Learning & Teaching

The quality of learning and teaching is the most important aspect of any school. We are committed at Abbot Beyne School to providing the best possible learning experiences for all our students. Similarly, we strive to ensure that our teachers are on a continuous journey of self improvement. We have ensured that our CPD provision for teachers is derived from research-based best practice. 

Great teachers at Abbot Beyne School:
  • Know their subjects inside out and have a passion for teaching that subject
  • Use a range of research based best practices that enable students to learn effectively
  • Build good relationships with students to enable them to learn effectively
  • Instil effective routines for learning that support all students to achieve
  • Use technology to support and stretch students while enriching their learning experiences

Consequently, our framework for learning is based around the following five areas:

Content knowledge

Pedagogical knowledge

Relationships

Behaviour for learning

Technological knowledge

Abbot Beyne Learning Framework

Knowledge Organisers

Each subject makes use of knowledge organisers to support learning and teaching. A knowledge organiser is a single page document that contains the key terms and concepts that students need to learn for a unit of work.

The knowledge organiser is used in a number of ways:

  • A point of reference for students
  • An overview of the key content and concepts for a unit of work
  • A revision aid for students
  • A resource to support the process of low stakes testing

Research based best practice indicates that regular testing of students’ ability to recall knowledge improves student learning. Teachers make effective use of assessment in the classroom to facilitate this and knowledge organisers form the basis of much of this testing.

Homework

Homework Policy 

The purpose of homework at Abbot Beyne School is to promote deep and independent learning and to extend learning in lessons. Learning is the long-term retention of knowledge and the ability to transfer it to new contexts. As such, homework should support learning.

Homework tasks should:

  • Require students to revise and consolidate previously taught knowledge
  • Require students to practise new skills using that knowledge
  • Require students to prepare for the learning that will take place the following lesson
  • Encourage students to develop the practice of independent learning
  • Develop perseverance, self-discipline and the ability to organise unsupervised study
  • Open up areas of study and make possible the use of materials and sources of information that are not accessible in the classroom, promoting research skills

Individual teachers will specify how work is submitted. Our aim is to ensure ALL students engage in useful and meaningful activities outside the classroom. We ask parents to support us in seeing that homework is done conscientiously and in the best possible conditions.

 

Staff Guidance on Homework Tasks  

All homework instructions will be set in Showbie on the school iPad and should include:

  • The date the homework is due
  • Explanation of the homework task
  • Resources needed to complete the task
  • Support and extension materials should also be available as appropriate
  • Details of how the work will be evidenced and/or submitted to the teacher

Homework will be set in the following format on Showbie –  Homework – <title of task>

Rewards, linked to our House Point System, will be given for high quality completion of homework. Students should receive homework every lesson (although for subjects with two lessons per week this can be combined in to one homework) along the following times:

Key Stage 3 – 20 minutes per homework

Key Stage 4 – 30 minutes per homework

Homework Policy

Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy