TEACHING & LEARNING AT RAINHILL
At Rainhill High School, high-quality teaching is central to our ambition of In Pursuit of Excellence.
We want every pupil to experience expert teaching, high expectations and the right balance of challenge and support. Clear and consistent routines create calm, purposeful classrooms where pupils know what is expected and can concentrate on learning.
LEARNING AT RAINHILL
What Pupils Experience
Our teachers bring subject knowledge, passion and expertise to their classrooms. They help pupils connect new learning to what they already know, explain complex ideas clearly and check that pupils have understood before moving learning forward.
Across the school, our Systems of Learning, set out within the Expert Teacher Manual, provide a shared framework for effective teaching and learning. The five phases are:
01
Activate
Activate prior knowledge and prepare pupils for new learning.
02
Engage
Engage pupils with new knowledge, ideas and concepts.
03
Mastery
Develop secure understanding through explanation, modelling, questioning and purposeful practice.
04
Assessment & Feedback
Check pupils' understanding, identify misconceptions and provide feedback that moves learning forward.
05
Consolidate
Strengthen, connect and secure learning so that important knowledge can be retained and applied over time.
Shared principles. Expert teaching.
The Systems of Learning provide pupils with consistency without expecting every subject or every lesson to look the same. Teachers use their professional and subject expertise to decide how best to teach their curriculum.
TEACH TRANSITIONS
Responsive Teaching
Teaching that responds to learning.
Alongside our Systems of Learning, Teach Transitions, as set out within the Expert Teacher Manual, provide a shared approach to responsive teaching.
Teach Transitions support teachers in moving purposefully between explanation, modelling, questioning, practice, assessment and feedback according to pupils' understanding and the demands of the subject.
This means teaching is responsive rather than simply following a fixed sequence. Teachers use their professional judgement to revisit learning, provide further explanation or modelling, offer additional support, increase challenge or adapt their approach when pupils' responses show that this is needed.
Together, Systems of Learning and Teach Transitions provide consistency in classroom practice while preserving teachers' professional and subject expertise.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Challenge & Support
Ambition for every pupil.
We have high expectations of every pupil.
Teachers use clear explanation, modelling, questioning, guided support and purposeful practice to help pupils understand challenging content and become increasingly confident learners.
Where a pupil needs additional help, teaching is adapted to remove barriers while maintaining ambition. Our Systems of Learning and Teach Transitions support teachers in making these adaptations while keeping pupils connected to an ambitious curriculum.
Support may look different for different pupils and is adjusted as their knowledge, confidence and independence develop.
Our aim is for every pupil to participate fully in an ambitious curriculum and experience success within it.
RESPONDING TO LEARNING
Assessment That Helps Pupils Learn
Assessment is part of everyday teaching.
Our approach has been further developed following whole-school completion of the SSAT Embedding Formative Assessment programme, strengthening the consistent use of formative assessment to understand pupils' learning and determine appropriate next steps.
Frequent formative assessment takes place particularly within the Engage and Mastery phases of our Systems of Learning. Teachers check what pupils know and understand, identify misconceptions and use this information to decide whether learning needs to be revisited, further explanation or practice is required, or pupils are ready for greater challenge.
Assessment & Feedback follows Mastery within the Systems of Learning, providing a deliberate opportunity to evaluate pupils' understanding and respond to what the evidence shows.
Feedback helps pupils understand what they have done well and how they can improve. Pupils are given opportunities to revisit, practise and strengthen their learning.
Formative assessment also contributes directly to teachers' professional judgements at LP1, LP2 and LP3. These three formal Learning Progress points provide a wider picture of pupils' learning during the year, informed by the evidence teachers gather through everyday teaching and assessment.
Great teaching depends upon teachers continuing to develop their own expertise.
We invest significantly in professional development. Teachers learn together, share effective practice and receive coaching and feedback to help them continually refine their teaching.
Our professional learning draws upon educational research alongside what we know about our pupils, subjects and school. The Expert Teacher Manual, Systems of Learning and Teach Transitions provide shared frameworks for developing consistently strong classroom practice while recognising the importance of teachers' subject and professional expertise.
This helps ensure that developments in teaching have a clear purpose: improving pupils' experience in the classroom.
THE RESULT
What This Means for Your Child
We want pupils to leave lessons feeling that they have learned something worthwhile and made progress in their understanding.
Over time, our approach is designed to help pupils:
Develop increasingly strong understanding across subjects.
Retain and connect important knowledge over time.
Tackle increasingly demanding work with confidence.
Communicate, think and use knowledge successfully.
Take increasing responsibility for their own learning.
Develop the knowledge and confidence to fulfil their potential.
An ambitious curriculum, expert teaching, consistent routines and appropriate support work together so that every pupil is known, challenged and supported to succeed.
