Teaching and Learning Policy

 Aims and Values

 Learning, Teaching and Assessment Statements
 Effective Parent-Partnership
 Adult Learning
 Mantle of the Expert-an overview

October 2007
Recreation Road Infant School

Aims and Values

To provide a safe and nurturing learning environment for all

To develop lively and enquiring minds through an enquiry-based
curriculum

To develop learning opportunities beyond the classroom

To develop healthy and positive attitudes to learning and living

To promote positive parent-partnership

To enable pupil-voice and participation

To enable pupils to benefit from professionally developing staff
At Recreation Road we believe that Learning:

 Is a process of making meaning of the world

 Is an innate and lifelong process
 Is something all humans want to do
 Is profoundly affected influenced by social relationships, self-concept and
emotions
 Is more effective when information is embedded in purposeful and meaningful
experiences
 Is about being able to connect prior knowledge, perceptions or experience to
new experience, information and contexts
 Occurs all the time in a variety of contexts
 Is demonstrated when learners can apply their understanding in new situations
in flexible and thought provoking ways.

Therefore in Recreation Road Infant School you will see:

 An enquiry-based curriculum that is purposeful, relevant and collaborative

 The use of a range of questioning to help the learner reflect and deepen their
understanding
 Learning developed through children’s interests, needs and aspirations
 Authentic contexts for learning
 Acknowledgement of learning outside of the school context
 Use of a range of learning environments and audiences
 Ways to encourage metacognition
 Positive and rewarding relationships with all: children and children, adults and
children, adults and adults
 Learning valued by all through staff taking on professional development,
community involvement, recognition of learning attributes acknowledged
through reports to parents, useful communication between home and school
We believe that Teachers should:

 Recognise the educational potential in risk-taking, mistakes or errors

 Encourage learners to develop the 5 “R”s as defined by Guy Claxton
 Provide a consistently safe, positive and secure learning environment
 Acknowledge emotions
 Recognise and respect differences
 Provide time for learning to happen
 Communicate positive expectations and confidence in the learners’ abilities
 Be knowledgeable about the National Curriculum
 Be able to benefit from collaborative networks
 Build on social, personal and cultural experience, knowledge and skills that
the learner brings to learning
 Develop positive relationships with and between all
 Plan for purposeful teacher/learner and learner/learner interactions
 Build a sense of community
 Connect what is being taught to real-life or hypothetical experiences
 Relate what is being taught to learners’ experiences and interests
 Make connections between learning experiences
 Be aware of how their own behaviour influences the context for learning
 See themselves as learners
 Maintain a sense of humour

Therefore in Recreation Road Infant School you will see:

 Pupil Interest Diaries used to plan for and extend learning opportunities
 Parent-partnership
 Opportunities for Family-Learning
 Genuine interest in what pupils are thinking, saying and doing
 Careful and considered use of language to encourage reflection and thought
 Staff using the National Curriculum to develop key skills and the curriculum
 Active participation in Primary Learning Networks, Cluster networks and
professional Forums
 Enquiry-based learning through a range of strategies eg Mantle of the Expert,
problem-solving, drama conventions or philosophy for children
 Effort being praised rather than just outcomes
 The emphasis on intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic rewards
 Interesting and lively people who are interested in the world around them
 An emphasis placed on Personal, Health and Social Education
 Flexible timetables to allow for immersion in learning
 Staff enabled to take risks and to reflect
 Staff involved in action-research to further their own and the school’s
development
 A range of extra-curricular activities
 A “continual conversation” about teaching and learning
 A range of teaching styles, approaches and strategies used
 Staff knowledgeable teaching and learning
 Collaborative learning opportunities for pupils and for staff eg. with networks
and cluster groups etc
 Emphasis on Continued Professional Development for all staff
At Recreation Road Infant School we believe that Assessment:

 Is primarily used to improve learning

 Includes the monitoring of the learners’ well-being
 Involves learners self-assessing and developing their capacity to monitor their
own learning
 Should provide timely, genuine and constructive feedback
 Focuses on demonstrations of understanding moving beyond gathering and
recalling information
 Incorporates judgements from a variety of sources
 Judgements are moderated through collaboration to enhance reliability and
validity

Therefore at Recreation Road Infant School you will see:

