At Canonbury Primary School we undertake to:

• Raise levels of attainment for all pupils, enabling them to achieve their personal best regardless of their ability, socio-economic background, ethnicity, language or gender.
• Develop confident, disciplined and enquiring learners, able to make informed, independent choices and able to apply their learning to new problems.
• Foster a love of learning for all adults and children within our community.
• Foster self-esteem and personal responsibility, linked to respect for the needs and feelings of others.
• Facilitate considerate and positive relationships between all members of the school community.
• Ensure equal opportunities and equality in respect of values in relation to gender, race, culture, class, special needs and belief.
• Provide and maintain a school and classroom environment which supports, reflects and stimulates learning.
• Provide a safe and happy work place.
• Promote a thoughtful attitude towards the immediate and wider environment.

There are four fundamental types of learning as identified in UNESCO’s report called “Learning, the treasure within“.

• Learning to know:

Acquiring a broad general knowledge, intellectual curiosity, the instruments of understanding, independence of judgement and the impetus and foundation for being able to continue learning throughout life.

• Learning to do:

The competence to put what has been learned into practice, even when it is unclear how future work will evolve, to deal with many situations and to act creatively. This involves higher order skills at all levels, including being able to process information, evaluate, analyse and make critical judgements and to be able to communicate with others.

• Learning to live together:

Developing understanding of and respect for other people, their cultures and values. Building empathy for others’ points of view, and understanding diversity and similarities between people, appreciating interdependence and being able to dialogue and debate, to participate and co-operate with others, enhance relationships and combat violence and conflict.

• Learning to be:

Developing the “all round” person who possesses great autonomy, judgement and personal responsibility, such that they can understand themselves and their world and solve their own problems.

These are the foundations, underpinning the creative curriculum at Canonbury and the experiences we are working to offer all our pupils as their educational entitlement.

Successful Learning at Canonbury

In a staff meeting in September 2010, the staff reviewed the characteristics that would define satisfactory, good and outstanding teaching at Canonbury. It was agreed that there is an expectation that all staff will deliver at least satisfactory practice consistently in order to begin to deliver an entitlement to high quality education to our children. By the summer term 2011 it is our agreed aim that 80% of learning will be consistently good or better every single day. Our goal beyond that is to ensure that this happens every day for every child at all times.

These were the agreed criteria for each category, which are used to make judgements during observation:

Satisfactory teaching and learning

Teaching and learning is satisfactory when planning and teaching reflects a range of learning styles. Children all make satisfactory progress. Behaviour management is effective and teaching assistants are effectively deployed to support learning. Assessment is used to inform learning and to evaluate the success of learning. If something is going wrong for groups of pupils then teachers will recognise this and address it.

Children enjoy their learning and the environment is clear from clutter and encourages independent learning. Children with AEN and SEN receive a differentiated curriculum, which empowers and enables them to meet the learning objective. Often this lesson will be symbolised by the three part lesson structure. ICT is effectively used to support learning.

Good teaching and learning

Some of the above features and:

All children enjoy learning and the progress they make in the lesson is good or better. Teaching assistants are working in partnership with the teacher, leading, assessing and evaluating learning. Assessment informs learning and pupils use self assessment to support their progress. Children’s learning is supported through active first hand experience, discussion or creative opportunity. Children of all needs can access the learning through the support offered, be that writing frames, peer partnership working, differentiated task. Learning is supported through the environment and working walls and target displays show and reinforce next steps for pupils.  The displays reflect and exciting, creative curriculum and stimulate further learning.

Behaviour management is positive and barely perceptible, and where extreme behaviours are exhibited they are dealt with in a positive and appropriate way. Opportunities for talk, questioning and reflection are frequent and develop higher order thinking and reasoning skills. While all learning remains part of a plan/direct, do, review cycle, the three part lesson may well be split into shorter chunks, so that learning can be made accessible for all regardless of attention span, learning style or the need to move on at a greater pace. ICT is used to extend learning and bring passive opportunities to life in the classroom. The curriculum values and reflects the experiences and cultural identity of pupils and the wider community.

Outstanding teaching and learning

Some of the above features and:

Children are given opportunities to lead their own learning and make, in some cases, exceptional progress. Assessment, often self-review, informs learning and children are clearly aware of the next steps required and how to achieve these steps.

The excited, well organised environment is used by pupils and visibly and effectively supports learning. Teaching is exciting and innovative, and children thrive and enjoy working collaboratively. Learning may well require flexibility in the learning environment dependent upon the type of experience being offered. ICT is the glue for learning and evidence of its use is clear across the curriculum. The teacher’s relationship with the children underpins their expectations and sets the atmosphere of excellence.

The linked pages in the learning section explain how learning is facilitated and extended through the curriculum we offer.

Matt Britt,  Headteacher, Canonbury School

matt.britt@canonbury.islington.sch.uk