ACORN FREE SCHOOL
Teaching & Learning Policy
Date of Issue: Sept 2014
Date of Review: Sept 2015
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ACORN FREE SCHOOL
Teaching & Learning Policy
Date of Issue: Mar 2013
Date of Review: Mar 2014
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Introduction
In line with the culture and ethos of our school, we will endeavour to provide our students with the necessary
skills, knowledge and understanding to make informed choices about important aspects of their lives.
We believe in lifelong learning and the idea that both adults and students learn new things every day.
Learning will be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone and we believe that appropriate teaching
and learning experiences will help our students to lead happy and rewarding lives. This policy covers:
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Aims
Beliefs
Ethos
Physical Environment
Classroom Management
Student Care
Effective Teaching and Learning
Role of Governors
Role of Parents
Aims
The governing body has agreed the following aims to ensure that all students receive an outstanding
educational experience that will enable them to take full advantage of future learning and employment
opportunities.
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To develop each young person’s enjoyment of learning and desire to achieve.
To raise standards of achievement in all aspects of student development through the school.
To develop and communicate an ethos of high expectations throughout the school community.
To provide a rich and varied learning environment, that allows students to develop their skills
and abilities, working towards achieving their full potential.
To develop skills that enable students to deal with challenges and change.
To develop a self-confidence and a feeling of self-worth.
To provide students with a purpose and context for their learning.
To promote a caring and considerate attitude throughout our school community.
To foster a tolerance of the opinions and beliefs of others.
To engender social skills that enable students to work and communicate effectively with others.
To promote independence.
To have effective systems of communication with parents and carers and facilitate appropriate
access to staff who make time to hear their concerns.
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To celebrate student’s own and their peers achievements and attainments within and outside
school.
Beliefs and Values
The following beliefs and values stimulate teaching and learning and will be promoted by all members of
staff.
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Quality learning is a result of quality teaching, which is itself informed by regular assessment,
joint target setting and oral and written feedback.
Quality learning is enhanced by a variety of teaching styles and strategies.
Students and teachers value learning, the development of learning skills and the acquisition of
knowledge.
To learn, students must be involved in their own learning and understand what they need to do
to improve.
All members of staff will have high expectations of students in terms of their learning.
All students will be encouraged to develop enquiring minds.
Students will be encouraged by all staff to become increasingly independent learners.
Parents and carers have a crucial and constructive role to play in developing their child’s
learning.
Ethos
At Acorn Free School we will endeavour to create a positive context for learning through the following.
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Fostering a caring and considerate environment where all students feel safe.
Providing good role models through the way that we interact with all adults and students, at all
times, and in all places.
Developing learning environments in which students feel valued, respected and safe.
Creating an environment where it is acceptable to make mistakes and be challenged by learning.
Involving all students in the way the school is run, through school council, in order to make them
feel that their views and opinions are valued.
Providing exciting opportunities for learning, which enrich the curriculum and include afterschool activities, visits, input from the wider community (including experts in many fields) and
productive engagement with local business and commerce.
Physical Environment
The environment the students work in plays a crucial role in the way they learn. We strive to provide a
stimulating environment conducive to learning. This is achieved by:
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Governors fulfilling their responsibility towards improving and maintaining the whole school.
Accessing a range of appropriate technology.
Creating defined learning areas and keeping them tidy.
Organising environments and learning areas which set an example for students.
Creating environments that embody a range of displays that are bright, stimulating and celebrate
students’ work, as well as promoting learning.
Encouraging drinking water in the classroom, promoting nutritious meals and encouraging
healthy snacks during breaks in order to contribute towards good physical and mental health.
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Management of Learning
All staff will establish good working relationships with all students. We foster a culture of fairness and respect
where all members of the community are valued and take pride in their school. All our staff will meticulously
follow the policy with regard to rewards and consequences.
We acknowledge that well managed learning areas are characterised by a range of other features and
behaviours which we strive to achieve.
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Established daily routines and ways of working.
Students being given a sense of responsibility.
Students being given equal opportunities to take on roles and responsibilities.
Students having access to a range of resources which are well maintained and well presented.
Teachers and support staff being well prepared at all times through detailed lesson planning,
including the organisation and preparation of teaching aids and resources.
Student Care
High quality student care enhances learning and underpins high levels of achievement and attainment.
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All adults take responsibility for maintaining standards of behaviour for all students in the
school.
