Where We “Reach for the Stars - Castle Bromwich and...Where We “Reach for the Stars ... Bromwich...

I:lrussellfinalised teaching & learning policy 2017 1

Where We “Reach for the Stars”

TEACHING & LEARNING POLICY

Castle Bromwich Infant & Nursery School Green Lane

Castle Bromwich Birmingham B36 0BX Tel: 0121-747-3369 Fax: 0121-749-2466

Email: [email protected]

Date Reviewed: July 2017 Next Review Date: September 2018

mailto:[email protected]


Castle Bromwich Infant and Nursery School

TEACHING & LEARNING

POLICY

The aim of this policy is to identify how and what we teach, our school philosophy

and the procedures within the school

July 2017

Castle Bromwich Infant & Nursery School, Green Lane, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham B36 0BX

Telephone: 0121 747 3369 Email:

[email protected]

Castle Bromwich Infant & Nursery School

Teaching & Learning Policy


VISION

At Castle Bromwich Infant & Nursery School we want all our pupils, parents &

staff to feel safe, valued, happy, included and nurtured.

Our aim is for all children to be able to be independent, critical thinkers who

enjoy their learning and are able to succeed. We feel we can do this by providing

a creative, inspiring, challenging and exciting curriculum that meets the needs

of all learners.

We strive to achieve this vision by working closely with parents, carers,

governors and the wider community to encourage our children to be the best

that they can be and to “Reach for the Stars”.

AIMS

To ensure the children and their learning is at the centre of all we do

For our children to be provided with high quality learning experiences that lead to a consistently high level of pupil achievement

For consistency of provision and teaching across year groups and across the school

For everyone to understand the way we do things at Castle Bromwich Infant & Nursery School

Our Learning Environment & Organisation

We expect a high quality learning environment in classrooms and corridors that

reflects and supports excellent learning standards to meet the needs of all pupils.

Each classroom will have the following:

• A Maths and English Working Wall (KS1)

• A knowledge harvest/ planning board

• Positive behaviour system with a picture of a rocket depicting the

different stages and effort in class cake

• Information about timetables, routines etc are displayed in a place that

is accessible to children and other members of staff (including SLT)

• A visual timetable reading left to right is displayed prominently by the

main teaching area

• British Values display

• Clear written fire procedures

• Class rules displayed

• A fine motor learning station

• E-safety rules clearly displayed


Teaching Assistants - are employed throughout the school and are highly skilled and valued members of our learning community. Teachers share all their planning with the Teaching Assistants, valuing their input. The teaching assistants work with all groups of pupils including SEND, disadvantaged pupils and more able pupils to support them socially and to extend their academic

learning.

The Teaching Assistants in our school have responsibility for the learning of the groups/individuals they teach ie. Interventions etc. Therefore TA’s resource the learning activities they are teaching, evaluate the pupil’s learning, adapt the lessons as needed and feedback to the teacher the next steps for those children’s learning.

KS1 TAs should meet with the Teacher on Monday morning during singing assembly to discuss plans for the week.

Time Management

Learning starts as soon as a child enters the school with a task on the whiteboard each day for the children to complete whilst the teachers/TA’s have interventions and individual reading sessions before the bell goes for the start of the day. Efficient planning and classroom organisation significantly reduces time-wasting activities. Children are expected to be on task and to learn (our pupils need to go home at the end of the day more tired than the adults because they have learned so much and enjoyed their learning).

Supply Teachers and cover

To ensure continuity, teachers leave written guidance in the class supply book

and pupil activities for all planned absences from the classroom. A list of

vulnerable children and those with additional needs should also be listed in

the book along with any special arrangements for collection at the end of the

day. In the event of an unplanned absence, teachers have their planning and

resources easily accessible on the work drive.

School Policies

School policies can be found on the website. It is the duty of staff to ensure

they are familiar with all school policies and to apply them diligently and

consistently throughout the school.

Volunteer Helpers

Voluntary helpers are a valuable resource and we welcome their involvement

in the classroom.

Volunteers meet with DHT for induction into school procedures.

