Learning and Teaching
Policy
Draft – March 2010
Learning and Teaching
Key principles
 There is no known ceiling to achievement – intelligence can be
developed
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Every student has the right to be successful and the ability to achieve
 Each student must know what to do in order to improve and how to do
it - high expectations on their own are not enough
 Consistency of experience is fundamental. We are a team and
consistency makes us greater than the sum of our parts
 Our job is to create learning, not just to process and record what we
find
 Students should be taught how to learn and how to reflect and improve
on their learning
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Teachers must create and maintain a purposeful learning environment
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Clear structured lessons promote learning
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Learning objectives must be shared and reviewed
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Achievement must be recognised and rewarded
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Underachievement must be challenged, not processed
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The ECM agenda underpins everything that is written in this document
Learning and Teaching
Learning and teaching are interactive. It is important that we teach
students how to “learn to learn” in order to become independent
learners and develop skills for life-long learning.
Learning to Learn
It must be made explicit to students what they need to do to be
successful in their learning. This could include:
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Holding supportive discussions with students about learning
 Visual and verbal explanation of topic/task e.g.: by teacher,
between students, by students to the whole group, and students to
the teacher
 Providing understanding, reading and thinking time
 Using scaffolding (writing frames, sentence starters) and
modelling (sharing students’ work, working through examples,
guided writing, sharing planning and demonstrations)
 Developing effective learning and study skills (e.g. revision
techniques, recording notes, summarising) and sharing of good
practice (i.e. student to student, student to teacher and teacher to
student)
 Giving formative feedback (oral and written) on how to improve
by teacher and/or student to inform curricular target setting
 Holding regular review sessions to assess progress towards
targets
Learning objectives must be shared and reviewed
If students are to take responsibility for their own learning, they need to
know what they are expected to learn and how they can achieve it.
Providing objectives allows students to engage with the process of
learning.
Teachers must make the learning objectives explicit to all students. This will
usually happen at the beginning of the lesson but could happen at other
stages in the lesson. This can be done in a variety of ways:
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By writing or projecting them on the board
Orally
Written by the students in their books
Printed on handouts
Teachers must make it clear to students how they will be supported to
achieve the learning objective. This could be done by:
 Telling the students the structure of the lesson (what will be happening
in the lesson)
 Showing what learning activities the students will be doing in the lesson
e.g. through a visual timetable or visual schedule, indicating how long
each activity will take, and ticking off once complete.
 Explaining verbally or representing visually how the task relates to the
learning objective
Learning objectives should be revisited throughout and at the end of the
lesson. This can be done in a variety of ways, including:
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Students reviewing their learning against the lesson objectives
The teacher using differentiated questioning
Students recording 2 key points (individually or in pairs)
Teacher recap
Longer-term objectives across a topic, unit or series of lessons should be
made clear and reviewed. Strategies could include: 
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Using learning logs
Concept tick sheets (what I know, what I have learned)
Debates
Mind/ concept mapping
Providing a topic overview
The Structure of Lessons
Clearly structured lessons promote learning.
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Lessons must have a clear start. This could include starter activities
such as brainstorms or demonstrations or a review/recap of previous
learning, or specific learning of key vocabulary that is needed to access
the lesson
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Lessons must have a clear finish, which will usually include a review of
learning objectives (see above) but may also include questioning to
correct misapprehensions and a preview of the next lesson.
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Longer-term objectives can also be reviewed in this section of the
lesson making reference to the final anticipated outcome.
Activities should be varied, purposeful and appropriate to meet the needs of all
students
Students learn in different ways. Recognising this and planning for it
provides stimulus and is inclusive.
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A range of teacher/student-led and student-centred activities should be
used
Teachers should use a range and variety of teaching strategies to take
account of the learning needs of all students
Appropriate visual support should be provided for learning activities.
