Our Teaching Pedagogy

KS Teaching Pedagogy: Evidence in action

Both the content and delivery of our curriculum is evidence led.

Rosenshine’s Principles of Effective Instruction (click here) are used across the curriculum to secure children's engagement and progress.

For example:

Maths

Phonics

Daily review to allow for over learning
Small steps in teaching and learning ensure deep understanding
Adults model procedures, the effective use of resources to expose the maths and worked examples
Scaffolds in the form of concrete and pictorial resources are provided
Adults ask questions to check children’s understanding and deepen thinking
Children move from guided to independent practice.

Daily review of phonemes and words ensure knowledge retention
Small steps in teaching and learning allow for secure understanding
Adults model each aspect of learning e.g. blending and segmenting
Scaffolds are provided in the form of adult support and visual aids.
Children move from guided to independent practice.

The EEF guidance and recommendations, which are based on robust research are used to inform and develop our practise (click here)

The following are a few key examples of our evidence led practice.

LITERACY

The EEF guidance for Early Literacy and that for Improving Literacy at KS1 and KS2 emphasises the importance of speaking and listening

Evidence shows that oracy:

improves academic outcomes
underpins literacy and vocabulary acquisition
supports well-being and confidence
enables young people to access employment and thrive in life beyond school
develops citizenship and agency. (Oracy APPG)

Oracy is central to our pedagogy. For example:

Mathematics	Children are taught stem sentences and expected to explain their mathematical thinking in complete sentences
English	Talk for Writing is embedded across the school and puts talk at the heart of the writing process. Children learn oral stories by heart, explore stories though drama and role play and when writing are encouraged to articulate their ideas and sentences before writing
P4C	Provides numerous opportunities for children to share their thoughts and opinions through structured conversations

Vocabulary is a crucial aspect of oracy, language development and comprehension. The EEF Guidance for Early Literacy and that for KS1 and KS2 all recommend the implicit and explicit teaching of new words to develop language. At Katherine Semar vocabulary is a focus across the curriculum. We have developed both an academic word spine and a vocabulary spine which encompasses all subjects. In addition, vocabulary is explicitly taught through talk for writing and as part of partnered and whole class reading.

The SEEC model guides our explicit teaching of new vocabulary. ( Alex Quigley 2020 - click here).

The EEF (2018) Teaching and Learning Toolkit: Collaborative Learning (click here) suggests that peer collaboration has a positive effect on learning but ‘structured approaches with well-designed tasks lead to the greatest learning gain.’

Kagan structures are embedded across the school and provide a structure for collaborative talk.

For example:

Kagan Structure: Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up

Examples of use Across the Curriculum

Cue the students to stand up, hand up and pair up using a hand signal or a word such as "go".
Students stand up and keep one hand high in the air until they find the closest partner. Students do a "high five" and put their hands down.
Partners share their questions/ responses and discuss their answers.
Children thank each other and move on to find another partner

English:

Each child has a word card. When they pair up each partner has to give an oral definition for their partner’s word.

Maths:

Each child has a dot pattern card. When they pair up each partner has to say a sentence about what they see e.g. I see 4 and 2.

History:

Each child has a picture of their house. When they pair up the children orally identify a similarity/ difference.

Science:

Each child has a picture of an animal. When they pair up the children have to orally say which animal group their partners animal belongs to e.g. a frog is an amphibian.

P4C:

Each child has a ‘Would you rather’ card (e.g. Would you rather be a knife or a fork?) When they pair up the children discuss which they would prefer to be and why, using a sentence stem.

MATHEMATICS

The EEF guidance for Early Mathematics and that for Improving Mathematics at KS1 and KS2 emphasises the use of manipulatives and representations to develop understanding.

Evidence shows that manipulatives and representations:

can be powerful tools for supporting children to engage with mathematical ideas
help children make sense of mathematical concepts
help children to develop visual images
increase enjoyment
help practitioners see what children understand and provide a bridge to abstract thinking.

(Griffiths, Back and Gifford 2016)

We follow the CPA approach (concrete, pictorial, abstract) and hence manipulatives and representations are used across the key stages. Practitioners carefully select the most effective manipulate to teach a specific concept and model how to use them to expose the mathematical structures and concepts.

METACOGNITION AND SELF-REGULATION

‘There is a strong body of research from psychology and education demonstrating the importance of metacognition and self-regulation to effective pupil learning. The Sutton Trust-EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit—which summarises international evidence—rates ‘metacognition and self-regulation’ as a high impact, low cost approach to improving the attainment of disadvantaged learners’ (EEF).

Through teacher modelling, children are taught to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning as recommended in the EEF guidance for Metacognition and Self Regulated Learning.

For example:

	ART
Plan	Children explore and research examples of art (e.g. portraits) before embarking on their own creations. They are then encouraged to use this exploration to inform the next stage of the task. Teachers may model this by asking ; What have I/you learned from the examples we have looked at? What resources will I/you need to carry out my/your own (portrait)?
Monitor	Children are encouraged and taught how to monitor their learning. Whilst modelling the drawing of a portrait a teacher may ask; Am I doing well? Are all my facial features in proportion? Is there anything I need to stop and change to improve my self-portrait?
Evaluate	Children are encouraged and taught how to evaluate their learning Once their art (portrait) is complete, the teacher may ask; How did I do? How would I do a better (portrait) next time?

In addition, as recommended by EEF, children are explicitly taught metacognitive skills. For example, in writing ;

The Seven Step Model: Instructional Writing
Activating Prior Knowledge	Discussion about what the children already know about instructional writing – when and why it is used and the features they can recall
Explicit strategy instruction	Identification of features and structure – explicitly explains
Modelling of learned strategy	Shared writing
Memorisation of strategy
Guided practice	Innovation
Independent practice	Invention
Structured Reflection	Teacher encourages children to reflect on how successful is their writing