Learning

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils to succeed. In most subjects, curriculum leaders skilfully plan when pupils learn new knowledge. This means that pupils know and remember more. Pupils build on their previous learning so that they learn more complex knowledge as they move through the year groups. Teachers’ subject knowledge is strong. They work together in subject departments to create interesting resources. Teachers use assessment well. They find out how much pupils know and remember and then support pupils who fall behind. Teachers plan carefully how they introduce technical language so that pupils can adapt it and use it with confidence in their speaking and writing. (Ofsted, February 2020)

Teaching and learning at John Colet School aims to be engaging, challenging and purposeful. Students are expected to be active learners and teachers are expected to provide lessons which help equip young people with the knowledge, skills and understanding to enable success. Formative feedback from the teacher enables students to be reflective as they progress each lesson. Every lesson should contribute to the young people in our care becoming well-developed individuals of good character who are confident and capable to make a contribution to society. They will be well-informed about progression routes at 16 and 18.

The school makes use of Google Classroom to deliver learning materials to students, including homework and provision of support when online learning is required. All students have login details and should doing so on a daily basis. This document summarises some of the key aspects of this powerful package and you mind this video useful.

A key factor in ensuring students are getting the best education comes from the Tuesday collaborative weekly planning sessions. This time is dedicated to planning lessons together to achieve a common goal of excellence in the classroom. Alongside a range of Continued Professional Development opportunities for teachers, we aim to help develop our staff so that they can continue to help develop each student. During this time JCS teachers have prepared a number of short videos to support students when revising for tests or examinations. The 12 COGS videos are available to students on Google Drive, but also on YouTube for parents.

Homework

Students working at home is important because:
• It reinforces the principle that learning is a process that cannot be confined to school hours.
• It allows students time to pursue work to a greater depth.
• It provides students with the experience of working quietly in their own time to further develop their study and independent learning skills.

Homework is set online via Google Classroom for which students are issued with login details.

Homework is an area where the partnership between school and parents can help the students. Parents should ensure that students do their homework under suitable conditions, ideally in a quiet, dedicated space where the completion of the homework can be monitored. By showing an interest in what is set from Year 7 parents help to establish the importance of homework and set clear structures that will help your child throughout their schooling.

Year 11 After School Revision

Throughout the year subject departments offer the chance to Year 11 students to revise for their mocks and GCSE exams according to this rota.

3Ras

Parents will be very familiar with our character three Rs (ready, responsible, respectful) and we wanted to echo this easily identifiable ethos within the Teaching and Learning of the school. We have adopted the academic Rs or 'Ras', building on learning values we hold as a school. The three academic Rs are: resourceful, resilient, readers. Our 'Resourceful Learners' rely on sources of information other than the teacher. We support them to do this by teaching revision strategies, modelling questions, prompting to investigate vocabulary but they then create their own revision resources, investigate key vocabulary and make the most of all learning opportunities. Our 'Resilient Learners' develop a growth mindset. We give the confidence and headspace to do this but students need to then embrace feedback and act on advice. Our 'Readers' make reading an expectation of every day, interrogate what they have read and search out reading opportunities.

The assembly below was shown to all students to provide a clear understanding of what resourceful, resilient readers look like including a brief quiz!

3Ras Assembly (September 2022)

Online Learning Platforms

If your child is absent from a lesson they are expected to catch up in order to avoid gaps in their learning. There are a number of ways in which they are able to do this. The first port of call should be for the child to look at their Google Classroom where all lesson materials are uploaded. In addition to this, there are a number of online platforms subjects use here at JCS. . If you have any questions regarding the online platforms, please contact your child's classroom teacher.

Online Learning Platforms at JCS