 Pupils developing self-assessment skills
 Verbal feedback provided to improve learning
 Children encouraged to use Learning Journals
 Children invited to reflect upon their emotional well-being through use of
Blob-Tree for example
 Evidence of group work as well as that from individuals
 Assessment information used to plan for new learning opportunities
 Reflection time about learning built in to lessons/staff meetings
 Assessment being used to diagnose areas for intervention and challenge
Staff and Governors at Recreation Road School view strong parent-partnership as a real asset
to the school. It impacts strongly on teaching and learning, empowering parents to play a full
and supportive role in their child’s learning. It empowers parents giving them the skills to
develop their own knowledge and understanding and provides them with the confidence to
continue their own learning. A report on the Impact of parental Involvement on Children’s
Education (Dfes LEA/0339/2003) states that:

• In the early years parental involvement has a significant impact on children’s cognitive
development and literacy and number skills
• Parental involvement in a child’s schooling for a child between the ages of 7 and 16 is a
more powerful force than family background, size of family and level of parental education
• Educational failure is increased by lack of parental interest in schooling
• Many parents want to be involved in their child’s education. In a recent study in
England 72% of parents said that they wanted more involvement

We must remember that parents are the child’s first educators and that the experiences and
information they have to share is very valuable. We must value their home experiences and
allow for them to generate further learning opportunities within the classroom. We must
respect parents and treat their concerns seriously and with sensitivity. Many parents may feel
intimidated and worried about coming into school and we need to make it as easy as possible
for parents to feel welcomed and wanted in school. This is done at Recreation Road Infant
School, in the first instance, through staff being warm, welcoming and able to chat socially.
Through allowing all parents in each morning to settle their children the parents can use these
informal times to pass on information to staff, to raise questions or concerns they have. This
allows issues to be dealt with immediately and also stops concerns “festering” or parents
having the feeling that only big issues can be raised because they have to make an
appointment etc.
The benefits for us are that parents can be easily kept informed, parents can offer support in
the school, staff get to know the child as a person in a family and can share the highs and
lows, staff can enjoy the social side of their job and parents can see the human side of the
staff.

How do we reach the “Hard to reach” parents-

We must be aware that there will always be some parents who do not feel comfortable
coming into school and may appear disinterested in their child’s learning. It is important to
continue to apply all of the above to these parents-particularly the issue of respect and taking
issues seriously. Key staff can “target” particular parents and talk to them more directly
about coming into school. It may also be better for Teaching Assistants to discuss issues with
them as this may lessen the formality. It is also important that we provide a wide range of
activities to draw people in. Above all it is useful try to use the children to involve their
parents-get the children to write invitations to events/meetings, reward comments in contact
books with stickers for children, do more family-orientated activities and find out what
individuals are good at and target them eg. a dad who was a builder seemed reluctant to talk
about the learning when his son was in reception but when the teacher asked him directly to
donate some pipes etc he felt valued and started to initiate conversation about what the
children were doing.

