Pedagogy & Rationale

Our Vision

Together we Learn, Grow, Achieve to build our future piece by piece.

We do this by

• Fostering a Culture of Talk
• Encouraging Excellence
• Advocating Global Citizenship
• Celebrating Diversity
• Promoting play, passion and joy

Lessons at Staple Hill typically follow our research-informed pedagogy, the ‘Learning Loop’, which are underpinned by our ‘Golden Threads’. See below for more information.

Background Knowledge

Background knowledge is the essential information that children need to prepare them for success in future learning. At the beginning of every learning cycle, teachers will plan lessons that contain essential content to support the children’s background knowledge. This enables children to have a solid understanding of the main ideas before learning new content.

Prior Knowledge

New ideas and concepts link back to the knowledge children know and remember from previously taught content. Recalling facts from memory allows children to link what they remember to the new knowledge they are being taught. Every lesson starts with a recap of previously taught knowledge where children can retrieve facts that link to the new learning.

New Knowledge

Teachers present the new learning to the children asking them to think about any previous learning that links to the new knowledge.

Steps to Success

The steps to success are always aligned to the learning outcome and support children to show what they have learned. The success criteria can be developed by the teacher or alongside the children in the lesson. They will then discuss how to be successful in their learning.

Modelling

A strategy to explicitly show the children how to complete a task linked to the new knowledge. This could take on different formats depending on the type of task being modelled. In maths, there could be an I do, We do, You do approach whereas in writing a modelled write might be more suitable. Please see individual subject frameworks for details of modelling in each subject.

Independent Task

Children to complete the task connected to the new learning. This should enable them to connect prior knowledge with the more complex new knowledge being taught. This could be an individual or group task that allows the children to consolidate what they have learned from the lesson.

Feedback

Feedback on action takes place throughout the lesson. Teachers constantly address prior knowledge and add to the children’s prior knowledge with the new knowledge being taught. During the task, teachers will circle the room to ensure there are no new misconceptions and children are being successful in their learning.

Reflection

This is a recap of the knowledge that has been taught and gives the children an opportunity to articulate what they have learned. This is another opportunity to address any misconceptions that children may have and children are then identified for interventions, pre teaching or re teaching depending on their need.

Golden Threads:

Adaptive Teaching

Teachers continually assess the strengths and needs of the children and adapt their teaching accordingly to ensure all learners can meet expectations. Adaptive teaching can be in the form of questioning, flexible groups, set scaffolds, modified language etc. Please see individual subject frameworks for details of adaptive teaching in each subject.

Active Participation

Means of participation are used throughout the lesson to ensure all children are engaged in the learning. This could be in the form of call and response, volunteers, cold calling, talk partners and stop and jot (Doug Lemov). Any one of these techniques can be used alongside the other to support engagement.

Oracy

Strategies for effective talk will be used throughout lessons to enable children to justify and explain their ideas whilst consolidating their learning. Techers will use tools such as the talk tactics, concept cartoons and different groupings to support oracy in the classroom. Children will be expected to contribute to the talk and will stand and deliver their answers and ideas to the rest of class.

Vocabulary

To increase children’s vocabulary in all areas of their learning we use two approaches; implicit and explicit teaching of vocabulary. Implicit teaching is where a word is discussed in the moment of reading and is defined and practised as the word is encountered in the text. Explicit teaching focusses on words that have been deliberately selected. These words are taught explicitly so the children are able to spell, define and use the word in the correct context.

Reading

Throughout all lessons children are reading. Texts have been chosen deliberately that are at the children’s reading level and support knowledge within the curriculum. Please see progression documents of each subject for examples of these.

Questioning

Questions are an extremely important teaching tool and are used throughout every lesson. During the planning stage they are carefully constructed by each team to stimulate discussion, enhance critical thinking and determine how children are thinking throughout the session. Alongside planned questions, teachers adapt and create new questions during the learning time depending on the children’s responses and any questions that may arise.

Interventions (pre-teach, reteach)

Children are placed into relevant interventions to target any gaps that have been identified through assessment and feedback. These interventions are short and explicitly teach a small step, often a key skill, to the children to enable them to progress in their learning. Some sessions will focus around pre-teaching and re-teaching the learning that is taking place in the classroom.

Metacognition

Metacognitive strategies are implemented throughout lessons to support children to become self-regulated learners. These can be seen in the form of questioning, explicit teaching, supporting children to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning and constantly modelling their thinking.