Teaching and Learning

Our vision for teaching and learning at Larks Hill is as follows. It will be:

  • Child-centred, with the children as active participants not passive recipients;
  • Intrinsically motivating for the children, with exciting activities, so that they both enjoy and want to engage in learning;
  • Focused as much as possible on meaningful and relevant experiences and practical activities;
  • Challenging but with appropriate levels of support;
  • Empowering our children with transferable life skills, not just isolated and specific knowledge;
  • Flexible and innovative, responding to both the children's individual and group needs; and
  • Creative and dynamic.

In our school we aim to:

  • Enable all children to learn and develop their skills, to the best of their ability;
  • Engage and motivate children, so that children enjoy coming to school and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning;
  • Teach children the basic skills of English, Maths and ICT;
  • Enable children to be creative and to develop their own thinking;
  • Teach children about the world, including how their environment and society have changed over time;
  • Help children understand Britain's cultural heritage; appreciating and valuing the contribution made by all ethnic groups in our multi-cultural society;
  • Enable children to be positive citizens;
  • Fulfil all of the requirements of the National Curriculum and the Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education;
  • Teach children to have an awareness of their own spiritual development and to distinguish right from wrong;
  • Encourage independent learners;
  • Help children understand the importance of truth and fairness, so that they grow up committed to equal opportunities for all;
  • Enable children to have respect for themselves and high self-esteem, and to live and work cooperatively with others; and
  • Enable children to be active learners through strategies such as Kagan.

Learners at Larks Hill will:

  • Listen to adults when they are speaking;
  • Stay focused in lessons;
  • Put as much effort in as possible;
  • Use the Steps to Success to help them to work independently, not giving in straight away;
  • Tell the teacher if work is too easy or too hard.