Our Vision for Teaching and Learning

The Hornchurch Academy Trust is committed to improving standards and outcomes for pupils in all of our schools regardless of any actual or perceived barriers. Through collaboration and shared excellence in all we do, we aim to provide all children with the highest quality teaching.

Our carefully designed sequential curriculum engages children in active learning, promotes problem solving and independence, and allows children to make connections within learning which can be transferred beyond the classroom.

Pupils learn through high quality teaching approaches, allowing them to build secure, explicit links between subject knowledge and skills.

Teachers plan high quality lessons in line with the 4-stages of learning.

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HAT Teaching and Learning Principles

Pupils learn best when the following high quality teaching approaches are embedded in everyday practice:

Create a positive culture in the classroom through building warm/strict relationships and embedding everyday routines.
Classroom environments should be well-organised with high quality working walls and resources, encouraging independence.
Lessons are planned in a sequential way, in line with the Trust’s curriculum.
Adapt lessons based on ongoing formative assessment of all pupils’ knowledge and understanding
Consider whether temporary supports and scaffolds are needed to tackle more complex tasks until they are able to do so independently
Decide what flexible groupings will best support pupils with their learning.
Where appropriate, all lessons should start by recalling prior learning
Teach new concepts in small steps to allow practice time before moving on
Use accountable questioning to check pupils’ understanding.
Model concrete examples of how to work out a problem/concept - ‘I do’ approach
Guide pupils through practice tasks and possible misconceptions before they work independently - ‘We do’ approach
Facilitate independent tasks so pupils can refine and practice their learning - ‘You do’ approach.

HAT Teaching & Learning Policy

Teaching-and-Learning-Policy.docx-1.pdf

Steplab's Core Steps

At Hornchurch Academy Trust, we are committed to developing our teachers so they are able to deliver the best possible lessons to our pupils. We use an instructional coaching approach using Steplab, where teachers can engage with six improvement steps and sequences to improve their practice in the classroom.

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