Teaching and learning is at the core of what we do. Our aim is to provide the highest quality teaching and learning for our students so that they can achieve their potential. We set high targets for our students in order to stretch and challenge them to achieve to the best of their ability.

We recognise that all students have different skills, abilities and aptitudes and we treat them as individuals. Our teaching utilises learning tasks which employ a variety of approaches during lessons to enable effective learning. This promotes progress, achievement and enjoyment and fosters independence.

We believe that Quality First Teaching is critical to students' learning and success. The Teaching and Learning cycle is a framework for all teachers to plan lessons to maximise learning. It is underpinned by research principles that are proven to be effective. The cycle is flexible and allows for responsive teaching.

At Crawshaw, lessons contain the following elements:

Sequencing The big idea, learning objectives, lesson outcomes and success criteria are clear, planning is sequential and flexible for most impact over time, framed within the big picture and shared with students consistently.  

• New concepts and tasks are broken into small steps (chunks)  

Challenge To ensure all students are made to think hard. Memory is the residue of thought. Effective scaffolding will ensure all students are able to reach the same aspirational learning aims. 

Explanation Clarity and precision of effective instruction to ensure novice learners are supported to acquire new knowledge. 

Modelling To ensure students can apply their learning, whilst also transforming substantive knowledge and facts into complex procedures via disciplinary knowledge.   

• Explanations and expected outcomes are made clear through models and worked examples.  
• Teachers explicitly highlight the metacognition required through explanation and modelling.  
• Visualisers or suitable alternatives are used to effectively model and scaffold.  

Scaffolding Teachers teach to the top, plan challenging lessons and scaffold down  

• Class profiles are used to adapt lessons to all SEND students’ needs.  
• Reading and writing is guided and supported  
• Teachers adapt the lesson in response to students’ progress.  

Questioning Rigorous and probing questioning to make our students think hard and to allow our teachers to check for understanding and address misconceptions. 

Questioning is planned and targeted, designed to stretch and challenge students, create opportunities to teach students how to speak eloquently using the formality scale, articulate ideas and thoughts and speak like a geographer, historian, scientist, etc.  

Feedback As part of responsive teaching, feedback must always aim to improve the student and further their learning. Feedback must be more work for the student than the teacher.