Contents
Learning and Teaching Policy.
‘You know a good school when teachers talk about teaching; teachers observe each other teach; teachers plan, organise and evaluate together, and teachers talk to each other’.
Shaun Allison (Director of Research- DMAT)
Rationale
This policy outlines our principles to learning and teaching, drawn from a wide range of educational research. Our goal is to create a supportive and effective learning environment, suited to all students entrusted to our care, with the highest of aspirations and expectations for all. It is the purpose of this policy to maximise student outcomes and teacher efficiency.
Grounded in evidence-informed practices in order to identify those ‘best bets’ or priorities that teachers should aim to develop in order to increase student learning, this policy defines consistencies and key teaching strategies so that teachers can build up a repertoire of expertise, knowing that what they are doing in these key aspects is the same as what is going on in other classrooms across the school.
It is the view of City of Armagh High School that effective learning and teaching, robust assessment systems and curriculum design are inextricably linked. Assessment will play a key role in measuring student progress in the short, medium and long terms. It is the view of this school that assessment is most robust when formative, summative and standardised assessments are integrated to form a coherent and reliable system to measure student progress, enhancing student ownership of learning and self-improvement in the process.
Planning
At City of Armagh High School, our aim is to design lessons that are engaging, inclusive, and aligned with curriculum goals. Planning is a process, not a product. Planning is about hard thinking. Habits of thought are of fundamental importance. The 2-minute lesson plan is a useful tool for recording cognitive thought and concentrating on what is important (see appendix 1).
Evidence informed planning: teachers should use planning methods that are backed by research to optimise lesson effectiveness and student engagement.
Teachers should have a secure view of the starting point, progress and context for all.
Planning should be clear and precise about the knowledge/skills teachers want students to learn, not what they want them to do.
Teachers should do the ‘So why?’ test. Activities, including homework, must be designed to facilitate learning and not keep students busy.
Students should always be clear about what they are trying to achieve and exactly what that could look like.
There must be evidence of long-term planning from schemes of work and short-term planning in the planner.
Differentiation should be planned over time to ensure a quality first approach which meets the needs of students and groups and maximises the use of any additional adults in the room.
Teachers should work closely with the SENCO to ensure they know the needs of individual pupils.
There should be no ‘dead time’. This includes a flying start, with students purposeful from the beginning, possibly using low-stakes retrieval practice.
Teachers should plan lessons that consider the cognitive load on students, ensuring content is digestible and retainable.
Quality first teaching: teachers should prioritise high quality teaching strategies that cater to all learners, including differentiated instruction.
Where applicable, teachers should provide scaffolds for different tasks. This support should be withdrawn over time.
‘Stickability’: teachers should ensure key concepts, skills, knowledge and understanding are revisited and reinforced to enhance long term retention.
When planning lessons, teachers should keep in mind the ‘struggle zone’ to ensure students feel sufficiently challenged.
Teachers should factor in time to allow pupils to engage with feedback. Teachers should also plan for how pupils will receive and use this feedback.
Teaching
Teaching is a lifetime’s craft. ‘Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.’ (Professor Dylan Wiliam)
At City of Armagh High School, our aim is to deliver lessons that are effective, interactive, and responsive to student needs, challenging excelling learners and supporting struggling learners, whilst maintaining high standards for all.
Evidence informed teaching: teachers should apply teaching techniques that are proven to be effective through educational research and evidence.
Teachers should use questions prior to initial teaching in order to assess pupils’ prior understanding.
Teachers should have a strong knowledge of the content that they are teaching and the common misconceptions and typical errors that are likely to arise.
Teachers have the freedom to teach and veer off from the lesson plan when necessary to ensure learning takes place.
Teachers should develop positive relationships by greeting pupils warmly at the start of the lesson, creating a supportive environment for learning.
Teachers should begin their lesson with a short review of previous learning.
Teachers should regularly review the most important concepts that they want students to recall automatically.
Teachers should be explicit about learning outcomes and success criteria, ensuring that all pupils are aware of the level of quality that is required.
Teachers should use clear and direct instruction, including examples, non-examples and worked examples, to introduce new concepts and skills in small chunks, removing redundant information and linking to prior knowledge.
Teachers should demonstrate and model processes and thinking strategies to provide students with clear examples of expected outcomes, thus reducing cognitive load. For example: ‘Think, pair, share’, ‘I do, we do, you do’.
