At Hartland High School, our lessons follow a research-led approach to teaching. We believe that there is a ‘right’ way to teach, that enables students to make excellent progress, whatever their starting point. This approach is characterised by direct instruction, meaning we tell the students what they need to know rather than asking them to ‘discover’ it; high frequency retrieval practice, meaning we ask children to remember what they have learnt; chunked explanations with frequent opportunities for teachers to check student understanding; independent practice, which allows students to consolidate and practise their knowledge, and gives teachers the opportunity to provide feedback.

What this looks like:

I We You

Our lessons typically follow an I, We, You structure. This means teachers first model success, then students practise together with the support from the teacher, then they practise independently. Often this structure is taught through booklets, with teachers modelling under the visualiser.

Consistency

We know that all students, but particularly students with SEND, are supported by a consistent and predictable environment. For this reason, our teachers use the same Core Routines across all our lessons. This means that all students know what to do and what to expect in each room. This in turn frees up their cognitive load to focus on learning. For more information on our Core Routines and lesson structure, please click here.

STAR

We ask students to sit in STAR. This means Sit Up, Track the Speaker, All Equipment Down, Ready to Respond. We know that learning happens when students think hard about the right thing and that memory is the residue of thought. Sitting in STAR ensures that students are focusing on the right thing and prevents distractions. 

123 Show Me

Teacher exposition is always broken into chunks, with frequent mini whiteboards checks. We use the same routine for mini whiteboards in all our lessons, meaning that it 

Ready to Read

A lot of our learning takes place through reading. When the teachers reads to students, we expect students to track along on their own copy of the text using their 30cm ruler. This allows teachers to see that students are following and makes it less likely that students’ attention wanders, meaning they miss out on crucial learning.