Teaching and Learning

• The needs of all students are met in all lessons.
• Teachers must demonstrate expert knowledge of their subject and have strong pedagogical content knowledge.
• Subject teaching must demonstrate a coherently-planned and sequenced curriculum which embeds subject knowledge and skills for future learning. As such, students are able to articulate how their current learning relates to the wider sequence and are aware of end points.
• Assessment will effectively monitor the progress of all and provide direct feedback as well as checking students’ understanding systematically and identify misconceptions and content for development.
• Teachers will create environments that allow students to focus on learning and in which students are challenged and encouraged to apply wider subject conceptual knowledge and understanding.
• Classrooms demonstrate high levels of literacy and vocabulary and are opportunities for critical discussion, debate and exploration.
• Student work demonstrates progress, opportunities for extended writing and a depth of independent study beyond the classroom content. Marking is seen as an opportunity for further recommended reading/development.
• Where possible, homework is preparatory in nature, allowing teachers and students to engage with content on a critical and conceptual level in the classroom.
• Students are encouraged to read widely around their subjects and have a good understanding of the work/industry/higher education opportunities for their subjects.
• Subjects provide students with extra-curricular events and trips.

Assessment

Assessment is an integral part of the subject delivery and students will be assessed through a mixture of formal academy examinations, subject-based assessments and tasks, and regular student teacher dialogue.

Year 12 students sit induction tests at the end of their first half term in Sixth Form to provide an early indicator of subject performance. They then have formal exams in February and June of Year 12.

Year 13 students have two formal mock exam sittings, in November and March. Final Year 13 exams start from May of Year 13.

Students taking vocational subjects have formal, external assessments from January of Year 12, which count towards their final grades. They also have coursework units to complete throughout Year 12 and Year 13 which are externally moderated.

Student scholarship

Sixth Form students will be encouraged to show resilience, composure, curiosity, meticulousness and ambition in all that they do, as all are necessary for academic excellence. As in lower school, our vision is to develop students with character, courage and conscience, who become academically and personally successful and lead in their community and beyond.

Students’ attitudes and conduct must demonstrate an understanding of appropriate workplace/professional behaviour, at all times, and they should remember that they are ambassadors for our core values and must, therefore, act as role models to the lower school students.

It is a requirement that Sixth Form students have high levels of attendance and punctuality in order to benefit fully from the educational opportunities available. Students are placed on attendance report when their attendance is consistently below our target of 95%.

Alongside the subject timetable, Sixth Form students are expected to complete three to five hours of independent study per week, per subject. At Harris East Dulwich Sixth Form we have lots of quiet study space for students to use. Where students are struggling to manage and structure independent study, we put a support plan in place and timetable specific study support sessions.

Homework and wider reading

Each subject studied will provide five hours a week of homework. The work will be relevant and appropriate to the current content studied and there is a firm requirement that students adhere to all deadlines. As part of that commitment, teachers will provide meaningful and timely feedback on work submitted. It is a student’s responsibility to ensure that their work folders and books are organised and structured to suitably aid study and revision. All materials should be available for inspection and review whenever necessary.

Submitted work must demonstrate the standard needed for Sixth Form study and students must take full advantage of the times allocated for learning and preparation in order that they are able to participate fully and effectively in the classroom.

Students will be taught how to effectively and independently research and read beyond classroom and this wider reading and study ought to inform discussion of the standard subject content, with teachers facilitating that application through extensive questioning in the classroom.