(The term “teachers” refers to all teachers, teaching assistants and learning support assistants. The evidence for this will be found within the details of the school’s monitoring activities – lesson obervations, learning walks, pupil voice responses, work scrutiny and pupil progress meetings)
- Teachers demonstrate good knowledge and understanding of the subjects they teach They use questioning highly effectively and demonstrate understanding of the ways pupils learn, through use of AFL and ALP. They identify pupils’ common misconceptions and act to ensure they are corrected.
- Year group teaching teams have shared planning time allowing them to develop effective planning to help pupils learn well. Teachers and full time teaching assistants make good use of lesson time and coordinate learning resources well. They manage pupils’ behaviour highly effectively following clear school designed systems for rewards and sanctions that are consistently enforced. 92% of children feel that the school staff make sure children behave well.
- Teachers provide adequate time for practice to embed the pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills securely. They introduce subject
- Teachers identify and support any pupil who is falling behind, and intervene quickly to help them to improve their learning. Identified children (from Teacher assessment and PAMs) receive appropriate intervention, which is monitored for impact, e.g. phonics, individual reading and writing. Children who receive intervention but continue to make less than expected progress are referred to outside agencies (Advisory Teachers, Educational Psychologists) for further assessment and support.
- Teachers check pupils’ understanding systematically and effectively in lessons, offering clearly directed and timely support. Teachers are encouraged to be creative with flexible lesson structures, allowing teaching to be tailored to the needs of all learners, with some groups revisiting previous learning while others continue to embed their learning.
- Teachers provide pupils with good quality written and verbal feedback, in line with the schools policy, about what pupils can do to improve their knowledge, understanding and skills. The pupils use this feedback effectively over time by improving their current/latest task sometimes but regularly in their future learning tasks.
- Teachers design appropriate and engaging home learning, according to pupils’ age and stage, which consolidates, deepens and broadens children’s learning and prepares pupils very well for future learning tasks in school. Homework tasks are designed to encourage parents to play an active part in their child’s learning.
- Teachers have a strong focus on developing children’s reading, writing, communication and mathematics within an enquiry based curriculum. We encourage a growth mindset through our Learning Without Limits approach. This equips pupils with the necessary skills to make age related progress or better. For younger children in particular, phonics teaching is effective in enabling them to read and spell unfamiliar words.
- Teachers nurture, value and motivate all pupils so that they achieve well. They encourage pupils to focus and persevere, learning from their mistakes. Adults and children alike understand and are becoming resilient to the fact that failure is a part of the learning process. Adults recognise and reward all children’s efforts, through the schools rewards systems, and ensure that pupils take pride in all aspects of their work. Ashcombe Learning Power ensures that teachers and pupils have high expectations of positive attitudes to learning.
- Pupils love the challenge of learning and accept failure as a necessary part of their learning journey. Most are curious and keen to develop, consolidate and deepen their knowledge and skills in lessons and beyond.
- Pupils know how to improve their learning through feedback, written or oral. 87% of children at Ashcombe reported that they know how well they are learning in our pupil questionnaire.
- Parents are provided with clear and timely information on how well their child is progressing and how well their child is doing in relation to the standards expected. Parents are given guidance about how to support their child to improve. 98% of parents stated that they receive valuable information from school and 100% agree that their child is well taught and make good progress.
- Teachers challenge stereotypes and deal effectively with the use of derogatory or aggressive language. The school provides broad and rich curricular experiences which increase pupil awareness of diversity and equality of opportunity, year 4 study Fair Trade, school community support for charities such as Foodbank, Children in Need and Bristol Children’s Hospital.