Our Family Learning activities are evaluated after each event and parents asked to comment
on how useful they found the event and what they would like to see more of. These
evaluations then form the basis of our future planning for Family-Learning events.
 Parent-Partnership What Do We Do and Why
What We Do
Open Door Policy-all carers welcomed into school
between 8:45-9:00
Welcoming Office staff
flexiblity in areas such as meals etc
Headteacher-visible around school
Follow up letters sent to parents re. incidents etc
Classroom staff available for informal chat between 8:45-
9:00 and at end of day 3:00-3:30
Daily Contact Book –general comments re.
learning/attitude/emotions etc
Interest Diary- to record specific interests
What We Are Learning document available each term -
hard copy/website
Curriculum policies/guidelines available in foyer
Curriculum sessions held half-termly
Community/Family Learning sessions
Parent-helpers encouraged-trained/supported
Software/subscriptions extended for home use
Community Art Projects held regularly
Parents questionnaires and feedback
Parents Group-
Reading/Coffee Mornings
Reg. Governor Surgeries held
Annual Community Open Evening
3 opportunities for formal parent-teacher consultations
Thorough Record of Achievement sent home in Summer
Photographic displays around school
Regular/informative newsletters inc. Reading For Pleasure
Newsletter
Website available with link to Making the News
Why/Impact
Make it easy for parents to come into school-informal
contact with staff, find out what children have been/will be
learning/meet other parents
Issues can be dealt with sensitively-support given as
necessary-information accessible
HT gets to know families-greets them/available for informal
meetings
Parents feel issues are taken seriously- on-going not just
brushed off-feel that they can go back and follow up issues
As before
Working parents can still feel involved-children and parents
can share info. about learning/dispositions
Obvious link between home and school-motivating for child
who can become teacher/parents taken seriously/sch
interested in what happens outside of school
Parents know what curriculum is and reinforces practical
ways of supporting learning at home-resources are available
eg. websites
Parents have ease of access to policy
Parents can find out how their children learn in various
subjects and how to support them at home-fun and
stimulating for parents too
School seen as hub of community-all aspects of learning
deemed important-parents can gain new skills/meet new
people/share a talent
Best use of parent helpers-aid teaching/learning in
classroom-gives parents better understanding of their role-
encourages some to go on to develop careers in childcare
Link between home and school is explicit-children can
continue learning at home/parents can support them
Fun/creative activities to involve whole families-gets people
talking
Families feel they can play a part in the4 school’s
improvement and development-responses are valued and
acted upon
Social/Fund Raising group-provides opportunities for
extended learning/community use of school
Share experiences of children's’ books/reading-look at
school’s resources so that they can help their own children-
get to know new people
General issues can be raised informally-parents get to see
Govs as real people they can talk to
Shares and celebrates school’s achievements-family
activities to help new intake/social evening/adults and
children learning together
Formal opportunity to talk about child’s progress/look
through work/identify next steps
Thorough record of learning with an emphasis on attitudes
to learning
Parents can see what is going on-background to
activities/celebrate events
Information is shared-a forum to ask questions/ask for
responses/celebrate achievements/remind about procedures
On-going information site about what is going on at
RRIS/children’s own reports of events/visits etc
Adult Learning at Recreation Road Infant School

We believe that:

• Leaders have a responsibility to promote everyone’s learning-adults and children

• Leaders have a moral imperative to develop the next generation of school leaders
• High quality coaching supports professional development, leadership
sustainability and school improvement
• Coaching is about unlocking potential- bring the best out in people

We are aware of Glaser’s Learning Cycle to facilitate experiential learning and use
this to provide high quality experiences for adults:
Step 1- Getting the group on track-focus on skills, concepts and attitudes to be
covered
Step 2- Structured Learning Experience- for example watch video, read about case
studies, set up simulation/game/activity
Step 3- Processing/presenting- group discussions/small group presentation of
ideas/findings
Step 4- Theory Input- relevant theory to clarify learning and reflection.
Step 5- Feedback- on current use of skills, knowledge or attitudes through variety of
methods eg style/skills inventory/observations
Step 6- Skill practice, knowledge and application- opportunities for groups/individual
to practise and apply their learning
Step 7- Evaluation- reviewing experiences so far how has learning moved on thinking
on.
This cycle can extend over a number of sessions or be encapsulated within one
session.
As a school we work to the principles of the Investors in People Standards: “taking
effective action to improve the performance of the organisation through its people”
Please refer to our Continuing Professional Development Policy.
Mantle of the Expert- an overview

The Mantle of the Expert system (MoE) is an approach to education that is rooted in
enquiry, community and dramatic imagination. It is the name given to drama- based
approach to education devised by Dorothy Heathcote from University of Newcastle
Upon Tyne.
Children and adults investigate aspects of the curriculum through shared, focused and
extended enquiry in contexts for learning that are; purposeful, authentic and
meaningful to everyone. When teachers use MoE they create conditions in their
classrooms where children can learn from others in activities that draw on and extend
their existing expertise.
The classroom community supports and sustains the creation of imaginary
communities where children learn collaboratively as they take on the role of the
expert and the clients. The dramatic imagination of children, apparent in pretend play,
is harnessed and extended through adult participation alongside children as they
explore curriculum topics.

Bibliography and resources:

www.mantleoftheexpert.com
www.imaginative-enquiry.co.uk

Drama For Learning: Dorothy Heathcote’s Mantle of the Expert Approach to

Education- D. Heathcote and G Bolton