James Watt Primary School

At James Watt Primary School, we have designed an innovative, purposeful and knowledge-rich curriculum that engages all children. All staff have committed to a PROMISE that our children develop the key skills necessary for bright and successful futures. Every single lesson is PROMISED to place learning at the forefront, using the key research of Rosenshine Principals, Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) and the ‘WalkThrus’ as its foundation. This bespoke model promises consistency of high-quality teaching and learning for all staff and pupils and is shaped to meet the needs of our local community. The knowledge and skills of the curriculum are thoughtfully sequenced so that children remember what they learn and understand the key concepts of each subject.  

PROMISE means; 

Plan and Prepare  

Knowledge must be built on knowledge and concepts already in the long-term memory.  

When planning, teachers must 

• When planning we must think of what the students already know  

• Current knowledge needs to be brought to the forefront of their minds so that children are ready to understand a new concept 

• Planning must break information into small steps 

• Our working memory is limited so we don’t want to overwhelm it 

• We plan to ensure there aren’t too many new things being taught at one time 

• We need to plan for possible misconceptions that children may gain or already have in their long term memory 

Revisit and Retrieve 

Knowledge must frequently revisited and retrieved to ensure learning has moved to the long-term memory. 

• We review previously taught learning regularly 

• We consolidate the knowledge that children already hold in their long-term memory and to show how it is relevant to the new learning  

• Learning should be effortful  

• Remembering is an important part of the learning process  

• Retrieving information from the long-term memory strengthens the memory 

• Retrieval activities must be difficult, but not too difficult 

• High challenge, low threat: retrieval needs to be low stakes, but challenging 

Objective Sharing 

Lessons should mostly start with a clear Learning Objective and Success Criteria which is shared with all pupils. 

• Clearly share and explain the Learning Objective and Steps to Success 

• Frequently refer to Learning Objective and Steps to Success within teaching to ensure it is focussed and sharp 

• Learning Objectives and Steps to Success should be ‘clear’, ‘specific’ and ‘desirably difficult’ 

• Tasks set by teachers should always be appropriate to the Learning Objective 

Main Teaching 

Teachers must ensure that teaching is structured to support the learning of all pupils and that working memories aren’t overloaded.  

• Clearly model using ‘I do, We do, You do’ 

• All children need to see an expert model before practising their own 

• We vocalise thought processes. By making our own thinking clear we show exactly how to understand a given concept as well as role modelling how to be an effective learner 

• Consider ‘Adapted Teaching’ for all groups ensuring scaffold for less able pupils and challenge for more able pupils 

• Include higher order questioning for all 

• Children are provided with worked examples 

• Ensure that learning is delivered in small chunks with clear and explicit instruction so that so that the working memory is not overloaded 

Independent and Guided Practice 

Pupils must always have the opportunity to practise the skills they have acquired.  

• We provide opportunities for independent application to give children the chance to think deeply about the learning that is currently in their working memory and begin to store it in their long-term memory  

• We provide opportunities for guided application if children aren’t quite ready for independent practice 

• We ensure there is enough repetition for children to become fluent in the retrieval. Practising something to become fluent reduces the chances of it being forgotten 

• We encourage children to explain their processes. If children think deeply, they can verbalise their thoughts and describe their processes 

Secure 

Assessment for Learning must be consistent feature from the teacher to assess whether pupils have understood the skill taught. 

• A key part of assessment is to identify common errors 

• This helps us detect the children’s misconceptions and provides timely feedback 

• By identifying and pausing the practice that could be ineffective, and explaining the misconceptions, we can increase the chances that the rest of the practice supports learning 

(These areas are both formative assessments and lead to changes in teaching) 

• Summative assessment is completed through moderation and termly standardised tests. These allow a clear and precise view of children’s progress and attainment 

Evaluation 

Feedback from all stakeholders is taken into consideration: we always evaluate changes. The choices we have made have had a lot of thought and research and will not change without good evidence.   

• Discuss what is working and what isn’t.  

• Make changes when necessary.  

• Do what is best for all pupils.