Parents/carers - Our parents/carers are our partners in their children’s

learning. We make every effort to listen to their views and support them. We

share their children’s achievements with them and ask for their support when

we have concerns. We regularly share attainment with parents & carers and

give advice on how they can help their children learn at home. We expect our

parents/carers to support our school rules.


At Castle Bromwich Infant & Nursery School we aim high and our motto is to:

“Reach for the Stars”

Approaches to Teaching

We are an educational institution and therefore we expect our pupils to consolidate learning and to learn new things everyday.

We use a balance of individual, group and whole-class teaching. Teachers

choose carefully the style of teaching which is the most effective for the

learning intention and the pupils.

• We begin each of our learning themes with an exciting and stimulating

starter.

• We have a knowledge harvest to find out what our pupils already know about a learning theme and what they would like to find out by the end of the topic.

• We finish our learning theme with a finale often inviting parents to

share what pupils have learned.

Throughout all our learning from FS1 – Y2 we emphasise basic skills of systematic phonics, writing/mark making, handwriting and letter formation, reading, calculation, reasoning, problem solving and fluency.

Teachers will always share learning intentions, success criteria and have mini-plenaries during sessions to address areas of mis-conception, share

expectations and deepen their understanding.

Children with EAL are monitored using the EAL Profile from the LA so they can, with extra support, access the curriculum. An EAL level is given for each child

and this is reported in the yearly census.

Children who have SEND or are showing signs of concern are reported to our school SENCO and carefully monitored – please refer to SEND policy for further information.


Teaching and Learning in the Foundation Stage

Introduction

In line with the Revised EYFS there are seven areas of learning planned for each week.

1. Short Term Planning

Short term planning brings together planning for individual children based on

assessments of their development and learning with your medium-term plan.

We use a mixture of child-initiated and adult led learning.

2. Child-Initiated Play

Our definition of child initiated learning – we encourage our pupils to be both independent learners and to initiate their learning through play. We want our pupils to learn new skills and not to continuously repeat skills which they have already mastered. For a child-initiated or an adult led activity to be successful it needs to be worthwhile and progress learning. Child initiated does not simply mean self-chosen but it does mean following an interest to learn.

Child initiated learning requires professionals to teach skills and then leave those learning activities out for pupils to practice those skills, to add more resources to and for pupils to teach others these skills through their play together. It also requires interesting resources to be left for pupils to choose and for professionals to then help to facilitate learning by asking questions, prompting play and helping to extend the learning.

3. Adult-Guided / Focus Activities

Practitioners consider carefully how to ‘differentiate’ an adult-guided activity,

adapting resources, expectations and language in order to take into account

the varying ages and stages of development of children in a group.

• Planned learning intentions are broad and flexible in order that

practitioners can pick up on the child’s own learning agenda

• Planned activities provide children with lots of opportunities for

speaking and listening.

• Learning activities aim to be motivating, enjoyable and meaningful

and to promote a positive attitude to learn in each child.

4.Guided Activities for Two Year Olds

Two year olds enjoy being near their adult. In our All Stars setting we have

keyworkers who build relationships with their children and support their learning

through play partnering. The role of the play partner is to respond to the things

the children show an interest in and to find interesting next step adult guided

tasks that are relevant to the child’s development stage.


Adult guided activities are flexible as two year olds will often take the play in a

different direction to the one intended by the adult.

Adults use quality talk and interactions to develop children’s understanding and

grasp of spoken language.

Staff make careful assessments of children by observing them and looking for

their next steps of development, planning is then adapted to meet the children’s

needs.

5. Whole Class Sessions for Children Aged 3-5

Whole class sessions are short and interactive to stimulate learning.

There is no expectation that EYFS children attend assembly on a daily basis.

However at CBINS Reception children attend assembly once a week from

Spring Term.

We believe that children need extended periods of time to play and pursue

their interests. We also believe that children can concentrate for longer in

small group activities, where they are more involved. Therefore each day

our teachers plan for:

• short whole class teaching sessions

• continuous provision for independent learning

• adult led focused learning in small groups

• outdoor provision to extend the indoor learning focus

• adult play partners to extend learning through interactions and

questioning

Example of FS1 Daily organisation

Before sessions begin staff will risk assess and setup outside whilst other staff

will risk assess and set up inside.

