Teaching & Learning

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At the heart of our school is our commitment to teaching and learning.

‘If we create a culture where every teacher believes they need to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better, there is no limit to what we can achieve’. Dylan Wiliam

Our teaching and learning framework is rooted in quality first teaching. It sets clear expectations for teaching and learning and establishes what is required in every lesson. The framework puts the needs of our pupils at the centre of everything we do. We have an individual and collective responsibility to deliver high quality lessons, where we meet the learning needs of all our pupils. 

We expect all students to receive a consistent approach to teaching and learning opportunities within our school. The framework sets out required expectations and entitlements. Every member of staff is a leader of learning in our school and the teaching and learning framework provides a guide to our work. All staff should implement the framework, as consistency of practice is vital to maximise success.

The framework has a shared language, so rationale and logistics are understood by all. 

"A clear and shared understanding of what makes great teaching is essential to improving the quality of teaching in classrooms and schools. Without this, different teachers will teach in different ways – some effectively and some less so...the quality of teaching will vary widely.

Without a shared understanding...you might know what you are trying to achieve, but you don't know how to achieve it."

Bruce Robertson – Teaching Delusion

Effective teaching and learning require an understanding of the learning process and is founded on an understanding of the learner. At the root of the framework is evidence informed pedagogical practice. Evidence helps us to identify methods that will have a positive impact on pupil learning and outcomes. The framework will provide our pupils with a range of skills which prepare them to take their place as global citizens and lifelong learners.

The ICHS universal principles of teaching and learning are at the core of our framework and are the key concepts from which our pedagogical principles derive. Each of the universal principles transcends and influences our ICHS pedagogical principles. See appendix A for an explanation and overview of each of the universal pedagogical principles.

The ICHS Universal Pedagogical Principles are:

  • Quality First Teaching (QFT)
  •  Behaviour for Learning
  • Assessment for Learning
  • Checking for Understanding
  •  Adaptive Teaching
  •  Think and Participation Ratio
  •  Metacognition and Self-Regulation
  • Literacy, Oracy and Numeracy

ICHS Pedagogical Principles

All lessons should feature the ICHS Pedagogical Principles. How these principles are delivered in the classroom will be decided by departments and will be subject specific. These principles are:

  • Purpose and sequencing
  • Retrieval Practice
  • Modelling and Scaffolding
  • Questioning
  • High Expectation and Challenge
  • Deliberate and Independent Practice
  • Feedback
  • Learning Behaviours