Curriculum Offer
We pride ourselves on designing a bespoke curriculum to meet the needs of all pupils whilst ensuring coverage in line with the national curriculum. All schools must deliver the national curriculum, as the Department for Education (DfE) outlines. However, 'how' schools deliver the national curriculum is something schools can decide and we all work hard to make sure the way we teach is both inspiring and inclusive.
The way we teach the curriculum at Riddlesden St Mary's stems from our 4 pedagogical approaches.
Pedagogy in education is the term we use to describe the methods and practices of a teacher. How we teach. At Riddlesden St Mary’s, we pride ourselves on adapting teaching methods that are deeply rooted in research and giving all pupils the tools to succeed. Intelligence is not fixed and it is our role as educators to encourage, enrich and enable everyone to be the best they can be. As a whole school team, we follow the 4 pedagogical domains:
- Mixed ability teaching and learning
- Adaptive teaching approaches
- Developing Oracy throughout the curriculum
- Metacognition – Learning Powers
Mixed ability teaching and learning
As a school, we were the early adopters of mixed-ability teaching and learning. Our journey in moving away from the traditional ‘Higher, middle and lower’ ability grouping began in 2014. Building on the work of Jo Boaler, a mixed-ability approach was originally introduced through the teaching of mathematics. The lesson study approach enabled teaching teams to develop and understanding of the psychology of learning and how our approach to teaching and learning can set the climate. As a result, over time, mixed-ability teaching and learning has become our pedagogical approach in all areas of the curriculum. Children understand the need to work collaboratively, sharing ideas from each other and promoting positive learning behaviours. Through effective, quality-first teaching approaches, our curriculum offer provides all children with the opportunity to develop key skills and knowledge in a way that inspires and ignites a love of learning, regardless of their academic starting point. Teachers have designed effective strategies (please see adaptive teaching approaches) and through strong adult/pupil relationships, can both guide and support every child to be the best they can be.
Adaptive teaching approaches
To enable every child to be the best they can be, the teaching team understands the need to support children in understanding how they learn best. Children need to be given the opportunity to be challenged and they must also be aware of how they learn, the support they may need along their own learning journey and to know that other children may be at a different point in learning but working collaboratively is the best way to help all. All children have the right to an educational offer that, ‘meets the child where they’re at and gets them to where they need to be’. For further information about how we use adaptive teaching strategies, please see below:
rsm adaptive teaching whole school strategies.pdf
Developing Oracy throughout the curriculum
Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. Our curriculum offer is based upon the value of spoken language. Through high-quality texts driving our English curriculum forward, children are able to describe, role play, reason, evidence, listen and respond.
This year, we are delighted to be working with Hywel Roberts to enhance Oracy through a ‘Let’s say’ approach to storytelling. Our teaching team is exploring this concept in English as well as a ‘hook’ into learning across the curriculum. Based on Daniel Willingham's learning theory around storytelling https://teacherhead.com/2018/09/23/great-teaching-the-power-of-stories/, we have adopted a 'Let's say' approach to introducing a 'person, place and problem' to engage all learners.
Our Early Reading approach has a strong emphasis on communication and language, as does our Early Years curriculum offer. Communication and Language is a whole school focus with many children joining our school behind their peers.
In addition, we have been using the EKLAN approach to develop communication and language, particularly in the Early Years.
Alongside Bloom's Taxonomy, the teaching team use the following question styles are used to promote speaking and listening:
Metacognition – Learning Powers
As a school, we must ensure our children have a growth mindset to allow them to rise to challenges faced and to have the ability to learn from failure. 'If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything creative' Sir Ken Robinson. Learning Powers can positively influence children to become more focused and motivated, creating a successful learning environment with children who are resourceful, resilient, reflective and embrace reciprocity. Building Learning Powers is invaluable for learning all across the curriculum and prepares children to be lifelong learners, ready to meet the ever-changing demands of the 21st century. You can find more information here:
https://riddlesdenstmarys.greenhousecms.co.uk/Curriculum/Learning-Powers-Building-a-Growth-Mindset/