Our approach to teaching and learning

Our Commitment 

We are committed to high-quality teaching and learning that makes learning challenging, engaging and rewarding for every child. In support of this commitment, we believe in working with families and the wider community to support the development of well-rounded young adults. 

Our goal is to develop life-long learners and thereby transform the lives of the students within our schools. Staff set challenging goals and targets which are then clearly communicated to our children. We wish to equip our students with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to: develop as capable and confident young adults, be able to make informed choices; make a positive contribution towards society in the future.

Our Aims and Objectives

The focus and shared commitment of the Trust is excellence for and from all.  We recognise that high quality teaching and learning has a long-term impact on a young person’s life chances and is particularly true for young people coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.  Consequently, we will prioritise ongoing professional development to ensure that all our staff are exceptionally well equipped to provide teaching and support which is well matched to the needs of our students.

We recognise that delivering a rounded and balanced education involves children, families, staff, governors and the community working together.

Working in partnership, we aim to:

• Provide a safe, supportive, happy and healthy environment, underpinned by high expectations and which values all members of the school community;

• Recognise the needs and aspirations of all individuals by providing opportunities for all students to make the best possible progress and attain the highest personal achievements;

• Ensure that students can develop as literate, numerate and technologically competent individuals, within a broad, balanced, exciting and challenging curriculum;

• Provide students with rich and varied experiences so that they are able to acquire, develop and apply a broad range of knowledge and skills;

• Offer a curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, physical, mental and emotional development of all students; 

• Develop individuals with lively, enquiring minds, good thinking skills, self-respect, self-discipline and positive attitudes;

• Encourage all students to be enthusiastic and committed learners who take increasing responsibility for their own learning;

• Develop students’ confidence and capacity to learn and work independently and collaboratively;

• Encourage students to respond positively to the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of a rapidly changing world;

• Encourage students to value the diversity in our society and the environment in which they live by being tolerant, respectful and empathetic;

• Develop students who are active and responsible citizens, contributing positively to the community and wider society.

We are committed to our vision: Excellence for and from all

An Excellent Education    

An excellent education stems from:

1. A curriculum which understands place and:

   1. is broad and relevant

   2. is aspirational 

   3. is effectively structured and sequenced

   4. ensures success for all

   5. ensures that impact is evident in progress and outcomes

2. High quality professional learning to equip staff to use evidence-informed pedagogy effectively 

3. High levels of interaction for all students

4. Encouraging students accepting responsibility for their own learning

5. Praise and encouragement to motivate and inspire students

6. Focused assessments used to set ambitious targets, tracking progress and attainment

7. Targeted interventions when required 

8. Purposeful learning environment both inside and out of the classroom

9. Effective pastoral support

A harmonised and localised curriculum 

We aim to provide students with a broad, relevant and localised curriculum; one which is tailored to engage the community whilst also meeting the objectives set out by the National Curriculum. We provide our students with a wide range of experiences in order to equip them with an understanding of the world in which they live and with the cultural capital they need to become educated and useful citizens. Personal and shared values and character skills are developed across the curriculum and through explicit teaching in order to prepare students for the next stage of their learning. In order to prepare students for life in modern day Britain, we actively promote the British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. 

We believe that effective learning takes place when students are actively involved in their learning, underpinned by high quality relationships, and where there are opportunities to talk both imaginatively, expressively and to explain or clarify thinking. 

DET Curriculum Principles

• The Bigger Picture

Lessons follow a narrative and form part of a coherent map which is effectively sequenced and planned.  As a result, students are supported to build schemas in their long-term memory to help retention and support application of knowledge.

• Knowledge Rich

The subject curricula combine a rich blend of knowledge and the related disciplinary skills. Acquiring fundamental knowledge and being able to quickly access relevant information from memory are prerequisites for deeper learning and reasoning. 

• Literacy Development

Literacy is at the heart of the curriculum and students’ ‘disciplinary literacy’ is prioritised. Vocabulary rich lessons ensure students have the opportunity to develop their vocabulary (including tier 2/3 vocabulary) , extending knowledge and helping them to become confident communicators and learners. Students have the opportunity to read appropriately complex texts, break down complex writing tasks, combine writing instruction with reading and use structured talk in order to increase students’ understanding across the curriculum.  Where necessary students are provided with individual literacy support in support of the aim for all to leave school with the ability to comprehend and communicate effectively through reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.

