Teaching and Learning

All young people will be able to engage with aspirational, challenging content, with individuals being supported to achieve their very best. They will understand the context of their curriculum journey and be enabled to retrieve prior learning, making links with new learning. They will learn new knowledge and skills, which they will apply and remember. They will grow as learners, able to self-regulate, collaborate and use discussion to deepen and reflect on their learning. They will receive on-going, constructive feedback as a crucial part of the learning journey, enabling them to develop and improve continually, as understanding is checked.

To support the development of Teaching and Learning, Walkthrus are a key tool for improvement at Firs Primary School.

At Firs, we have embedded the 5 a day principle, taken from the Education Endowment Foundation. These principles ensure that all SEND pupils have access to High Quality Teaching, which is adapted to meet their needs. At Firs, we have focussed on developing:

1. Explicit Instruction to ensure teachers use clear and succinct language in teaching and checking pupils’ understanding frequently.
2. Scaffolding to ensure scaffolds are provided (visual, verbal and written) that allow all pupils to access the learning.
3. Flexible Groupings to promote peer tutoring, placing pupils in groups in which they learn from one another.
4. Use of Technology to enable teachers to model worked examples and to share pupils' work or rework an incorrect model. Children can use technology to learn, practice and record their work. 
5. Cognitive and Metacognitive strategies to reduce cognitive load; enabling children to understand how they learn best.