Vision

At Melior Community Academy we proudly offer a broad, inspiring and knowledge rich curriculum.  Our aim is that all students can access this curriculum and so our approach to teaching and learning is inclusive.  We have a strong set of principles that all teachers follow to ensure consistency and success for all students, in all classrooms. 

Lesson delivery

Lessons are framed by the ‘Magic 8’, which establishes high expectations and creates learning habits.  We use the lesson structures of DRILL, CONNECT and DEMONSTRATE to ensure that all students get regular recall, assessment, feedback, and development opportunities every lesson, which are planned based on Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction.

Teaching and Learning has a high profile at Melior Community Academy, and this is reflected in the regular learning walks, and lesson observations, that are all part of the internal quality assurance processes. Regular pupil voice activities indicate that students enjoy their learning across the subjects and understand how they learn.  Senior leaders with specific responsibility for teaching and learning work with a wider team to continuously drive-up standards in lessons.

Collaborative learning

Collaborative learning is effective when students are thinking and linking together and can develop skills such as oracy, self- regulation and of course, confidence.  Seating plans are carefully crafted by staff so that collaboration is effective and share accountability.  Teachers use many different collaborative strategies to structure tasks, to keep students engaged and allow full access what is being taught.  

Differentiation

Teachers at Melior know their learners and plan accordingly.  Students with specific SEND needs are ‘spotlit’ by the teachers using class context sheets and specific learning strategies are shared with staff to support these students.  All learners grasp new ideas at different rates and so we test first what a student knows, find the right way to break down what they do not know and scaffold where necessary to help them through a task.  All students are given the opportunity to achieve the curricula goals of the lesson. 

Assessment and feedback

Student learning is assessed continually during lesson time and formally through twice yearly summative assessments at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 examinations.  Learning happens when knowledge is transferred from working memory to long term memory and this can only be achieved by revisiting topics taught and testing whether they have been retained.  Both the CONNECT and DEMONSTRATE are daily methods by which learning is reviewed and checked and students receive formative feedback, either verbal or written in every lesson.  Through testing and regular feedback students can fill in gaps in knowledge and develop their skills. Formative assessments may be undertaken using questioning, recall and retrieval tasks, low-stakes quizzes, or more formal assessments. Often formative assessments may not be recorded however they will be used to inform planning.  Formal summative assessments happen twice yearly. 

Reporting to Parents

All students will receive reports twice a year in January and July, reports are sent home electronically by the school gateway app. KS3 students will receive an effort grade and a percentage from their KS3 assessment. KS4 students will receive an effort grade and an end of KS4 prediction.

CPD 

Our staff are regularly given opportunities to share best practice. Colleagues disseminate ideas during Tuesday briefings and the focus is always on practical ideas to engage students and develop pedagogy. We have a rich and diverse training programme for staff development and teaching and learning is always at the forefront. Skilled practitioners have been appointed as teaching and learning coaches to support colleagues with specific areas for development.  We have run coaching teams based on staff development needs in several areas, and all staff are encouraged to develop themselves continually. 

Teacher Toolkit 

Staff have access to an online resource bank of learning tools and games which can be adapted to the different subject areas.  This has been a welcome addition to classroom practice, and we are always trying to embrace new technology to enhance the learning experience. 

Quality Assurance 

In line with Ofsted practice, we no-longer grade lessons, however, we have a rigorous quality assurance programme involving leaders at all levels.  Included in the process are lesson drop-ins, teacher voice, student voice and book sampling alongside formal lesson observations. 

Teaching School   

Our Academy trains many staff new to the profession including School Direct and PGCE students.  A programme of development is available for both trainee teachers and newly qualified teachers who work alongside mentors. 

PROUD:

Teachers at Melior know their learners, and plan accordingly.  Provision for students with specific SEND needs are in place

We have two expectations for how students should present themselves and their work.

PROUD is the acronym for high quality presentation of written work.

It stands for:

Pen – using an appropriate pen for writing
Ruler – Underlining titles or using for drawings
Oops – looking for mistakes
Underline – underlining titles
Draw – using a pencil for drawing

SLANT:

SLANT is the acronym for high quality presentation of body language.

It stands for:

Sit up
Listen
Ask questions
Nod
Track the speaker

. 

Questioning:

Students are not expected to put their hands up to answer questions, in fact we have a rule that they shouldn’t do this. Instead, the teacher will decide who answers questions by targeting a wide variety of students throughout the lesson. This ensures that students remain focused and that they know they could be asked at any point, it also helps to stop certain students from always answering the questions lesson after lesson. We often use random name generators which select students for us, therefore students won’t feel like staff are specifically picking on them to answer questions. 

Whilst students don’t raise their hands to answer questions, they will raise their hands when they are expected to be silent and focused on the teacher. When teachers require silence and focus from the whole class they will raise their arm. All students should follow the teacher and copy them. Once everybody has followed this the lesson will then resume.