Teaching and Learning Letter to Parents
Dear parents and carers,
Re: Teaching and Learning update
It has been an absolute pleasure to visit students in their lessons over the last two weeks and to see them engaged, fully equipped and focused on achieving their true potential.
As part of our drive to improve the standards of presentation, students have worked hard to complete their ‘Best piece of work’ to display in the front of their subject exercise books. This piece of work will be used to set the standard expected by class teachers, and students have been rightly proud to show their work to Senior Leaders as they have visited lessons.
To enable you to support your child’s learning we have provided some information below relating to some of our teaching and learning practices:
Knowledge Organisers
Our curriculum is rich in knowledge and there is a core focus on students knowing more and remembering more. To support with knowledge recall we have introduced subject knowledge organisers. A knowledge organiser sets out the important, useful and powerful knowledge on a topic on a single page. Students in Key Stage 3 have been issued with a booklet containing all of their Knowledge Organisers for this first term. Students in Key Stage 4 have been given Knowledge Organisers for each of the GCSE and Vocational subjects they study.
Students are being taught how to use their Knowledge Organisers to support with knowledge recall, and they will be set tasks to complete at home to revise the key content taught in class. Students are reminded that a Knowledge Organiser is only a starting point for the topic being learnt, they will need to review their class notes and complete additional tasks set by their teachers to gain a deeper understanding of key topics over time.
Homework
Homework is an integral part of our curriculum as homework develops good study habits and independent learning. We will enhance the quality first teaching taking place in each classroom by providing opportunities for homework and extended learning.
The majority of homework tasks set will be centred around the subject Knowledge Organiser. Teachers will assess how well the homework tasks have been completed primarily through low stakes and high challenge tests. If a student has completed the homework set they should be able to recall key knowledge in the test.
All homework tasks will be set on Google Classroom with deadlines clearly displayed. Students in Key Stage 3 will also be asked to record their homework in their planner. We hope you will continue to support us by monitoring your child’s planner and/or Google Classroom notifications and encourage them to complete all homework set.
We would like to take this opportunity to share with you our process for sanctioning the non-completion of homework:
Where students fail to complete their homework and are issued with a faculty detention they will be expected to complete, under staff supervision, the homework they owe. Where a student has completed the homework, they will be advised to utilise the time to support their independent study using their Knowledge Organisers or GCSE revision material. Our detentions will be held in computer suites to allow students to access Google Classroom. All detentions will be held after school from 3.10pm.
A guide to using Google Classroom can be found on our website: http://www.campion.northants.sch.uk/429/guide-to-using-google-classroom
All students in KS3 have been issued with hard copies of their subject Knowledge Organisers for the term, electronic copies can also be found on our website: http://www.campion.northants.sch.uk/430/knowledge-organisers
Feedback
Our students will be provided with regular feedback from their subject teachers as we recognise the importance for students to have a good understanding of the progress they are making; with opportunities to celebrate success and to work on identified areas for improvement. This feedback will not always be in the written form, as verbal feedback provides students with a more instant snapshot of their progress at key points in a lesson. We expect our students to use their red pens to respond to the feedback they are given. This allows the teacher to see they have understood the feedback given and they have made an active effort to further improve their work.
Reading
Being able to read well is a key life skill; reading regularly is hugely beneficial for a student’s academic performance as well as their wellbeing. All of our teachers are advocates for reading and to promote reading for pleasure we have built in 5 minutes reading time to every school day.
|
Time |
|
|
8.35am |
Line up |
|
8.40-9.05am |
Tutor Time |
|
9.05 – 10.05 |
Lesson 1 |
|
10.05- 10.30 |
Break 1 – Year 7 and Year 10 |
|
10.05 – 11.30 |
Lesson 2 (inclusive of a 25 minute break) |
|
11.05 – 11.30 |
Break 2 – Year 8, Year 9 and Year 11 |
|
11.30-12.30 |
Lesson 3 |
|
12.30 – 1.00 |
Lunch 1 – Year 7 and Year 10 |
|
12.30 – 2.00 |
Lesson 4 (inclusive of a 30 minute lunch) |
|
1.30 – 2.00 |
Lunch 2 – Year 8, Year 9 and Year 11 |
|
2.00- 3.05 |
Lesson 5 (Inclusive of 5 minutes silent reading) |
All students are asked to bring reading material with them to school every day as part of their basic equipment list. This may be a book, a magazine, a comic or a revision guide; we are not prescriptive as this is about creating an enjoyment for reading. Teachers will support by sharing reading material which they feel your child may enjoy. Our library is also very well stocked with both fiction and non-fiction material.
We are incredibly proud of our students and the fantastic start they have made to this academic year. I look forward to sharing further teaching and learning updates with you as we progress through the academic year.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs K Bradley-Smith
Deputy Headteacher
