POWERFUL TEACHING AND LEARNING AT RICHMOND PRIMARY SCHOOL
The Teacher
Powerful teaching inspires students to want to learn, to feel excited about learning and
imbues them with a wide range of skills and strategies that they will be able to use and
extend over a wide range of topics.
For powerful teaching to occur teachers at Richmond Primary School will:
• Develop a positive rapport with all students and involve them in decisions about their
learning and class rules.
• Set high and clear expectations of student learning and behaviour and be consistent
in these expectations.
• Support students to succeed by stating an explicit learning focus at the beginning of
each lesson, using a common ‘learning’ language from Prep-6, providing ongoing
and regular feedback and encouraging students to reflect on their learning.
• Foster a sense of wonder in their students by promoting imagination and creativity.
• Differentiate learning tasks according to an individual’s needs, learning styles and
interests.
• Be explicit in teaching and modelling the school’s values and classroom and
playground expectations.
• Work in Professional Learning Teams to plan learning sequences that are relevant,
engaging and at the point of need for all students.
• Share practices, adopt new learning strategies, participate in Professional Learning
and observe each other to continually improve their teaching
The Student
Powerful learning is learning that is meaningful because it is linked to everyday life and
subjects that are close to the needs and lifestyles of the students. Powerful learning ensures
that students will be able to examine their thinking and thinking skills through their learning.
Students learn to take risks with their thinking and clearly define their ideas and thoughts
with their peers and teachers.
At Richmond Primary School students will be encouraged to:
• Respect the rights of everybody to learn.
• Have input into their learning by active participation, selecting some tasks, taking
risks, posing and answering questions and seeking feedback.
• Link their learning to their prior knowledge and the real world.
• Self monitor their learning and set achievable learning goals.
• Cooperate and collaborate with peers to achieve learning goals.
• Respectfully question and discuss the thoughts, ideas and opinions of each other
and the teacher.
• Reflect on their learning to help set new learning goals.
The task
For powerful learning to occur, students need to engage in tasks that support the transfer of
learning , and to manipulate ideas and information to develop broader conceptual growth.
Powerful learning tasks at Richmond Primary School are:
• Linked to VELS.
• Well planned, engaging, purposeful and linked to a learning focus.
• Inclusive to cater for student diversity.
• Challenging and offer some choice for the student.
• Differentiated at the point of need.
• Directed toward student interests and their prior knowledge.
The Learning Environment
The classroom environment has a powerful impact on student learning..The teacher
stimulates interest and curiosity in learning. The teacher supports students to identify what
they know and what they need to know
In classrooms at Richmond Primary School you will observe:
• A safe, supportive and positive learning environment.
• The school values and classroom expectations displayed.
• A well resourced, stimulating area.
• The learning focus for the lesson clearly written on the board.
• Students engaged in tasks at their own level.
• Students discussing their learning, expressing opinions and sharing knowledge.
• A respectful learning environment where students are relaxed yet focussed,
industrious and excited about what they are doing.
• Students asking questioning and reflecting on their learning.
• Teachers giving targeted feedback on student work to help them progress.
• Success being celebrated by teachers and students.