Teaching and Learning

At RFSS the development of quality-first teaching and positive learning is central to everything we do. This ensures all our students, regardless of gender, ethnicity or ability, receive the best possible learning experiences to enable them to achieve and maximise their potential. Our forward-thinking curriculum, designed to meet the needs of all learners, is delivered by teachers who embrace the latest innovations in teaching and learning and interact with the most up to date educational research.

Our teaching and support staff adopt a set of Teaching and Learning principles that are research-based and pedagogy-led. When aligned with the school’s strong belief in the importance of relationships for learning between staff and students, the principles ensure all students are seen as individuals who are not limited in what they can achieve. Our framework allows for the systematic growth of minds, and the development of the cognitive skills, values, attitudes and attributes needed to achieve. We aim to make our students ‘self-regulating learners’ which means they develop forethought when approaching tasks, the ability to monitor ways in which they can improve, and an inquisitive nature when reflecting on learning. Above all we think all students should feel a sense of achievement at school.

Below are some images that represent our school Teaching and Learning principles.

Our Teaching and Learning Principles

Our Expectations Of Staff & Students

Below are some links and information. This includes our Teaching & learning Policy and some of the specific strategies we suggest students use to maximise student success.

Teaching & Learning Policy 25 -26

Literacy Strategy

Numeracy Strategy

Cognitive Load Theory

Our Key Principles – An Explanation

SET For Learning: ‘SET’ stands for ‘Silence, Equipment, Task’ and puts the onus on to the student to be ready and prepared for their lesson. Students should begin the lesson in silence, and should begin work on a task displayed by their teacher.

Memory: Linked to SET For Learning, students should be given the opportunity to develop their memory recall and retrieval skills, at the start of each lesson. This could take the form of a Do Now Activity, or an Image-Based task. Students should work on this individually and in silence, unless directed otherwise. This task should be linked to previous sequential learning, or where appropriate, should be linked to previous units (interleaving).

Making Links: Students need to be able to recognise how the learning in one lesson relates to learning in previous lessons, in order to create sequences of learning and to build schemata. As a result, lessons should refer to previous learning and should also be contextualised as to their purpose, and to their place in the real world.

Talking Points: Students should be given the opportunity to discuss their ideas in pairs and in groups, in order to shape perspectives and form appropriate opinions. Students should be encouraged to add to, build on, or challenge the ideas of their counterparts. Talking Points can also be the stimulus for a piece of extended writing or written work.

Assessment: At RFSS, we believe that assessment marks the start of a journey, and should not just be seen as a numerical end-point. Assessment should be both formative and summative, and crucially, should involve a ‘next step’ in order to enable progress. Students should also have the opportunity to see and understand what ‘good’ looks like. With regards to Marking and Feedback, RFSS adopts the FAR approach, which has further details below.

Differentiation: Students, irrespective of their starting point, should be able to access the learning episodes in lessons. Differentiation should be explicit in lessons, and should be explicitly evident within sequences of lessons. As a result of this, there should be clear levels of challenge for all students, with expert questioning also a key feature of this. Ultimately, the teacher should adapt the learning to suit the needs of the students.