Both areas will be set up with continuous provision and adult led focused

tasks.

In FS1 we focus on Prime Areas with shorter time provision on Specific Areas

8.30 am or 12.30pm When children arrive parents sign pupils in at the door and pupils hang-up their coats and play.

8.45am or 12.45pm After 10/15mins pupils register, have a short teaching session e.g. phonics. Learning theme, songs, and introduction to the learning on offer. Keyworker groups for this session

9 - 11am or 1 – 3pm Children play and adults go to their teaching tasks

9 – 11am or 1 – 3pm Adult led focus lasts 10/15mins so in the learning

activities, it will take several sessions to teach all

the children. Activities should be differentiated by

questioning and by using assessments to ensure

children’s learning is challenging.

11am or 3pm tidy-up time, story and getting ready for home in larger groups to enable one member of staff and volunteers to get ready for next session.


Example of FS2 Daily organisation

All classes will have access to outdoor area with an outdoor learning task and

child initiated (continuous provision) each day using a high visible jacket

checking in and out system. All staff are timetabled to teach outside during

the day.

English and Maths is taught discretely and through continuous provision

In FS2 we focus on Specific Areas of the EYFS curriculum and build on the Prime Areas covered in FS1

In FS2 as a general rule we aim for 50% teacher directed and 50% child initiated learning each day.

Teaching & learning throughout The Foundation Stage

Outside areas are extensions of the teaching environment and at least one

member of staff is outside facilitating learning.

Role play is modelled and taught so that pupils understand the roles they are

rehearsing when in the role play area. Once pupils feel confident in role then

role play should link to topic themes. Children help develop the roleplay areas

and they are taught to look after the learning environment.

Clear labelling is used to identify how many pupils can access given areas i.e.

4 pupils in the role play.

Self-snack – this is an opportunity for pupils to be independent and to help

themselves to fruit and a drink whenever they need it.

Self-registration in FS1 should take place in each of the key group areas to

avoid confusion and the main register is also taken in keyworker groups.

Learning areas are clear from clutter and areas kept for specific purposes

(children learn the rules of keeping paint/sand etc in the designated areas)

All pupils in FS to use Triangular pencils to encourage the correct pencil grip

are used in Foundation stage and for those children who still need help in KS1

There is a planning & moving on board in each FS classroom so that the children can contribute to the planning and staff can identify next steps for individual children. Staff use this information in any spare moments to help

pupils achieve these aims.

In All Stars (funded places) and Nursery the children attend for 15 hours per

week usually for either five mornings or five afternoons.

In Reception and Keystage 1 the children are taught for 22 hours and 30 minutes per week. These times exclude playtimes, assemblies and registration.


Children are admitted to nursery in the academic year that they are four years old and in reception in the academic year they are five. All admissions are dealt with by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. All Stars admissions are dealt with by school once parents have claimed their funding from the Family Information Service. All Stars, Nursery & Reception are called the Early Years Foundation Stage

(EYFS)

There are four guiding principles that shape EYFS practice:

• Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient,

capable, confident and self-assured;

• Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships;

• Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their

experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership

between practitioners and parents and/or carers; and

• Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and we work in partnership with parents to cover the education and care of all children in our Early Years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (FS1 & FS2) focuses on 7

areas of development.

• Personal, Social and Emotional development (PSED)

• Communication & Language (CL)

• Physical development (PD)

• Literacy (L)

• Mathematics (M)

• Understanding the World (UW)

• Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)

Each learning theme in FS1 & FS2 starts with a “Big Question” to stimulate children’s thinking, a knowledge harvest to find out what children already know about the topic and what they would like to learn, an inspirational starter which could be a visitor or a visit to somewhere of interest and a finale where children can show their parents what they have learned.

We also believe that our children learn best through experiencing exciting,

imaginative play and therefore we ensure that the children can have equal

access to all areas of the EYFS curriculum.

The basic skills of Communication, Reading, Writing & Maths run through all

areas of the curriculum. e.g. measuring tapes, clip boards and pencils are part

of the construction area. Writing is always part of the role play etc.

Children are taught as part of the focused learning to access all areas of

the curriculum.