Teachers should give students the opportunity to practise each step before moving on.
Teachers should provide students with opportunities to explain something to another pupil, write without support, solve problems without support, and check their own work.
Teachers should activate students as learning resources, encouraging collaborative learning to build a supportive classroom community.
Teachers should explicitly teach students metacognitive strategies, including how to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning.
Teachers should employ self and peer assessment to improve student understanding and equip them to be able to address their own misconceptions.
All teachers are teachers of literacy and numeracy. The quality of both students’ and teachers’ language is a significant determinant of progress.
Teachers should use regular retrieval routines in the classroom to ensure pupils are confident with the knowledge that they have learned previously.
Teachers should use a variety of methods to elicit and gather evidence of student understanding and learning during lessons.
Questioning should include factual and process questions and allow the teacher to assess the understanding of as many students as possible (pose, pause, pounce, bounce etc.)
Teachers should celebrate success, focusing on effort rather than ability.
Assessment and Feedback
At City of Armagh High School, we believe that formative assessment strategies should be used to enhance student learning, identify learning gaps and inform teaching practices. In this way, it is synonymous with the notion of ‘responsive teaching’. To be most effective, formative assessment must be: specific, frequent, repetitive and recorded.
Summative assessments should be used to gauge student performance and should align with prior teaching. Summative assessment aims to give a shared meaning of student performance.
Feedback should be specific, actionable, and focused on student improvement. Teachers should implement assessment and feedback strategies supported by evidence informed practices to ensure they are effective and impactful.
Formative Assessment (See Teaching)
Before any assessment, teachers should have a secure overview of the starting points, progress and context for all. This will inform how time is spent assessing to improve teaching, learning and assessment.
Summative Assessment
At City of Armagh High school, students sit summative examinations (tracking tests) four times per year at Key Stage 3 and Year 11 (October, December, February and June). Year 12 students sit one summative (mock) examination in January, as well as summative examinations in October and February. Year 11 and 12 students (Key Stage 4) may also take part in formal GCSE examinations in November, January, May and June but this depends on subjects taken by the student.
The summative examinations (tracking tests) typically take the form of standard tasks (the same tasks undertaken by all students in a year group) in standard conditions, i.e. in a formal examination setting.
Students receive a percentage/grade score for their summative assessments at Key Stage 3. At Key Stage 4, students receive grades. The CAT (Cognitive Ability Test) flat grade and CAT ‘if pushed’ grade is also noted on the report for comparison along with indicators for effort and conduct. Parents will receive 1-2 data-based reports (including scores from assessment tracking tests in October and February) and one comment-based report each year, outlining their child’s performance. City of Armagh High School undertakes significant analysis of student results following each set of summative examinations and / or external GCSE examinations, including: an analysis model at Key Stage 4 which compares students’ scores in a range of subjects with their scores from standardised assessments;
Examples of summative assessment used at City of Armagh High School include:
Standardised Assessments
Standardised assessments with scaled scores provide teachers with information about how students compare to their peer group nationally on some important academic measures. These assessments are helpful in diagnosing weaknesses, areas for development and setting targets. Typically, these assessments are non-curriculum linked, and provide a snapshot of developed ability in domains such as literacy, numeracy and spatial awareness. Such assessments can provide useful information regarding the nature of scaffolds needed in the classroom and required intervention processes to progress students in literacy and numeracy skills.
When newly in the school, students will sit a battery of standardised tests. These tests are then repeated at more advanced levels each year in order to ascertain progress. City of Armagh High School uses standardised assessments in order to distinguish and define types of achievement:
High achievement - students who score 115 or above in standardised literacy and numeracy assessments.
Over achievement – students who score significantly higher in standardised literacy and numeracy assessments when compared with the non-verbal standardised score. ‘Significant’ is normally defined as anything higher than the mean standard deviation for the pupil by 10.
Low achievement - students who score 90 or below in standardised literacy and numeracy assessments.
Under achievement - students who score significantly lower in standardised literacy and numeracy assessments when compared with the non-verbal standardised score. ‘Significant’ is normally defined as anything lower than the pupils mean score by 10.
The calendar on the following page (table 1.) outlines the type and frequency of assessments used at City of Armagh High School.
