Teaching and Learning Philosophy

Our Westbourne Teaching and Learning Philosophy is underpinned by the core principle that ‘We Know our Pupils’. All of our processes, ways of working and being are underpinned by this principle.

At Westbourne, we believe that effective teaching and learning involves asking more of both our teachers and our pupils. Thus, our Westbourne Teaching and Learning Framework outlines what we feel, as teachers, we should be bringing to our classrooms, based on Westbourne’s specific context. Likewise, it also encourages our teachers to aid the fostering of specific learner dispositions, and also routines, within our pupils.

Our teaching practice and strategies are explicitly tied to our school values of Excellence, Inclusion, Resilience and Respect.

Excellence: Our teachers will always share relevant and appropriately challenging outcomes and objectives; demonstrate in-depth knowledge of their subject; plan and structure lessons for pupil progress; provide feedback which is relevant and actionable, and have high expectations of their pupils.

Inclusion: Our teachers will create safe and supportive environments for pupils to ‘try’ and ‘fail’; respond to pupil need in the moment effectively differentiating tasks so all pupils are supported and challenged; use questioning and resources to stretch all pupils; organise their individual spaces to aid learning, and provide valuable models and scaffolds.

Resilience: Our teachers will continuously reflect on their practice and seek ways to improve and develop; ensure lessons begin and end in a manner which supports learning; consistently set high expectations of pupils; mindfully facilitate peer collaboration and self assessment, and vary activities to broaden the learning experience.

Respect: Our teachers will model empathy, grounding practice around notions of EDIB (Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging); employ clear expectations; utilise praise to celebrate both effort and achievement; create opportunities for pupils to take on responsibility, and utilise group work in a manner which will positively engage all pupils.

It is also important to recognise that we prioritise professional learning as a staff team. We recognise that as teachers we too are always learning and have the opportunity to improve and grow. Our Continuing Professional Development calendar, along with complimentary activities, supports this approach.

Regarding our pupils, we expect all pupils to follow certain routines which we feel creates a classroom environment which is productive, supportive and conducive to learning. These routines include prioritising being equipped for all lessons; active listening; attempting all tasks and asking for support where needed, and respectfully entering and exiting our learning environments.

With routine and structure in place we believe teachers are well placed to then encourage key dispositions within our learners, such as maintaining focus and accepting challenge; ask and answering questions to develop understanding; demonstrating empathy and understanding of others; being inclusive in their outlook when dealing with sensitive topics, and taking risks and responsibility with their own learning.

In no way are these overviews exhaustive, yet they should provide an overview of what we believe to be important and valuable for effective teaching and learning to take place, and, ultimately, how we ensure our learners have opportunities to flourish in our classrooms.