• Enrichment

Varied experiences enrich lives, engage imaginations, stretch skills and allow students to think creatively and independently.  We recognise that reading is an essential tool in developing layers of meaning and knowledge - simply put, read more and know more. 

Early Years Foundation Stage

We will provide our youngest children with an enabling environment which allows them to explore, investigate and learn through a wide range of first hand and multi-sensory experiences both indoors and out. We follow Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage which has three prime and four specific areas of learning:

The Prime areas of learning

• Communication and language

• Physical development

• Personal, social and emotional development

The specific area of learning

• Literacy

• Mathematics

• Understanding the world

• Expressive arts and design

Teaching and Learning Pedagogy

Our teaching and learning pedagogy speaks to Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction.  

In addition to Rosenshine, our pedagogy includes:

• Deliberate practice both produces and relies on mental models and mental representations to guide decisions. These models allow practitioners to self-monitor performance to improve their performance 

• Retrieval Practice: Short, low-stake tests and quizzes strengthen students’ long-term ability to remember key concepts or information: 

  • Multiple choice questions

  • Short answer fact questions

  • Short problem-solving

  • True/false questions

  • Labelling diagrams

  • Image recognition

  • Recitation of quotes or definitions

  • List creation

• Interleaving

  • To help students retain knowledge in the long-term, teachers can interleave (alternate) practice of different types of content and space practice over time, with content being reviewed over weeks or months. This does not necessarily work in all subject areas; most research has been in Mathematics

  • Material is more easily learnt when broken apart by intervals of time

Target setting and tracking

• Individual student progress is tracked, along with that of cohorts and specific groups throughout the school. Strengths and areas for development are identified to inform planning and to implement focussed intervention programmes as appropriate;

• Student progress meetings are held termly to identify strengths/weaknesses in performance and/or identify CPD requirements

• Student voice is central to target setting

• Families receive regular updates on their child’s progress and targets are shared so that they can provide support at home

• Student progress is monitored through focused lesson observations, formative and summative data, student voice, book looks 

Assessment, recording and reporting

• Teachers use assessment to:

• determine students’ prior learning

• check on students’ understanding

• address misconceptions

• inform planning and modify teaching

• Sound knowledge of every student’s current level of understanding is a key element of teaching and learning at DET. Teachers are expected to plan lessons based on students’ prior knowledge and throughout the learning process, assessment is required to ensure that the expected level of progress is made

• Assessment For Learning (AFL) is fundamental to formative assessment and a range of AFL strategies are used in the classroom

• Learning objectives are made explicit and shared with the students

• Success criteria (when used) are agreed by the students and teacher and self/peer assessment is used against this

• Questioning is planned for and used to share knowledge as well as assess students’ understanding

• students receive written and/or oral feedback so that they are actively involved in their learning - please see the feedback policy for further details.

Intervention

• It is expected all students within DET schools will make at least good rates of progress through excellent teaching. Intervention happens first and foremost within the classroom. However, for some students this approach may not be sufficient and these students, at various stages, may benefit from additional small group or 1:1 intervention programmes to enable them to make the progress required to achieve their full potential;

• Teachers use their knowledge of students to effectively and carefully plan an intervention programme which has been discussed and agreed with SLT. When considering students for interventions, a wide range of assessment evidence is drawn upon to support judgements made about student progress.

The Learning Environment

• We believe that a classroom environment should support and enrich the learning of all children. Therefore, we provide students with a stimulating environment which promotes independence and sets an optimum climate for learning.

• We provide an ‘enabling environment’, both indoors and outdoors (where appropriate) for all of our students. The learning environment is designed to encourage students to move freely throughout the school, learning to develop good levels of personal responsibility and integrity

Supporting students’ wider needs (SEND and inclusion)

• Please refer to individual schools SEND Information Report and Inclusion Policies

• Schools that are able to identify barriers to learning beyond the classroom and address them are in a strong position to provide personalised learning for individual students. We aim to establish good relationships with all our families and to provide an environment which is open to dialogue.

• Students learning English as an Additional Language are catered for through high quality teaching which takes into account the child’s first language and makes learning accessible through visual and auditory aids.

Monitoring, evaluation and review

All our teachers reflect on their strengths/areas for development and their professional development needs are planned for accordingly. We provide internal and external guidance to support our teachers in developing their skills, knowledge and understanding so that they can continually improve their practice. We are aware of the need to review the school teaching and learning policy regularly so that we can take account of new initiatives, changes in the curriculum and assessment, developments in technology or changes to the physical environment of the school.