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Year Group |
Test |
Time |
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Year 8 |
CAT ‘D’ |
September |
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PTM 11 |
September |
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PTE 11 |
September |
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PASS 3 |
September |
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Tracking Test 1 |
October |
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Tracking Test 2 (Winter Exams) |
December |
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Tracking Test 3 |
February |
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Tracking Test 4 (Summer Exams) |
End of May/June |
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Year 9 |
PTM 12 |
September |
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PTE 12 |
September |
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Tracking Test 1 |
October |
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Tracking Test 2 (Winter Exams) |
December |
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Tracking Test 3 |
February |
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Tracking Test 4 (Summer Exams) |
End of May/June |
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Year 10 |
PTM 13 |
September |
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PTE 13 |
September |
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Tracking Test 1 |
October |
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Tracking Test 2 (Winter Exams) |
December |
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CAT F |
February |
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PASS 3 |
February |
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Tracking Test 3 |
February |
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Tracking Test 4 (Summer Exams) |
End of May/June |
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Year 11 |
PTM 14 |
September |
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PTE 14 |
September |
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Tracking Test 1 |
October |
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Tracking Test 2 (Winter Exams) |
December |
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Tracking Test 3 |
February |
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Tracking Test 4 (Summer Exams) |
End of May/June |
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Year 12 |
Tracking Test 1 |
October |
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Tracking Test 2 (Mock Exam) |
January |
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Tracking Test 3 |
March |
Table 1. Assessment Calendar
At Key Stage 4, standardised assessments provide predicted minimum GCSE grades (CAT Flat grade) which are used to set targets in Years 11 and 12 with students to identify value-added at a subject level following terminal examinations.
Feedback
All feedback strategies employed within the school should be evidence-informed, drawing on current educational research and best practices to ensure they effectively support student learning and progress.
Marking should be primarily formative, selective and make clear what students must act upon. Assessment and feedback must be regular and proportionate to curriculum time. Where meaningful, teachers should use the school’s marking code to streamline feedback and make it easily understandable for students.
Teachers should engage in live marking during lessons to provide immediate feedback and address misconceptions on the spot.
Teachers should encourage students to be independent in identifying problems within their own work (e.g. find and fix).
Teacher feedback should focus on the task, the processes used or pupil self-regulation. This can be given to the whole class, groups of pupils or individuals.
The most effective timing is determined by the task, the pupil and understanding of the class.
Feedback can be written, verbal or nonverbal. It can come from the teacher, someone taking a teaching role, or from peers.
Teachers should use whole-class verbal feedback to show common errors and misconceptions and discuss examples of excellent work.
Teachers should encourage a growth mindset by celebrating mistakes as learning opportunities and use the language of ‘not yet’.
Teachers should regularly moderate and review student work with colleagues, either in their department or in other parts of the school, always taking context into account. This will help identify any gaps between the learning you wanted to happen and the learning that actually happened.
Implementation and Review
To ensure the effective execution of our learning and teaching policy, we will adopt a structured approach to implementation and continuous review. This section outlines the key strategies and processes we will employ to embed the policy into our daily practices, monitor its impact, and make necessary adjustments based on feedback and evolving educational needs. Our commitment to regular evaluation and improvement will help us maintain high standards of teaching and learning, fostering an environment where both students and staff can thrive.
Senior leaders should implement best practices identified through benchmarking and research.
Senior leaders should provide regular training sessions for teachers on evidence-informed practices.
Senior leaders should encourage ongoing professional development for teachers to stay updated with best practices and innovative teaching methods.
Senior leaders should encourage staff to engage in reflective practice and self-evaluation.
Senior leaders should conduct periodic reviews of teaching practices and student outcomes to ensure the policy’s effectiveness (student performance data, attendance and engagement)
Senior leaders should gather feedback from students, teachers and parents to continuously improve the policy.
Teachers should be encouraged to observe other teachers and reflect on their own teaching practices.
Senior leaders should provide regular reports to stakeholders on the learning and teaching policy.
Remote And Blended Learning
Blended learning is broadly defined as:
‘An approach to education whereby schools will combine classroom-based teaching and learning methods within school, with a range of remote learning in order to deliver the Northern Ireland curriculum.’ (DE Circular no. 2020/06)
Remote learning is broadly defined as:
The process of delivering education to students who are not physically present in a traditional classroom setting.
Staff at City of Armagh High School can continue to provide education and support to our pupils using remote learning. We use the following guidelines:
remote learning and interaction between home and school is conducted primarily using Microsoft Teams, although to enhance learning, a few other school approved platforms may be used. This allows staff to keep in contact, in a professional and confidential manner, with each pupil in their class.
Teachers are able to schedule learning in a way which does not overwhelm or concern our pupils. Learning and teaching are tailored, changed and updated as time progresses, allowing for replication of classroom activity to the best of our ability. In all communications we adhere to our commitment to maintaining pupil wellbeing.
Flexibility
In our planning and expectations, we are aware of the need for flexibility from all sides. We endeavour to provide as wide a curriculum offer as possible; access to technology as a family may be limited; teachers may be trying to manage their home situation; systems may not always function as they should. An understanding of and willingness to adapt to these difficulties on all sides is essential for success.
Expectations
In the case of long-term blended/remote learning, we believe that it is in the best interests of our pupils that we continue to provide structured support to the best of our ability. Bearing in mind the need for flexibility, we understand that work may be completed out of sync with when it is shared however it may be necessary to set some deadlines. That said, the work that pupils engage in remotely will be part of our current planning and therefore should not be considered as ‘optional’.
Pupils and parents should consider the arrangements as set out in this document as highly recommended. School will be monitoring and following normal policy regarding pupil participation. Online teaching is an extension of the classroom. All principles outlined in the Acceptable Use Policy will apply to all online teaching activity.
Teaching staff should...
-Share teaching and activities with their class regularly, primarily via MS Teams, and offer guidance as to the amount of time to be dedicated to each subject
-Provide hard copies of resources only in specific agreed circumstances. The return of work will be agreed with subject teachers
-Continue teaching in line with current, extensive planning that is already in place throughout the school
-Provide suitable resources to enable pupils to access the curriculum
-Give credence to the fact that learning remotely will be more difficult, so tasks may be adapted and supported in smaller steps to allow for this
-Differentiate work accordingly
-Keep in contact with pupils through C2K supported platforms only
-Reply to messages and give feedback on activities from Monday to Friday only
-Adhere to safeguarding guidelines throughout
-Carry out formative assessment of pupil learning
-Set homework primarily using MS teams
Pupils should…
-Know their C2K login details and how to access this from outside school
-Complete and return, via the C2K network, all work set by their teacher both at school and at home
-Adhere to the school’s Safeguarding Policy regarding online etiquette
-Not screenshot or copy any information, messages or posts to share on social media or any other platform
-Only access the material shared by their teacher and will ask for parental permission to use technology for anything beyond that
-Read daily, either independently or with an adult
-Ask the teacher/classroom assistant immediately, when unsure, about any element of their learning
-Be assured that wellbeing is at the forefront of our thoughts and take regular breaks, get fresh air, exercise and maintain a reasonable balance between online engagement and offline activities.
Parents should …
-Support their child’s learning to the best of their ability and ensure that the appropriate time is dedicated to each subject area with reference to their child’s ‘in-school’ timetable
-Create a space and schedule, if possible, to allow their children to continue their learning
-Encourage their child to access and engage with their teacher both remotely and in class
-Inform the school immediately when access to online learning is problematic
-Inform the school immediately if permission for their child to participate in ‘live’ online lessons is not given
-Not screenshot or copy any information, messages or posts to share on social media or any other platform
-Know that they can continue to contact their class teacher as normal through C2K supported platforms or by phoning the school
-Ensure that they provide their child with the necessary equipment to complete tasks at home (e.g. pens, colouring pencils, calculator etc)
-Check their child’s completed work each day and encourage the progress that is being made
-Be mindful of the evolving situation and therefore the mental wellbeing of themselves, their child and of teachers.
There may be minor variations to this policy where in the Principal’s judgement it is in the best interests of the school.
Evaluation- This policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year review cycle.
RECORD OF POLICY AMENDMENTS
The following table outlines any significant changes/amendments made to this procedure since it was ratified by the Board of Governors on:
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DATE OF REVIEW OR AMENDMENT |
SUMMARY OF CHANGED / AMENDMENTS TO PROCEDURE |
AMENDED BY
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