How We Teach?
Forrester High School is committed to ensuring high standards of teaching in every subject.
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the combination of teaching methods (what teachers do), learning activities (what teachers ask their students to do), and learning assessments (the assignments, projects, or tasks that measure student learning).
Forrester in Action
For consistency, every lesson at Forrester will follow the same structure. However, staff will use their own professional creativity and judgement in how they deliver each lesson.
- Stater task and review of last lesson – a recap of prior learning
- Shared Learning intention – explaining to students what will be learnt during the lesson
- Success criteria – making is clear what pupils need to achieve to be successful
- Explain and model new material
- Use of effective questioning and feedback
- Practice and prove new learning
- Recap of learning through a plenary- Checking for understanding
There are also 5 key elements of a lesson
Pace and challenge for everyone (often known as ‘differentiation’)
Pupil Engagement
High Expectations
Flow
Digital Learning
Tracking, Reporting & Assessment
Assessment
Staff continually assess the progress of each pupil by:
- Reviewing learning daily
- Using effective questioning
- Providing feedback
- Reviewing performance
- Issuing and marking homework
- Conducting summative assessments (Tests)
- Summative assessment (Formal testing i.e prelims)
- Formative assessment (Ongoing low stakes feedback staff use to measure progress, this might include homework, questioning, class answers and small quizzes).
Tracking
Throughout the year staff will track pupil progress through a variety of methods. Prior to tracking reports being sent out, staff will conduct 1-1 learner conversations with each pupils to share areas of strengths and agree next steps.
Curriculum Leaders, Pupil Support Leaders and Senior management then meet after each tracking period and discuss concerns and suggest interventions needed for each pupil.
Furthermore, the school benefits for an Attainment Hub and alternative programmes that supports targeted pupils.
Reporting
Throughout the year, staff will provide parent/carers with an update on their child’s progress through a tracking/full report, and one Parents evening.
S1: Three Tracking reports & Parents evening
S2: Two Tracking reports & Parents evening
S3: Three Tracking reports & Parents evening
S4-6: Three Tracking reports & Parents evening
At any point in the year, parents can request further information and arrange a meeting with the school if there are concerns with progress.
Learning Together
They say it takes a community to raise a child – in education this is very much true. Children on average spend 20% of their waking hours at home not in school. The support at home is fundamental to a young persons success. At Forrester we believe that parents and carers can support the good work that happens in school by regularly checking in with their child.
Our Learning Together Padlet provides a number of great resources and ideas that can be used throughout S1-6.
Padlet
Career Long Professional Learning
At Forrester we have a culture of improvement where staff are committed to career long professional learning throughout the year.
This takes the form of training meetings, team teaching, paired observations, professional enquiry and networking with colleagues from other schools.
GTC Scotland
Achieve
Taking responsibility for your own learning starts right here. Achieve helps you plan, monitor and evaluate your own study and has excellent self-evaluation tools built in.
Packed with quizzes, tutorials and SQA past paper questions (linked to topics) Achieve is a must for all students in the senior phase.
For support with getting signed up, just click the link below.
Useful Study support advice
