At Wrenn, we strive to ensure that ALL students experience an ambitious, broad and engaging curriculum that will enable them to achieve success. We are a truly comprehensive school, encouraging all abilities and aspirations. With this in mind, we are committed to delivering lessons that are inclusive by design with the understanding that good teaching for SEND, PP and EAL students, is good teaching for all.  Every student, every lesson, every day.

 We achieve this through two explicit strategies:

1. THE LEARNING CYCLE

Every member of staff follows routines (Standard Operational Procedures— ‘SOPs’) through the distinct phases within a lesson. These are routines that are our non-negotiable practices and consider all aspects of a lesson through the lens of behaviour and classroom management. Every routine is followed by every teacher and students are explicitly trained to follow these routines.

2. QUALITY FIRST TEACHING CHARTER: CURRICULUM DESIGN

The curriculum is designed through 5 key concepts. Our Quality First Teaching Charter, which is backed by educational research, outlines an approach centred around guided practice that leads to successful independent practice and has a focus on methods that support the retention of information in long term memory. 

We believe that at its heart, successful teaching is intentional, inclusive and prioritises strategies that secure the most successful outcomes for all pupils. Successful learning is incremental, desirably difficult and evidenced by changes to pupils’ long-term memory. Information from the classroom environment enters the working memory. Working memory has limited capacity and so some information is forgotten. Information which is learnt enters the long-term memory. Information which is explicitly taught in a well-sequenced curriculum and then revisited often is more likely to enter the long-term memory. This principle underpins the Wrenn Quality First Teaching Charter and our Learning Cycle.

 

HEALTHY STRUGGLE

Students at Wrenn are explicitly taught of the benefits committing to a ‘Healthy Struggle’ in their lessons. Teachers actively reinforce this message. Challenge in education is the provision of difficult work that causes students to think deeply and engage in healthy struggle. The skill of the effective teacher is to push students just far enough so that they are in a productive struggle, but not so far that they drown in a sea of panic.

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT

What we permit, we promote. If we tolerate low standards, we have established that this is the norm. Low standards make it unnecessarily difficult for colleagues across the school in delivering on their own high standards. Staff at Wrenn are supported to determine exactly what their expectations are for every aspect of their lesson:

For example:

· How to enter and exit the classroom

· How to listen when others are talking

· How to ask and answer questions

· How work should be completed

· How to respond to teacher exposition and feedback

· How workbooks and materials should be collected in and out

 

At Wrenn, we take a deliberate approach to this and teach students how to behave in each phase of their lessons.

An essential part of the teacher’s role is to create and maintain the conditions for learning to take place, therefore teachers are expected to take a highly intentional approach to classroom management. All classrooms are led by the expert in the room (the teacher). A culture of good behaviour in the classroom is built on routines, routinely enforced, consistent responses and positive relationships.

Our behaviour sanctions are centralised, backed by a considerable non-teaching pastoral team, so to allow teachers to focus on teaching.

At Wrenn, we invest in a high quality CPDL provision to ensure that every member of staff can reach their full potential, and in turn, provide our students with the very best learning opportunities. Teaching and Learning is our core purpose and therefore investment in this area is prioritised. 

Examples of this include: 

• Designated time for Subject Specific CPD – ensuring that teachers have the opportunity to develop their subject knowledge with their faculty teams 
• Regular whole school staff development and training 
• 15 Minute Deliberate Practice – weekly morning short, sharp sessions delivered by teachers from across the school allowing for consistent routines and collaborative good practice
• Consideration of career aspirations through performance appraisal and Career Stage Interviews – CPDL and facilitated opportunities offered wherever possible 
• Instructional Coaching (StepLab) from our CPD Team
• A full library of videos exhibiting our routines and other good practice
• Well – resourced CPDL Library and regular T&L Bulletins which is predominantly written by the wider staff
• Cross-trust collaboration, a shared curriculum and a collaborative approach to resourcing across departments to minimise workload and ensure equity of provision
• Commitment to developing our leaders through NPQ programmes 

 

We believe that every member of our school community should be a lifelong learner and we provide a bespoke CPDL and support programme to facilitate the delivery of Quality First Teaching.

At Wrenn, staff wellbeing is our top priority.  We believe that happy staff are better equipped to support the students in our care. We want every member of our community to feel a sense of belonging within the Wrenn Family. We achieve this by:

• Supportive Environment: We foster a positive and inclusive atmosphere. Staff are valued and respected and therefore we support each other whenever they need it.
• Centralised approach to behaviour:  We have a very clear set of expectations for students. If you need to remove a student from your lesson for not meeting these agreed expectations, they will go to our Reset space where they will complete work that is already set for them.
• A sensible approach to absence: We understand that family comes first. We agree sensible absent requests for personal matters such as taking dependents on hospital visits or watching your own child’s school play.
• Professional Development: CPDL is a priority to us so that staff can continue to develop their skills. We support staff career aspirations through a variety of training and experiences.
• Sensible approach to Marking and Feedback: Curriculum Leaders calendar what work in the curriculum is marked and how, with emphasis on Whole Class Feedback wherever possible. We only mark what supports student progress and informs Teaching and Learning.
• Recognition and Appreciation: We regularly acknowledge and celebrate staff achievements and contributions through things like StepLab Shout-Outs and a follow up treat, colleague to colleague ‘Wrenn Recognition’ cards, articles in our T&L Bulletin, a T&L Community WhatsApp group and lots of opportunities to ‘win’ an early finish when engaging with professional development.
• Highly Visible SLT Team: A member of SLT is on visibility during every period roaming the site, visiting classrooms and supporting with behaviour.
• Open Communication: The Principal and the wider SLT team have an open-door policy. We encourage staff to come to us with any concerns so that we can support where we can. We have a staff forum and regular staff surveys to garner views and act on these as appropriate.

"Wrenn is an excellent school.  We have the highest expectations and support our students in embracing the school ethos, both academically and pastorally.  Staff are supported throughout their career and are provided with opportunities to develop their craft.  I am looking forward to one day sending my own children to Wrenn"

Middle Leader

‘’Wrenn is a community where colleagues assist each other and offer the best they can to their students’’

Associate member of staff

"Wrenn does an exceptional job in supporting its staff in all areas of school life, from encouraging professional development to enabling us to provide the best educational experience for our pupils. It is great to be part of the Wrenn family! My confidence in the quality of education is so strong that I chose to send my own children to Wrenn"

 

Middle Leader

"Wrenn is a family, a supportive nurturing environment which has enabled me to develop my career. I have been supported in both the training of my PGCE and my career as an ECT. I have felt that colleagues are kind, approachable and encouraging in my early stages of the teaching world’’

Classroom Teacher

"Wrenn is a community where colleagues assist each other and offer the best they can to their students."

Associate member of staff

• Equality and Diversity monitoring form recruitment
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