An example of this is: if a water play is set up outside the classroom the

children are taught the rules & responsibilities as part of the PSE curriculum.

Only _?_ number of children can play in the water, you must wear an apron,

you can help yourself to resources from here, you must tidy away when you

have finished, you must share etc.

Teaching assistants and teachers play with children when teaching i.e. if the

role play is set up as a vets, they must first learn what happens when you take

an animal to the vets.


The classroom is set up so that the children can identify the different areas

of learning.

An example of this is: the children sit in the maths area when they are part of

a focused maths group, they can resource themselves during this session to

help with their style of learning or stage of development, this learning is then

left in the maths area as an independent/child-initiated activity for the children

to practice/consolidate their new learning.

Each day involves whole class teaching (WC)

Small group focused activities where teacher or teaching assistant calls

groups of children together to teach them

Independent/child initiated learning with children choosing to follow their

interests through continuous provision and focused learning left for children to

practice skills

Play partners where staff encourage play and open ended questions to

support children’s learning

Interventions where staff call a group of children together that either need pre-

teaching or some consolidation

Children are heard read individually or in guided reading once per week and

home reading books are changed at that time

Example of weekly coverage

9.10 - 11.30am 10.30am 12pm 1pm – 2.30pm

Mon T – Literacy guided reading Change reading books

Physical outside WC Teaching Literacy inside T – Literacy guided reading Change reading books

WC Teaching Maths – whole class & focused activity

WC Teaching UW (topic knowledge harvest - what children know, what they want to find out about topic TA Literacy readers

TA - PSED

Tues WC Teaching Maths

WC Teaching Literacy inside T – Literacy guided reading Change reading books

WC Teaching UW

PSED TA Literacy readers

Wed WC Teaching PE (physical )

WC Teaching C&L Change reading books TA Literacy readers

WC Teaching EAD

WC Teaching Maths Physical outside

Thurs WC Teaching C&L T – Literacy guided

T – Literacy guided writing

Physical outside

WC Teaching Maths TA Literacy readers


writing TA Literacy readers

PSED inside

Fri WC Teaching EAD

WC Teaching Maths

T – Literacy guided reading Change reading books

WC literacy Teaching TA Literacy readers

Teaching & Learning in KS1

In KS1 we build on the independence our pupils have gained through our

early years provision.

Teaching is planned to meet the needs of children who may rapidly grasp a

particular concept but with scaffolding provided so that all children are given

the opportunity to meet Age Related Expectations.

We have a clear understanding of what skills, knowledge and understanding our pupils needs to gain and we plan for this in a fun and enjoyable approach to learning.

Our pupils are involved in planning their learning with knowledge harvest/

planning boards in each classroom.

We want our pupils to come into school each morning exciting and asking

“What are we going to learn today?”

We embed life ready employability skills within our curriculum.

Specific guidance on the teaching and learning of Reading, Writing and Maths can be found in the relevant subject policies. These are available and referred to by all staff and can be found on the school website.


PLANNING POLICY

Guidelines

We plan our thematic curriculum using cornerstones curriculum (long term overview).

Medium Term Planning: The planning relates to subject leaders’ planned

schemes of work and the themed curriculum (Cornerstones curriculum).

Teachers and subject leaders ensure progression and continuity across year

groups and classes.

.

Short Term Planning: This indicates, on a daily or weekly basis, what

classes, groups or individuals will learn.

It also provides an opportunity to make notes of individual successes and

needs.

Short term plans are personal working documents for teachers and teaching

assistants. They identify the roles of adults, learning intentions, success

criteria, differentiation, opportunities for assessment using target tracker

statements, resources and comments when appropriate.

Copies of medium and short term plans are kept on the network’s ‘W’ drive.


FOUNDATION STAGE OUTDOOR & CONTINUOUS PROVISION

LEARNING

Week beginning…………………………………………………………..

