Whilst we are flexible in our lesson design and encourage departments to develop the most effective ways to teach their subjects, we achieve good teaching across our school through our learning cycle, whereby 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.

We recognise that carefully planned lessons are key to ensuring that pupils learn well. Therefore, we encourage teachers within departments to plan together to ensure that purposeful conversations take place around lesson content and sequencing. Teachers capture this on their medium-term plans which are designed to probe teachers to think about the sequencing of learning in all subjects and to consider how new learning will be transferred to pupils long term memories and retained over time.

We strongly believe in the importance of distraction free classrooms. When designing a learning environment, there is a balance between making the space feel welcoming, including helpful scaffolds (number lines, key quotes…) and reducing distractions. Fisher et al (2014) found that when the walls were less decorated more learning took place. This is not to say that classrooms should be bare, just that careful consideration needs to be made when designing any space in which learning will be taking place.

Our school is characterised by a respectful environment, where teachers can focus on teaching and students can focus on learning.

People are not all the same and will not all learn at the same rate unless provision is adapted in some way. Our aim is to provide equitable learning outcomes for all, this does not arise from equality in our provision. “Equality” in this context refers to teaching being the same for everyone. To achieve equity in outcomes, some individuals will need different support to their peers. This may be adapted or additional provision. The principles in our teaching and learning policy apply to everyone but, to achieve our aims as a Trust, there needs to be additional support available in our schools for those who need it if we are to achieve our mission of giving “every child the best possible start in life”.