All adults are expected to insist upon and maintain high levels of good behaviour when moving
around the building.
The standards expected within the school should be maintained when engaging in all
enrichment activities outside of school.
Anti-bullying – Our Principles (see anti-bullying policy for further information)
Bullying not only causes distress but can also seriously impair a student’s progress. Bullying is the considered
use of aggression with the intention of hurting another person. Bullying will not be tolerated.
Bullying can be
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Emotional
Physical
Racist
Sexual
Homophobic
Verbal
Cyber
being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting (eg hiding books)
pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence
racial taunts, graffiti, gestures
unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments
because of, or focusing on the issue of sexuality
name calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing
all areas of internet (e.g. email, chat room) misuse
Mobile threats by text messaging and calls
Misuse of associated technology ie camera and video
All governors, teaching and non-teaching staff, students and parents should have an understanding of what
bullying is and be prepared to accept that there is a policy of zero tolerance of such behaviour.
All governors, teaching and non-teaching staff know what the school policy is in relation to bullying and follow
it when instances of bullying are encountered.
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Students and parents should be assured that they will be supported when bullying is reported.
We have a variety of methods to help prevent bullying including
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Writing a set of rules.
Signing a behaviour contract.
Having discussions about bullying.
Exploring bullying and its impact through citizenship based learning activities.
Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning
We believe that students learn most effectively when:
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the teacher provides an atmosphere where they are prepared to take risks;
there is thorough preparation;
learning activities build upon previous learning;
student’s personal interests are built upon;
there is purposeful application of knowledge to different situations;
teaching is innovative;
shared learning objectives are understood by the students;
opportunities exist to review and reflect on the learning;
there are clear expectations of what students are expected to achieve;
appropriate pace and challenge is built into the activity;
thinking time is provided before answering questions;
students’ understanding is developed through active, practical and first hand experiences; and
students are engaged in individual and collaborative talk, exploration, questioning, prediction
and investigation, so that the lesson makes a difference.
When there is close liaison with parents/carers
When teaching, we focus on motivating the students and building on their skills, knowledge and
understanding of the curriculum.
We base our teaching on our knowledge of the students’ level of attainment. Our prime focus is to develop
further the knowledge and skills of the students. We strive to ensure that all tasks set are appropriate to
each student’s level of ability (including gifted and talented).
When planning work for students with special educational needs we give due regard to information and
targets contained in the students’ Individual Education Plans (IEPs). We have high expectations of all
students, and we believe that their work should be of the highest possible standard.
Intended learning outcomes are communicated clearly and in the most appropriate way to students so that
they know what outcomes are expected.
Cross curricular links are made where possible to encourage students’ learning to be focussed and
meaningful.
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Through our planning we offer opportunities for students to learn in different ways. These include:
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investigation and problem solving;
research and information gathering;
group work;
paired work;
independent work;
whole group work;
use of ICT;
open-ended, thought provoking, challenging questions;
visits to places of educational and vocational interest;
creative enrichment activities;
debates, role-plays, performance and oral presentations;
designing and making things;
participation in P.E / outdoor education
through the deployment of specialist staff and the engagement of visitors to school
We acknowledge that people learn in many different ways and we recognise the need to develop strategies
that allow all students to learn in the way best suited to them:
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Visual
Auditory / Orally
Kinaesthetically
We involve students in the learning process and encourage them to develop self-assessment skills so that
they can take greater responsibility for their learning. We make regular evaluations of lessons so that we can
modify and improve our teaching and also inform future planning. Continual assessment and the
development of Individual Learning Plans ensure that members of staff are aware where each student is in
their learning and where next to take them. Effective marking, verbal feedback and recording provides
invaluable guidance to the students on how well they are doing and what they need to do in order to improve.
We set academic targets for students in each academic year and we share these targets with students and
their parents / carers. We review the progress of each student regularly and set revised, challenging but
achievable targets half termly. We recognise that targets must be ambitious and not merely forecasts based
on where a student is.
Every student is made aware of their target and how they can improve.
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The Role of Governors
Our governors are proactive in strategic development and are actively involved in both understanding and
monitoring the progress of students. In particular they:
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Monitor how effective teaching and learning strategies are in terms of raising attainment.
Ensure that staff development and performance management policies promote outstanding
teaching.
Monitor the effectiveness of the teaching and learning policies through our self-review
processes. These include reports from external advisers and the termly Headteacher’s report to
governors.
