We understand the greatest effect on student learning and outcomes is our expert teaching. Our sixth form ensures a professional environment and culture of high expectation where the power of high quality teaching is fully realised.
Our expert teachers use consistent shared routines and a repertoire of agreed effective teaching practices to focus our students’ learning. This ensures our students experience a consistently high quality of teaching across all subjects.For example, all teachers will make clear to students the purpose of their lesson clarifying what is being learned and why it is important in the wider learning scheme. Teachers will regularly recap previous learning and revisit prior learning. When new information is introduced a variety of methods will be used and teachers will model skills and application of new knowledge to support students’ understanding of new concepts, knowledge and skills as well as clarifying students’ misconceptions. Students will be provided with opportunities for sustained independent practice applying new skills and knowledge to develop their understanding of subject content. Teachers will focus students on the assessment objectives that frame their courses. Feedback will be regularly provided both in lessons and for submitted work. Feedback will be provided in a timely and focused manner to support all students to move their learning forward. High quality effective assessment and marking will support study and progress, making clear the expected effective components of teaching to be used by all teachers.
There is an expectation that students will commit to their studies both in lessons and beyond the classroom. Independent study is an essential aspect of post 16 study. Teachers will set a wide range of additional learning resources to complement the subject’s lesson study and these may include intranet resources, suggested reading resources and wider reading materials and lists. Independent study tasks will be set by teachers with clear deadlines for completion. It is the expectation that students will meet these deadlines and complete the work set to the best of their ability. Teachers are always available to support students when they experience difficulty or require additional support.
To complement subject teaching, students will receive regular study skills guidance and support through the guidance programme to support their development as independent learners.