Learning Theme

Planning for which

Characteristic of effective

learning

Playing & exploring: Active learning:

Creating & Thinking:

LARGE OUTDOOR FOCUS (adult play partner role)

Continuous provision

Activity…

Extra provision added during week

Monday Learning intention/Activity…

Prime Communication & Language: Physical: Personal< social & emotional:

Tuesday Learning intention/Activity…

Wednesday Learning intention/Activity…

Thursday Learning intention/Activity…

Friday Learning

intention/Activity…

Specific Literacy: Mathematics


Questions to ask.. Understanding the world: Expressive arts:


FS1 Short Term Planning using EYFS statutory framework/ T&L policy guidelines/Development matters Week Beginning:

Development Band: Planning for characteristics of effective learning:

This weeks: Prime area focus: Phonics focus: Specific area focus:

Key actions / questions for different roles below …..

Role of volunteers / students

Small Group/Key worker group teaching focus (prime / specific area)

Adult directed task - Key Focus Activities Key vocabulary (for everyone to teach)


Adult directed task - Key Focus Activities Key vocabulary (for everyone to teach)


Adult directed task Key Focus Activities Key vocabulary (for everyone to teach)





Children who need support: Children who are exceeding and need extra challenge:


FS2 Weekly Planner using EYFS statutory framework/ T&L policy guidelines/Development matters/ MMS Week Beginning:

Development Band: Planning for characteristics of effective learning:

Prime area focus:

Key teaching resources needed:

Phonics focus: phonemes to be covered which children will need extension/support

Key Questions that will ensure children think, reflect and extend their learning:

Morning Specific areas focus:

Whole class teaching L.I Focused differentiated teaching L. I. Play partner role: Independent learning tasks

Afternoon Specific area focus:








Afternoon Specific areas focus:


Morning Specific area focus:


Afternoon Whole class teaching L.I Focused differentiated teaching L. I. Play partner role: Independent learning tasks


Specific area focus:

Morning Specific area focus:



Whole class teaching L.I. Focused differentiated teaching L. I. Play partner role: Independent learning tasks

Children who need support: Children who are exceeding and need extra challenge:

KEYSTAGE ONE - SHORT TERM PLANNING FOR LEARNING

CLASS SUBJECT - English (guided reading/phonics have own planning sheets ) sheet

CONTEXT

QUESTIONS – Key (BIG) questions that will ensure children think, reflect and extend their learning Key vocabulary:

LEARNING INTENTION – by teaching this the children will gain knowledge in, the skill of or understand further about….

LEARNING TASKS i.e. all children will…. The majority will…..

Some children will achieve further….

PLENARY/MINI PLEANARIES How I will move the learning forward

EVALUATION – Which children needed support or needed extension. What will I do for those children?

Monday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding) L.I.

Tuesday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding) L.I.


Wednesday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding) L.I.

Thursday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding) L.I.

Friday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding) L.I.

More Able..

Those who need support.. SEND/IEP’s

KS1 FOUNDATION SUBJECTS CLASS SUBJECT - all other subjects

CONTEXT – Why I am teaching this? I want the children to achieve…what children already know…

QUESTIONS – Key (BIG) questions that will ensure children think, reflect and extend their learning Key vocabulary:

LEARNING INTENTION – by teaching this the children will gain knowledge in, the skill of or understand further about….

LEARNING TASKS i.e. all children will….

The majority will…..

Some children will achieve further….

PLENARY/MINI PLEANARIES How I will move the learning forward

EVALUATION – Which children needed support or needed extension. What will I do for those children?

Monday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding)

Subject L.I.

Subject L.I.


Tuesday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding)

Subject L.I.

Subject L.I.

Wednesday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding)

Subject L.I.

Subject L.I.

Thursday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding)

Subject L.I.

Subject L.I.

Friday (highlight knowledge/skill or understanding)

Subject L.I.

Subject L.I.

More Able..

Those who need support..

SEND/IEP’s


Daily Practice

LI and Target Tracker Statement

Introduction Main teaching Reasoning / killer questions

What will I see and hear?

Mo

n

L.I

Tu

es

L.I

We

d

L.I

Th

urs

L.I

Fri

L.I

Children

More Able Those who need support SEND

Where We “Reach for the Stars - Castle Bromwich and...Where We “Reach for the Stars ... Bromwich...

Documents

Transcript of Where We “Reach for the Stars - Castle Bromwich and...Where We “Reach for the Stars ... Bromwich...