Teaching & Learning

At Seaford Head we believe that excellent teaching is key to supporting student progress and providing them with the opportunity to fulfil their potential. 

We are very fortunate to have a team of excellent teachers and a student body that works incredibly hard with their learning on a day-to-day basis. This combination leads to fantastic results which support the opportunities for our students at Seaford Head.

In November of 2023 we were visited by Ofsted where we received a glowing report and over the two days, the inspectors had the opportunity to visit our students within their lessons. The inspectors were incredibly impressed with the teaching and learning that they witnessed, with the lead inspector commenting on how engaged our students were and the positive relationships that were evident between our teachers and their students.

So how do we support and develop Teaching and Learning at Seaford Head?

There are a number of ways that we try to ensure that Teaching and Learning is at its strongest within the school.

At Seaford Head we have 6 Teaching and Learning Principles that we focus on, namely: Student understanding of the curriculum, Active Engagement, Quality of Feedback, Catering for the needs of all students, Literacy and lifelong learning and Teacher explanation.

• The first principle is that of Student understanding of the curriculum. This involves students being aware of what they are learning within the lesson, how it fits into what they have learnt previously along with what they will be learning in the future. Teachers will regularly check for student understanding using strategies such as low stake testing or the use of mini whiteboards to gauge both the understanding of the whole class along with individual students, in order to ensure that students understand the content.

• The Principle of Active Engagement focuses on providing opportunities within the lesson to ensure that students are engaging with their learning. Students start their learning quickly using a Do Now or engagement activity which provides opportunities for students to recall previous learning or consider what they know about the learning that will occur within the lesson. Students have the opportunity to work in pairs or groups and questions help students practise new information and connect new material to their prior learning. Students are able to undertake strategies such as think, pair, share which enables a period of consideration, communication with peers and a response to the set task/question. Positive relationships are used to engage students in their learning.

• Another Principle is that of the Quality of Feedback, this provides clarity regarding student understanding. This comes in a variety of forms such as teacher to student, student to teacher and student to student and to facilitate this, the teacher will provide opportunities for this to occur within the structure of the lesson. It can also be provided by teachers for students to act on based on set pieces of work/exam questions, where students are able to undertake DIT which is Dedicated Improvement Time. All of these strategies are supported by teachers and practiced and undertaken effectively by students in order to provide ownership of their learning.

• The Principle of Catering for the needs of all students, provides a focus for the teacher, where students are challenged and where appropriate, supported, to enable all students within the lesson to learn effectively and enable them to progress. The Adaptive Teaching approach considers the needs of individual students within the classroom and student understanding is monitored during the lesson and adaptations/strategies are implemented by the class teacher where needed. Where relevant, individual strategies are provided and are available for teachers via a platform to support Teaching and Learning called Progress Teaching.

• Another Principle is that of Literacy and lifelong learning. The focus of this principle is varied, incorporating literacy with a focus on providing opportunities to develop student’s oracy with strategies, such as group debates and Socratic questioning from the teacher. Developing reading, utilising strategies such as modelling of fluent reading aloud, choral reading and peer-to-peer reading. There is also an emphasis on developing writing utilising writing frames, model essays and sentence starters to name but a few strategies. This principle also considers support regarding numeracy, careers and digital literacy where appropriate.

• The final principle is Teacher explanation, which considers how the teacher makes links to how the lesson fits into the delivery of the curriculum for both previous and future learning. Teachers model responses and scaffold work to support student understanding. They also chunk information so as to ensure that information is shared in small steps to avoid cognitive overload. Teachers use a variety of strategies such as the use of visualisers, mark schemes and examiners reports to support understanding. 

It is important that for the Teaching and Learning Principles to be effective, that teachers are provided with opportunities to further develop their practice.

Our evidence-informed approach to teaching and learning helps us identify what works best in the classroom.  This is supported by our effective quality assurance programme that is evident throughout the academic year.

Our comprehensive professional development programme is fluid in its nature supporting the coaching programme and responding to areas of development highlighted. The Continued Professional Development group facilitate this, focussing on deliberate practice and research-informed guidance offering a variety of pedagogical strategies within our 6 Teaching and Learning Principles that provide focussed sessions within a CPD programme for other staff members, and provide teachers with the potential to develop individually and to share excellent practice.

The school also has an Instructional Coach within the teaching staff, who facilitates a coaching model alongside the CPD programme to further develop individual teachers and improve Teaching and Learning across the school.

There is a strong academic and collaborative professional development culture between staff involving sharing of best practice and support of one another.  Every week on a Monday, briefings occur where effective practice is shared with a focus on developing staff and providing the very best for our students. There is also a Trio Coaching Programme that involves teaching staff focusing on an area of pedagogy they wish to improve and being supported in that through group coaching lead by our Instructional Coach, facilitated by high-quality materials from the WALKTHRU website.

There is a clear emphasis on Adaptive Teaching within our lessons that is evidenced within the strategies apparent within our Teaching and Learning Principles, also considering Rosenshine’s 10 Principles as a strand throughout.

Together with the focus on Teaching and Learning within the classroom, there are also the standards set with our expectations regarding behaviour for learning. This provides a clear structure at the start of the lesson with students entering quietly and undertaking a learning task straight away. This is further supported with high standards of behaviour throughout the lesson in line with the behaviour policy. The end of the lesson sees students leaving in an organised and calm manor, ready for the rest of their day.

Student voice is undertaken throughout the year and the student voice continues to support the development of Teaching and Learning at our school.

As a result of this investment, teaching and learning at Seaford Head School is very strong, but we are never complacent and we find ourselves continually striving to innovate and improve.