Teaching and Learning

Vision for Teaching and Learning

At Twynham TGS, our vision for Teaching and Learning is to ensure all students access a world-class education that leads to the very best outcomes for each student, no matter their starting point, that enables them to pursue their passions, talents and aspirations.  To achieve this, we recognise that all teachers need to be empowered. Our research informed approach to CPD ensures teachers become expert practitioners in their disciplines and have a deep understanding of pedagogy. We have developed a shared language and approach through anchoring our CPD programme to four key texts/models:

  • The Responsive Teaching Model
  • Shaun Allison’s Making Every Lesson Count
  • Rosenshine’s Principles in Action
  • Sherrington’s Walkthrus

Teaching and learning

Even though pedagogical excellence is a key factor in developing a world-class education, we also recognise teachers teach over a range of disciplines, which is why we will ensure teachers continue to develop expertise in subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge by reflecting on the quality of their curricula and evaluating its impact.

By being explicit in our expectations and CPD programme, we aim everyday to develop a culture of excellence so that both staff and students have embedded effective learning habits. This means students and staff can be knowledgeable about the learning process and be able to apply in a range of contexts. We not only want our students to have a strong knowledge base and range of skills, but we also want them to be articulate and confident in their communications. This is why we explicitly teach and model excellence in oracy. This includes identifying tier three vocabulary in each discipline during curriculum planning so where appropriate, staff can pre-teach key terminology that will help students to become experts in their field.

We do not want CPD to be a ‘done unto process’, we recognise we have expert teachers who can support this process. Therefore, we will enable teachers to take ownership and drive our vision across our two schools because they share our commitment to continual professional improvement. We also want them to feel able to challenge and debate so that our CPD programme continually evolves and does not remain static.