy ,ICT and SMSC are delivered effectively.
• Ensure effective mechanisms are in place to record, monitor and report on student progress and attainment.
• Ensure that programmes of intervention are planned and implemented to close gaps in achievement.
• Create and maintain partnerships with parents and families to improve student achievement and well-being.
• Ensure student achievement is fully recognised across the curriculum.

HOD

• Create and maintain an atmosphere and environment in which learning and teaching can take place in a calm, orderly and purposeful way.
• Support, develop and challenge teaching staff to strive to be the best that they can be as professionals
• Ensure cross curricular strategies for Literacy, Numeracy ,ICT and SMSC are delivered effectively
• Ensure QA is completed as per leadership and management file.
• Ensure assessment and feedback provides information to inform future planning and intervention
• Set priorities and targets for the department in line with the school improvement plan.
• Have a clear overview of the subject areas evidenced through self-evaluation. Ensure departmental improvement plans contain planned actions that are likely to address weaknesses.
• Through coordination of schemes of work and QA activities ensure that teaching staff plan and deliver effective lessons appropriate to all abilities within the teaching group including those with SEND and the more able.
• Through coordination of schemes of work ensure that activities and learning will take place in a way that is likely to engage students.
• Ensure that deadlines for examinations and internal CAPP are met by all teaching staff.

Classroom Teachers 

• Create and maintain an atmosphere and environment in which learning and teaching can take place in a calm, orderly and purposeful way.
• Plan and deliver effective lessons appropriate to every individual within the teaching group including those with SEND, the more able, Pupil Premium and other disadvantaged groups.  This will include making planned and effective use of additional staff and consideration and deployment of Quality First Teaching strategies (see checklist).
• When planning lessons consider “Planning from the Top”- think about what the most able within the group could handle and then differentiate downwards from this. This is more likely to result in appropriate challenge for the most able in the group and for other learners as opposed to the more of the same activities that sometimes occur in planning initially in the middle and then attempting to extend “upwards”.
• Consider the use of strategies to support growth mind set approach. This might be especially important with Y7 and Y8.
• Ensure that activities and learning will take place in a way that is likely to engage and challenge all students.
• Consider how lessons build on students’ current knowledge, understanding and skills, so that sustained progress can be made.
• Ensure that both teaching and learning includes a range of styles.
• Ensure that planning creates opportunities for developing literacy skills such as scanning text, evaluative writing, accurate spelling and grammar.
•  Ensure assessment data is used to plan effectively and support / extend where necessary.
• Ensure students are aware of their current levels of performance, their targets levels/grades and the steps they need to take to improve their current level of performance.
• Monitor students’ progress through frequent formal and informal written and oral feedback, AfL techniques (e.g. mini plenary) and maintain effective records following department and school marking policy.
• Ensure that there are high quality displays in the classroom that reinforce expectations and demonstrate success criteria and that classroom is well-ordered and tidy.

Guidelines for effective lessons

Start of lesson

• Wherever possible the teacher must be outside the door to welcome the students into the room in an orderly fashion.  Students must be in full uniform. If this is not the case, deal with this in a non-confrontational manner.  Bags and coats should be off the desk. Spend some time establishing these basic routines at the start of term so that students come to expect these things to happen.

• A register must be taken at the start of the lesson .

• Engage students’ interest with a warm-up or starter activity, aim to include as many students as possible .

• Homework, with reference to Show My Homework, should be written clearly on the board in good time for pupils to be able to copy into planners.  Where required teachers should write homework in planners or check it has been written in for SEN students. Homework must not be an ‘add on’; it must be seen as an integral part of the lesson; set and referred back to and its purpose to consolidate and extend student learning should be made clear.

• Keywords, if not part of starter activity should be displayed and explained with some care to all students.
• Students must be clear about how the present lesson links to and builds upon prior learning.
• Lesson objectives and outcomes should be displayed at the start of the lesson and explained with some care to all students ideally linked to NC/GCSE/GCE/BTEC/OCR levels and grade criteria. These should be measurable and make clear what new learning will have occurred in the lesson and what students will be able to do by the end of the lesson in line with their abilities.

Main lesson

• It is important in terms of creating pace, challenge and differentiation in lessons that a range of teaching and learning styles are deployed. Aim for an appropriate balance between teacher led explanation, whole class questioning, independent work, small group work.
• Please consider that students are unlikely to produce their best work if noise levels in classrooms become high.
• It is important that activities are clearly linked to the learning outcomes and that they cater for the range of abilities likely to be found in any teaching group including challenge for the more able and differentiated materials for students on SEND register, in particular those with low reading ages
• See the main part of the lesson as a series of episodes or chunks which are at each stage developing knowledge and understanding.
• In order to measure progress against lesson objectives and to identify understanding and areas of misconception think carefully and plan for the use of mini plenaries and the questions that might be asked at these points to check understanding, challenge misconceptions and highlight students who need support or extension.
• Build enjoyment and engagement into a lesson. Students will respond when you let your enthusiasm for your subject show.
• Ensure plenary is planned carefully in order to link to learning and progress.

• Use time to celebrate particular successes in lessons.
• Remind students of homework as appropriate.
• Establish an orderly end to the lesson before students are dismissed.  Establish routines for collecting books and equipment. Spend some time establishing these basic routines at the start of term so that students come to expect these things to happen.

Managing student behaviour – for detail see Behaviour Management Policy

• Set the school and your expectations clearly and frequently. E.g. what is the rule about talking when I am Robert?
• Students must see that if they disrupt learning there will be a consequence.
• Follow-up any poor behaviour in your lesson, with a meeting, phone call to parents, note in planner, EOC and/or sanction. It is very important to ensure there is a rebuilding of the relationship between student and the member of staff concerned, although line managers may be required to support in this.
• Use positive recognition as often as possible; thoughtful handling of students’ mistakes will boost self-esteem.
• Always be calm and non-confrontational; it is more difficult for a student to justify his/her rudeness if you are always polite. Aim to use the language of choice whenever possible.
• Remember teachers are the adult and the professional their actions and language can in most case make the situation better or worse.