Ensure that safeguarding procedures are fulfilled at all times by all adults in school.
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Ensure that that school buildings and premises are best used to support successful teaching and
learning.
Monitor teaching strategies in the light of health and safety regulations.
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The Role of Parents and Carers
We believe that parents and carers have a fundamental role in helping students to learn. We do all we can
to engage with and inform parents and carers about what and how their son or daughter is learning by:
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Sending information at the start of each term in which we outline the projects that the students
will be studying during that term.
Weekly newsletters and information on the school website.
Sending annual reports in which we explain the progress made and indicate how further
improvement can be achieved.
Explaining to parents how they can be supportive.
Inviting parents into school to discuss progress on at least two occasions per year supplemented
by ad hoc discussions as required;
We believe that parents and carers have a crucial responsibility to support the school in
implementing school policies.
We would like parents and carers to:
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Feel welcomed and valued as partners in their child’s learning.
Promote a positive attitude towards school and learning in general.
Regularly support students with their projects and investigative work.
Ensure that the student has the best attendance record possible.
Inform school if there are matters outside of school that are likely to affect performance or
behaviour.
Fulfil the requirements set out in the home/school agreement;
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Teaching and Learning Policy – Annex A
Guidance for Staff
Learning is at the heart of everything we do. It is an active process, done by people, not to them. Learning
involves making personal sense of information, making connections between what we already know and new
inputs and reflection on the process.
Our ‘learning framework’ is a flexible template in which the boundaries between phases will be blurred. Great
learning always has and always will involve spontaneity, creativity and flexibility. This guidance sets out our
expectations for teaching and learning at Acorn Free School.
The Acorn Free School Learning Framework
Meet and Greet
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Smile
Ensure a calm and orderly entry with clear and established routines.
Create a safe, relaxed and purposeful atmosphere.
Staff will have prepared the classroom to ensure a prompt start to learning and will arrive before students to
the classes. We will be welcoming, friendly and model the behaviour we expect of the students. We will let
the students know that we are pleased to be teaching them. A calm and orderly start with clear and
established routines helps create a good learning ethos and establish high expectations. All classrooms need
an atmosphere that is conducive to learning and an enjoyable place to be.
Set the Scene
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Encourage the students to have the confidence to ask questions
Stimulate interest, curiosity and provide a sense of challenge.
Get the students thinking as soon as possible - set a challenge, pose a problem, ask a thinking
question.
We will stimulate interest, curiosity and provide a sense of challenge from the start. We should start the
lesson with something that will make them curious and interested and get them thinking as soon as possible.
’Hook’ the students into your lesson. Avoid low challenge gap fills, anagrams & word searches.
Context
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Make a link to prior learning.
Tell the students what they will be learning and why.
Tell the students how they will demonstrate the new learning – differentiate the learning
outcomes and use success criteria.
Tell the students why it’s important
We will remind the students of their last lesson and where this lesson fits in to the project or programme
they are studying. We will avoid questions that require just a simple recall of last lesson but instead ask
searching questions to check their understanding or engage them in an activity that links to prior learning.
Students should be able to make the links between previous and new learning.
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We will inform our students what they will be learning and why and we will differentiate the learning
outcomes. To do this we will routinely share and discuss an objective and related outcomes that clearly show
where the lesson is going and, if possible, make these visible throughout the lesson to facilitate regular
reflection. Learning outcomes will be differentiated and, where appropriate, these outcomes will be linked
to levels and grades. We will ensure that these outcomes are understood and students are learning at an
appropriate level of challenge.
We use success criteria so that the students know how they will demonstrate the new learning “To be
successful you will be able to…” “To show you know, you will…” “Remember to…”. Success criteria for the
learning outcomes secure progression in specific aspects of the subject and are linked to subject standards.
Future feedback, oral and written, will relate to these learning outcomes and success criteria. Students
should be able to talk about what they are learning, as opposed to simply describing what they are doing.
New Information
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Instruction, demonstration - present in short chunks and use variety to cater for individual
needs.
Modelling processes or using exemplar material where appropriate.
Use questions to check understanding and promote thinking, all students will be encouraged to
answer questions when confident enough to do so.
Our lesson planning will be linked to a current assessment of students’ prior learning and will be
differentiated, so that it consolidates, builds upon and extends learning for all our students. Differentiation
may occur in a variety of ways: Outcome, task, choice, questions, time, grouping, support, resource.
When providing students with new information, we will present, instruct, demonstrate and/or model in short
bursts and will use variety to cater for individual needs and help sustain students’ concentration and
motivation.
We will use well matched resources and appropriate technology to enhance or support the learning. We will
ask directed questions to ensure that all students participate whilst also promoting thinking. Our questioning
will be used to gauge students’ understanding and reshape explanations and tasks where this is needed. We
will avoid overly long whole class question and answer sessions.
To support the students’ understanding of what constitutes quality work we will model or use exemplar
material, possibly showing examples from other students to exemplify specific aspects of the learning.
Reference will be made to grade and level criteria. We will ensure that students know how well they are
doing and are provided with clear detailed steps for improvement.
Making Sense
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Make the learning active. Get the students to do something with the new information.
Where appropriate use different environments to make the learning relevant e.g. outdoors.
Differentiate the learning to ensure it is pitched at the right level to challenge students of
different abilities.
Encourage student independence and self-reliance. Get them to take responsibility for their
own learning and develop the habits of good learning.
Use questions to check all students’ understanding, promote thinking, target interventions and
reshape tasks and explanations to improve learning.
Encourage students to ask questions to help clarify their own learning – try to create an
environment in which it is OK to get it wrong.
Encourage students to collaborate with each other and verbalise their thinking.
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Students should assess their own and others learning.
Provide specific feedback on their progress.
Provide choice (free or guided), if possible
Effective use of all available assessment data will ensure that learning is sufficiently differentiated to
challenge students of different abilities.
Learning will be active and we will provide learning opportunities that encourage student independence and
self-reliance, ensuring that they take responsibility for their own learning, show initiative and develop the
habits of good learning. We will provide resources to support this independence.
We will use questions to check all students’ understanding, promote thinking, target interventions and
reshape tasks and explanations to improve learning. We will use traffic lights, mini whiteboards or thumbs
to gain responses from all the student’s and give thinking and rehearsal time to ensure better answers.
Students will be encouraged to ask questions to help clarify their own learning and we will be responsible for
establishing an environment in which it is OK to get it wrong.
Student collaboration will be encouraged and taught as it is talking rather than listening that develops
understanding.
Students should, at appropriate times, assess their own and others learning. We will help students to
understand and apply success criteria so that they know where they are in their learning and where they
need to go next to be successful. We may involve the students in establishing success criteria and actively
involve them in determining their progress, through peer and self-assessment. Students though will be given
sufficient time to complete something before they discuss and evaluate it. We are aiming for students to be
able to independently identify their achievements against agreed criteria.
We will provide specific feedback on their progress to help them even further, identifying strengths and
diagnosing next steps to improvement. This will take the form of oral and written feedback which will be
based on the learning objective and related outcomes/success criteria. Students should know what they
should be trying to achieve, how they currently compare with this target and know how to achieve this
standard. Any suggestions on how to improve should, therefore, be focused on how best to close the gap
between current performance and the desired target performance. Written feedback will clearly identify
where the student has been successful together with suggestions about where they might improve. We will
provide an opportunity for the student to make the suggested improvement.
Activities will last as long as they need to in order to ensure a sufficient depth to learning. Pace is important
as a slow lesson is likely to lose students’ concentration. However, we will concentrate on the pace of
learning rather than the pace of our planned activities. Students will need extended periods to read, write
or discuss issues in class to ensure this desired depth of understanding.
We will have the confidence to depart from our plans if early indications are, for example, that the students
know more or less than we had anticipated. The key consideration will be the development of students’
learning rather than sticking rigidly to a plan
Reflection & Review
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Reflect on the learning at appropriate times throughout the lesson – don’t just wait until the
end of the lesson.
Give the students opportunity and ample time to demonstrate the progress they have made.
Discuss what has been learned, how it has been learned and what needs to be done next.
Smile, praise and reward.
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We will reflect and review the learning at appropriate times throughout the lesson, not just at the end of the
lesson, in order to demonstrate progress towards the learning objective(s). This will give the students
opportunity to demonstrate the progress they have made. This reflection, although important, must not
limit the time the students have to complete activities – do not interrupt their learning! Review of learning
in relation to objectives is a routine part of lessons and its outcomes will inform future planning.
We will engage students in 1:1 conversations during the lesson to review and reflect together on progress.
Individual reflection is facilitated by providing feedback that is constructive and informative and enables
students to take the next steps in their learning. We will let them know how pleased we are with them,
praising effort as opposed to simply just outcome and tell them that we are looking forward to teaching them
again.
Written Feedback Policy
We use written feedback to show learners what they do well, the standards they have attained and enable
them to understand what they must do to improve and to make progress. The process of providing written
feedback will also guide us as teachers in the process of planning and differentiating work for groups of
learners and individual learners.
Effective Written Feedback
Focus the Feedback on the Learning Objective and Related Success Criteria
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Make students aware of what constitutes a good piece of work by being explicit about the
success criteria, sharing these criteria, modelling answers/solutions and providing exemplar
material.
Ensure that all objectives, outcomes and success criteria are in ‘student-speak’.
Students should understand the success criteria for the work they are doing. They should know
what a level or grade means and what they have to do to progress on to the next level or grade.
The success criteria may be also negotiated through a discussion with the class, thus helping to
give them ownership and clearer understanding of what constitutes quality.
Aim to Close the Gap
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Students should know what they are trying to achieve, how they currently compare with this
target and know how to achieve this standard.
Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on
what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other students. Any
suggestions on how to improve should, therefore, be focused on how best to close the gap
between current performance and the desired target performance.
Feedback has shown to improve learning where it gives each pupil specific guidance on strengths
and weaknesses.
Provide the Student with Specific Improvement Suggestions
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Feedback only leads to gains in learning when it includes guidance on how to improve, preferably
without any overall marks. Periodic use of levels/grades can be helpful if a summative
judgement is required e.g. on a specific piece of work once or twice a term.
Focus feedback on the qualities of the work and what the student has achieved and provide the
student specific ways in which the work could be improved. Therefore, focus more on
improvement than correction.
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Marking of errors should be restricted to what is relevant or necessary e.g. factual errors, topicspecific spelling errors, and common punctuation or grammar errors. The following codes
should be used selectively, depending on the focus of the marking.
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this is correct
this is incorrect
means that what has been written does not make sense
means something has been left out
means that comments are written at the end of the work
start a new paragraph here
this indicates a spelling mistake.
capital letter mistake
Punctuation
To close the gap between where a pupil is and where you want them to be in their learning,
there are three types of prompts that promote improvement. They also help you differentiate
your support. These are reminder prompts (“Say more about …”); scaffold prompts (“Can you
describe how…”) and example prompts (“Choose one of these or one of your own”).
Focus on a ‘success and improvement’ strategy. Teachers may decide to use the ‘Two stars and
a wish’ approach – two positive comments and an area for improvement or WWW (what went
well) and EBI (even better if) or something similar.
Provide an Opportunity for the Student to Make the Suggested Improvement
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To avoid the same comment appearing over and over again on student’s work, either provide
them with an opportunity to carry out the improvement on that piece of work, according to the
specific improvement suggestion or revisit that skill in another context as soon as possible.
Feedback information requires action and therefore has to be used in order to make progress.
It is about finding out ‘how you are doing’ as opposed to finding out ‘how you have done’.
Let them into the Secret
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Involve the students in the assessment process by modelling effective marking. Students should
develop the ability to reflect on their own learning and each other’s learning when they are
provided with appropriate guidance and structure.
We need to provide structured opportunities for students to work in pairs or groups in order for
them to become more effective in using each other as resources for one another and as owners
of their own learning.
Students will need practice in applying criteria to their peer’s work to help them to internalise
the success criteria before reflecting on their own learning. Try involving students in marking
exemplar work against success criteria.
Frequency of Written Feedback
Students’ work should be provided with written feedback regularly. Frequency of feedback is crucial because
it increases student motivation and reflection on their learning.
Distinguish between day to day ‘marking’ which may be a quick tick, small correction and more in depth
‘marking’ which merits a written comment with a target and an opportunity for the student to respond to
improvement advice. Not all learning can or should be marked in detail and teachers are not expected,
therefore, to put a detailed comment and a level or grade on every piece of work.
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The frequency of written feedback on students work will vary from subject to subject, but for most subjects
it should ideally be done once every 5/6 lessons as far as this is reasonably practical.
We should identify ‘learning milestones’ - one piece of work which merits more in depth, detailed formative
assessment with appropriate grades or levels which is undertaken at least each half term. The frequency
with which any levels/grades are awarded will vary according to subject requirements. These regular
assessments will provide students with an idea of their attainment.
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