This is particularly important when supporting students with language
and communication difficulties
Students should have the opportunity to work in a variety of ways, such
as individually, in pairs, small groups, whole class situations, and have
learning opportunities to understand how to work effectively in different
situations and contexts
Differentiation is a powerful tool for student learning in the classroom
and at home. This should include, where appropriate:
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differentiation by outcome
differentiation by task
 differentiation by question
 developing and adapting resources to both support and extend
students taking into account all students’ needs
 the use of student groupings
Achievement must be recognised and rewarded
Student achievement must be celebrated. This can be done in a number
of ways:
 Use of the school’s reward system
 Highlighting an individual’s or group’s success
 Letters of commendation to parents/carers/students
 Displaying students’ work (on display boards, on plasma screens)
 It is important to recognise and reward appropriate effort rather than
innate ability.
Underachievement must be challenged
All students are capable of achievement and underachievement.
Identifying and challenging underachievement is the responsibility of all
teachers. High expectations are not enough on their own; action is
needed to ensure they are met.
Identification
Teachers should familiarise themselves with relevant data as it becomes
available and use this to inform expectations and monitor and record
progress.
Challenge
Teachers should:
 Talk to students about their learning in order to establish reasons for
any underachievement. Targets are usually negotiated and must be
reviewed. Progress must be recognised
 Use appropriate rewards when individual achievement or behaviour is
realised or improved
 Use appropriate sanctions when work or behaviour fails to meet an
acceptable standard.
 Give regular short term achievable meaningful targets and learning
goals
 Ensure schemes of work and assessment tasks are appropriate,
accessible, rigorous and sufficiently challenging. Schemes of work and
assessment tasks should be reviewed and amended as appropriate
Teachers should ensure a purposeful learning environment is
maintained
The way in which teachers manage the classroom will have a significant
effect on students’ learning and behaviour. Students learn, develop and
progress in a structured and stimulating environment.
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Punctuality and regular attendance are essential for staff and students
 Students must enter and leave the classroom in an orderly way at the
instruction of the teacher
 Strategic seating can challenge underachievement and promote
learning. Teachers must have a seating plan for every class and this must
be continually reviewed and assessed
 There should be stimulating displays which should be changed
regularly
Assessment
Assessment must be formative, used to inform learning and to monitor
the progress of learners
Assessment for Learning (AfL) strategies must be used to encourage all
students to ‘learn to learn’ and become independent learners.
The AfL Strategy underpins our assessment practice. The effective
assessment and marking of work are fundamental to successful
learning and teaching. All assessment information should be used
formatively.
Formative Assessment
The aim of formative assessment is to give students clear guidance
about how to improve their work and how they have been successful.
All student work should receive formative comments, either in writing or orally.
Students should be informed what they have done well and how to improve
their work.
Opportunities must be given for students to act upon the guidance. This could
be done in a variety of ways, including:
 Starter or plenary activities
 Students setting their own targets by themselves or with the help
of peers/teacher
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Discussions with students
Peer assessment activities
Peer teaching
Redrafting of work
A formative comment should:
 be concise and accessible for students
 highlight achievement indicating areas that they have been
successful in and how improvement can be achieved, giving one or
two specific targets
 encourage and support the individual needs of students in a
constructive way
 encourage students to take ownership of their learning
 refer to the mark scheme where relevant, especially on
accredited courses
Inclusion
Every student is entitled to a positive meaningful learning experience.
Every teacher and all support staff have a responsibility to meet the
educational needs of all students
Every teacher is responsible for promoting Literacy, Numeracy,
Citizenship, Life Skills and ICT to enhance learning and teaching
Every student has the right to receive the highest quality education. It is
our collective responsibility to ensure that all their educational needs
are met.
Different groups of students have specific needs, which the school
needs to support in a number of ways
Ensuring inclusion involves:
 Setting and explaining suitable differentiated learning challenges
 Responding to students’ diverse learning needs
 Working to overcome potential barriers to learning
 Setting parameters that ensure students feel safe and valued in their
environment whether in a pastoral or academic sense, inside or outside
the classroom
 All staff being responsible for implementing the Every Child Matters
agenda in all elements of school life
Functional skills and Personal Development
Functional skills and Personal Development underpin learning across
the curriculum. These must be addressed in all groups, in all subject
areas and tutor times as and when appropriate.
(To be completed and to cover areas such as Opening Minds competences
and Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills)