Teaching and learning policy

Barlaston C.E. (VC) First School

 

“Let Your Light Shine” Matthew 5:16

                  

Teaching and Learning  Policy

 

Our Vision Statement

 

Let your light shine through family, friendship and faith

 

Our Spirituality Vision

 

Spirituality is an ever changing journey through life, connecting each individual with something bigger than themselves

 

Equality Statement

The school is committed to providing the full range of opportunities for all pupils, regardless of gender, disability, ethnicity, social, cultural or religious background. All pupils have access to the curriculum, and the right to a learning environment, which dispels ignorance, prejudice or stereotyping.

 

Dyslexia Statement

To ensure that children on the dyslexic spectrum have equal opportunities and that their diverse strengths are celebrated and built on.

 

 

Safeguarding Statement

The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and

young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment

 

 

 

1.1       At Barlaston First School, we believe in the concept of lifelong learning, and in the idea that both adults and children learn new things every day. We maintain that learning should be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone; in short, it should be fun. Through our teaching, we equip children with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to be able to make informed choices about the important things throughout their lives. We believe that appropriate teaching and learning experiences help children to lead happy and rewarding lives.

2          Aims and objectives

2.1       We believe that children learn best in different ways. At our school, we provide a rich and varied learning environment that allows all children to develop their skills and abilities to their full potential.

2.2       Through our teaching, we aim to:

enable children to become confident, resourceful, enquiring and independent learners;

foster children's self-esteem, and help them to build positive relationships with other people;

develop children's self-respect, encourage them to understand the ideas, attitudes and values of others, and teach them to respect other people's feelings;

show respect for a diverse range of cultures and, in so doing, to promote positive attitudes towards other people;

enable children to understand their community, and help them feel valued as part of it;

help children grow into reliable, independent and positive citizens.

3          Effective learning

3.1       Research tells us that children learn in many different ways, and respond best to different types of input (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic); we must therefore deliver teaching in different ways to address the needs of all our learners. We take into account the different forms of intelligence (e.g. mathematical/logical, visual/spatial, interpersonal, musical and emotional) when planning our teaching.

3.2       We ensure the best possible environment for learning by developing a positive atmosphere in which pupils feel safe and feel they belong, in which they enjoy being challenged, but in which they enjoy learning, and know that they will succeed (because they know the challenge will have been set at the right level). We may play music to accompany learning, provide 'brain breaks' at various points in the lesson to refocus children's attention, and make sure that the children have access to drinking water.

3.3       All teaching will be structured to maximise learning opportunities, and lessons will be planned in accordance with the following principles:

the teaching should build on previous learning ;

it should give pupils the 'big picture' of the lesson;

the teacher should explain the learning objectives, and why the lesson is important;

the lesson should be presented in a range of styles;

it should allow opportunities for the pupils to build up their own understanding through various activities;

it should allow opportunities for the children to review what has been learnt;

it should have built-in opportunities for feedback to the children, celebrating success and reviewing learning strategies;

the teaching should indicate what the next step in the learning will be.

 

3.4       We offer opportunities for children to learn in different ways. These include:

investigation and problem-solving;

research and discovery;

group work;

pair work;

independent work;

whole-class work;

asking and answering questions;

use of ICT;

fieldwork and visits to places of educational interest;

creative activities;

watching television and responding to musical or tape-recorded material;

debates, role-plays and oral presentations;

designing and making things;

participation in athletic or physical activity.

 

3.5       We encourage children to take responsibility for their own learning, to be involved as far as possible in reviewing the way in which they learn, and to reflect on how they learn – what helps them learn, and what makes it difficult for them to learn.

4          Effective teaching and learning

4.1       When we are teaching, we focus on motivating all the children, and building on their skills, knowledge and understanding of the curriculum, so that they reach the highest level of personal achievement. We use the school curriculum plan to guide our teaching. This sets out the aims, objectives and values of the school, and details what is to be taught to each year group.

4.2       Teachers make ongoing assessments of each child's progress, and they use this information when planning their lessons. It enables them to take into account the abilities of all their children. Our prime focus is to develop further the knowledge and skills of all our children. We strive to ensure that all tasks set are appropriate to each child's level of ability. When planning work for children with special educational needs, we give due regard to information and targets contained in the children's Individual Education Plans (IEPs). Teachers modify teaching and learning as appropriate for children with disabilities. We value each child as a unique individual, and teachers are familiar with the relevant equal opportunities legislation covering race, gender and disability. We will strive to meet the needs of all our children, and to ensure that we meet all statutory requirements related to matters of inclusion.

4.3       We set academic targets for the children in each year, and we share these targets with children and their parents/carers. Monitor progress and amend targets as and when appropriate. We review the progress of each child at the end of the academic year, and set revised targets.

4.4       We plan our lessons with clear learning objectives. We take these objectives from the National Curriculum. Our lesson plans contain information about the tasks to be set, the resources needed, and the way in which we assess the children's work. We evaluate all lessons, so that we can modify and improve our future teaching.

4.5       Each of our teachers makes a special effort to establish good working relationships with all the children in the class. We treat the children with kindness and respect. We recognise that they are all individuals with different needs, but we treat them fairly, and give them equal opportunity to take part in class activities. All of our teachers follow the school policy with regard to discipline and classroom management. We set and agree with children the class code of conduct, and we expect all children to comply with the rules that we jointly devise to promote the best learning opportunities for all. We praise children for their efforts and, by so doing, we help to build positive attitudes towards school and learning in general. We insist on good order and behaviour at all times. When children misbehave, we follow the guidelines for sanctions as outlined in our policy on behaviour.

4.6       We try to ensure that all tasks and activities that the children perform are safe. When we plan to take children out of school, we follow a strict set of procedures to ensure safety: the venue is visited, risk assessments are completed, and various permissions are obtained. We inform parents or carers, and obtain their permission, before the visit takes place.

4.7       We deploy learning assistants and other adult helpers as effectively as possible. Sometimes, they work with individual children, and sometimes they work with small groups. Our adult helpers also assist with the preparation and storage of classroom equipment.

4.8       Our classrooms are attractive learning environments. We change displays at least once a term, so that the classroom reflects the topics studied by the children. We ensure that all children have the opportunity to display their best work at some time during the year. All classrooms have a range of dictionaries and of both fiction and non-fiction books, as well as displays relating to literacy and numeracy. We also use displays as learning prompts for the children. We believe that a stimulating environment sets the climate for learning, and that an exciting classroom promotes independent use of resources, which results in high-quality work by the children.

4.9       All of our teachers reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, and plan their professional development accordingly. We do all we can to support our teachers in developing their skills, so that they can continually improve their practice.

4.10     We conduct all our teaching in an atmosphere of trust and respect for all.

5          The role of governors

5.1       Our governors determine, support, monitor and review the school's approach to teaching and learning. In particular, they:

support the use of appropriate teaching strategies by allocating resources effectively;

ensure that the school buildings and premises are used optimally to support teaching and learning;

check teaching methods in the light of health and safety regulations;

seek to ensure that our staff development and our performance management both promote good-quality teaching;

monitor the effectiveness of the school's teaching and learning approaches through the school's self-review processes, which include reports from subject leaders, the annual headteacher's report to governors, and a review of the in-service training sessions attended by staff.

6          The role of parents and carers

6.1       We believe that parents and carers have a fundamental role to play in helping children to learn. We do all we can to inform parents and carers about what and how their children are learning:

by holding parents' evenings to discuss progress and identify next steps

by sending information to parents and carers, at the start of each term, which outlines the topics that the children will be studying during that term at school;

by sending parents and carers annual reports in which we explain the progress made by each child, and indicate how the child can improve further;

by explaining to parents and carers how they can support their children with homework, and suggesting, for example, regular shared reading with very young children, and support for older children with their projects and investigative work.

 

6.2       We believe that parents and carers have the responsibility to support their children and the school in implementing school policies. We would therefore like parents and carers:

to ensure that their child has the best attendance record possible;

to ensure that their child is equipped for school with the correct uniform and PE kit;

to do their best to keep their child healthy and fit to attend school;

to inform school if there are matters outside of school that are likely to affect a child's performance or behaviour;

to promote a positive attitude towards school and learning in general;

to fulfil the requirements set out in the home–school agreement.

7          Monitoring and review

7.1       We are aware of the need to monitor the school's teaching and learning policy, and to review it regularly, so that we can take account of new initiatives and research, changes in the curriculum, developments in technology or changes to the physical environment of the school. We will therefore review this policy every two years or earlier if necessary.

 

Next Review Oct 2021

 

 

Remote Learning Policy

2021

 

 Our Vision Statement

Let your light shine through family, friendship and faith

 

Our Spirituality Vision

Spirituality is an ever changing journey through life, connecting each individual with something bigger than themselves

 

Equality Statement

The school is committed to providing the full range of opportunities for all pupils, regardless of gender, disability, ethnicity, social, cultural or religious background. All pupils have access to the curriculum, and the right to a learning environment, which dispels ignorance, prejudice or stereotyping.

  Dyslexia Statement

To ensure that children on the dyslexic spectrum have equal opportunities and that their diverse strengths are celebrated and built on.

 

Safeguarding Statement

The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and

young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment

 

Introduction

This policy has been updated in light of the lockdown in 2021, linked to the Coronavirus. Below are the remote learning opportunities available to your child, depending on which class they are currently in. Please note that nursery is not currently included on this policy as to date, they are able to access school as normal.

 

Reception Class

Towards the end of the week a new set of home learning tasks will be sent out for the following week. This is sent out in one chunk to allow for parents to fit this in around their working from home schedules and if they have other siblings at home too.

A home learning timetable is also available to help support parents with children in the childcare bubble to ensure they do not miss out of any of the home learning activities throughout the week. 

With all tasks explained below these are set in a range of different ways such as games, activities to complete in their home learning diary (blue books), or practical play based activities.

Each week a set of 4 or 5 phonics lessons are sent out in line with the letters and sounds programme, within the planning are links to jolly phonics songs to further support the children learning the new sounds. With these plans it involves sounding and blending words, and reading simple sentences.

A pre-recorded story will be sent out weekly based on the half term topic plan. This will set the context for the tasks that the children will complete that week.

Alongside this, a pre-recorded literacy task will be sent out. This will be modelled through the video by Mr Peel. The relevant resources will be added to the online space to provide support for the parents to access to best support their child.

Each week 2 numeracy tasks will be sent, both via pre-recorded lessons from Mr Peel. One will cover the ‘Number’ element of the EY framework and the other will cover the ‘Shape Space and Measure’ element. These tasks will be set around ‘Ten Town’.

A home reading task sheet will be sent out weekly to the parents covering aspects such as: prediction, explanation, inference explanation, and vocabulary. These skills are practised by the parent reading a book to the child. Having a discussion with them based around the questions from the task sheet.

A pre-recorded or instruction-based topic task is set weekly. These tasks are set to cover other areas of the EY framework including, expressive arts and design, being imaginative, communication and language etc.  These are specifically set to be ones that are completed away from the screen.

Each week a PE task is set for the children to complete and practise throughout the week.

A fortnightly RE activity is sent home, this covers areas such as prayers, and activities linked to our school ethos ‘let your light shine’.

Every week a 1:1 zoom takes place with all the children who are not using the childcare bubble. This gives the children chance to chat to Mr Peel about their week, and show him any work that has been completed. Also Mr Peel can offer any feedback about the work, and answer any questions parents may have.

For the children in childcare Mr Peel is in class on specific days through the week so catches up with all the other children. Also completes the home learning task for that day with them.  

 

Year One Class

Squirrel class are covering the curriculum in a variety of ways. Some of our teaching is delivered in pre-recorded lessons by Mrs Price and Mrs Knowles – these are a mixture of the teachers modelling the work on a board in a traditional classroom setting or splitting the computer screen so there is a video of themselves going through a PowerPoint. 

Alongside these there are links to lessons on the Oak Academy, Letters and Sounds phonics website/Mr MC’s phonics, letter formation videos, art videos and Joe Wicks/Cosmic Yoga.

 Parents are provided with a weekly plan for English, Maths and Phonics and there is usually a crib sheet to support them for Science and foundation subjects. After the teacher input there is a worksheet set or activities to complete on Purple Mash. Alternatively, the children will participate in a task that relates to what has been modelled but that does not need a worksheet eg the children have acted out the story of Little Red Riding Hood, they have been on a winter scavenger hunt, done a science investigation etc.

We have recently changed Friday’s lessons to try and give children a chance to move away from the screen. English is reading comprehension which they can print out (packs are being provided to those who have said they do not have a printer).

Friday is a fun maths day with emphasis on more practical activities. Children investigate a given number then do a maths activity such as a game/baking/measuring.

Parents have been given access to a spelling pack with high frequency words and common exception words, alongside these are different methods for children to learn these words and ideas of fun activities. Parents are able to work through these at their own pace.

 Squirrel class hold a weekly zoom chat, this is not a lesson but an informal opportunity for children to speak to each other and their class teachers. Children who are unable to attend speak to their teachers on the telephone at other convenient times.

 Children have been encouraged to access Oxford Owls and have a class login so they can read at home. They are also encouraged to read their own story books or borrow story books from the school entrance if they are in the area and it follows gov guidelines (not making a journey for a book).  Children are provided with daily learning for maths, English and phonics. They cover science, PE, RE and topic weekly.

 Currently Music, PSHE and art are on a rolling programme so they cover these lessons once every three weeks although they sometimes cross over with other subjects (art in topic work, PSHE in RE, music in dance). ICT is currently being taught discretely through other subjects on Purple Mash. Parents have been given access to alternative activities which include tasks such as a lego challenge. These tasks are designed to keep children motivated and content.

 

 

Year Two Class

The teacher will set meaningful and ambitious work every day in a number of different subjects across the curriculum, paying due care to the nature of the tasks being set in order to ensure that learners have a range of activities to complete at home that are not exclusively working on a computer screen.

Maths lessons will continue to be planned according to the Inspire Maths scheme of work Monday to Thursday with an open-ended, practical task planned every Friday. The English curriculum is based around a high-quality text and planning will ensure that children have plenty of opportunity to understand, respond to and deepen their understanding of the text, which will be shared with the children by video in short, pages or sections.

Incidental writing opportunities are planned throughout so that children are able to consolidate their writing skills. Grammar work is also clearly identified and taught purposefully in context. A weekly comprehension text will be made available every Friday and in the absence of hands-on access to books, children are encouraged to access the Oxford Owls reading materials available online. Class Teacher will also provide a well sequenced wider curriculum that is linked to the text being studied in English, where appropriate.

Class teacher is to ensure that all resources required for teaching are emailed directly to parents, along with a weekly overview containing additional information to ensure that parents have greater clarity of what is intended on being taught and the skills being practiced. This will be emailed out to parents every Sunday so that they have plenty of time to prepare for the following week. Teaching may incorporate some online materials through Oak Academy, which has been recommended by the DfE, and short, pre-recorded videos of the teacher but only where appropriate.

Class teacher will encourage parents to email children’s work to be formatively assessed in order to accurately identify the knowledge and understanding gained and use this information to support further planning/pupils’ return to school. Class Teacher will also check in regularly to monitor the children’s general wellbeing through a weekly whole class Zoom session, making additional contact via telephone or email for those unable to make the Zoom call.

 

Year 3 and 4 Classes

In KS2, due to us working on a 2-year timetable, we have set up the remote learning to cover both Year 3 and Year 4. We set 3 lessons a day. We suggest certain days to complete these activities to support children who are in school part time. This also helps to create a teaching sequence similar to if the children were in school. However, children who are at home for the whole week are able to access these lessons whenever they like in order to be as flexible as possible for parents working from home.

We set 5 lessons English per week for the children to complete. These are a mixture of pre-recorded lessons, some by Mr Mellor and some by Mrs Broome where we record our screen with ourselves on screen to go through the lesson with them. Some lessons use the Oak National Academy videos. Children are then set tasks to complete along with presentations or online activities. Children also use Purple Mash activities and computing programmes to complete individual challenges. Children can handwrite or type their work.

Each week we record ourselves reading through our class novel for the children to watch. Independent reading is encouraged by a weekly task or question. Books are available to collect from the school office or there is a home delivery option for families who are isolating.

Maths is structured as 5 lessons per week using a similar mix of pre-recorded videos or Oak National Academy videos. On top of this the children have various challenges to complete independently either with pencil and paper or using Purple Mash.

We then cover 5 further lessons, one lesson for each afternoon with a mixture of challenges, recorded lessons, presentations and research activities.

Every week we have a class zoom on a Thursday afternoon where we catch up on how our week has gone and have some fun games to let the class see each other and connect.

We are now onto week 3 of our ‘Taskmaster’ challenges where children are set further tasks away from screen based learning to complete and compete against other children and teachers for a bit of fun and a chance to think creatively! Children are also set weekly PE challenges or tasks to complete when they would like.

 

SENCo /Speech and Language

All staff are responsible for contacting children in their class who have an Individual Learning Plan. Mrs Haddrell can be contacted by staff and parents to discuss needs as necessary.

Speech and Language sessions are continuing for children who are at home, specifically Hedgehog children. A Zoom assessment with the class teacher and the SENCo is initially completed for children who are of concern. Mrs Haddrell will then compile a bank of resources after discussion with Mr Peel. A pack will be made available for parents to collect with a follow up Zoom session planned with Mrs Haddrell. During the Zoom, Mrs Haddrell will work with individual children and their parents to demonstrate the materials provided and give suggestions on games to play. Subsequent follow up Zoom sessions will be scheduled every two weeks, on Friday mornings, to check on progress.

 

Feedback from Teachers

It is clearly not as easy to give children feedback with remote learning as when they are in the classroom with the teachers. However, feedback opportunities for each class are as follows:

Reception 1:1 zoom on a Friday where each child can show Mr Peel their work, and he is able to feedback and praise each child. Feedback and praise is also included in pre-recorded lesson

Year One   individual emails are sent to children giving them feedback and praise for their work.

Year Two   individual emails are sent to children giving them feedback and praise for their work.

Years Three and Four   individual emails are sent to children giving them feedback and praise for their work. Work is uploaded to individual child’s file, where praise and feedback will be given. Parents of children in school also emailed so they are kept up to date with the work being covered.

 

Safeguarding

It is our duty to ensure that all children are safe during periods of lockdown. Your child’s teacher will make contact with you and your child on a regular basis, just to check that all is well. This is not us being nosey, but carrying out our duty of care to safeguard all of our pupils. Teachers will record on a weekly basis any work they have received from individuals, any class zoom calls they have attended and whether parents have responded to emails/ phone calls from the teacher. If we are unable to make contact with the family, the head teacher will send out an email, asking the parent/s to respond so we can check all is well.

 

Access to Laptop/ Computer

We are aware that it can be very difficult for children to complete on line work if they haven’t got access to a laptop or computer. The Government has allocated schools a set number of laptops, which will be available to pupils. Parents will be required to sign to say they have school property at home to aid their child’s education, and that the device will be returned upon request. Staff will prioritise who is in most need for such support.

 

Extra-Curricular Activities

Please remember that children’s minds are like sponges, soaking up new learning all the time. Going for a walk or bike ride at the weekend, gardening, cooking, art work etc, are all ways to enhance their learning and excitement of their environment. Learning is not all about completing sheets of work, have fun with your children and enjoy them!

 

Policy updated January 2021

Reviewed January 2022