Teaching & Learning Philosophy
At The Tiffin Girls’ School, we strive for our students to love their learning. Our Teaching and Learning ethos ensures that this happens in every classroom through a commitment to Quality First Teaching: Questioning, Student talk, Positive Learning Environment, Sharing resources, and Disciplinary Literacy.
Inspirational teachers
Teachers create learning environments that are challenging and enriching, promoting critical and creative thinking. Driven by our Quality First Teaching focus, teachers use purposeful, highly targeted classroom Questioning to check for understanding, push high-order thinking, and deeply engage students.
Inquisitive learners
Students are able to take ownership of their learning, are resilient, enthusiastic, self-motivated and self-aware. Through structured opportunities for Student Talk, we cultivate academic dialogue, peer collaboration, and oral articulation so that students are confident to verbalise their opinions and deepen their cognitive understanding.
Subject knowledge
Teachers are passionate about their subject and are given the opportunity to develop their knowledge further. This deep subject expertise allows teachers to explicitly instruct students in Disciplinary Literacy, empowering them to read, write, speak, and think like specialists within each distinct academic subject.
Inclusive
Effective training and resources support teachers in creating inclusive learning environments in which all students can make progress through Inclusion by Design. By actively Creating a Positive Learning Environment, we create supportive spaces that value every student’s contribution, built upon the practice of Sharing Resources to enhance student autonomy and self-directed study.
Research
Teachers engage with research to support the students to achieve the best possible outcomes. Our professional development heavily prioritises our evidence-based Quality First Teaching framework, ensuring that a culture of inquiry directly refines daily classroom practice.
Cultural capital
Providing wider learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom. We expand students’ horizons by Creating a Positive Learning Environment that extends beyond the curriculum, building the deep classroom engagement, academic confidence, and character needed to inspire positive change.
Love of Learning
To develop our students to take further ownership of their learning, we elect Love of Learning representatives in all tutor groups. These students engage with educational research to inform them of the best ways to learn. Students use this knowledge and feedback to their peers through form time discussions, assemblies, and the Love of Learning Digest.
Our school has been recognised for its outstanding commitment to a Culture of Reflection and Engaging with Research within the SSAT Exceptional Education Framework. These achievements reflect our dedication to fostering an environment that embraces reflection as a vital component of educational growth and development, and a culture of inquiry and innovation. We are immensely proud of the strides we have made in these areas.
Continued Professional Development
We are committed to improving our practice continually. The school does not prescribe particular styles of pedagogy, recognising that the well-informed teacher is best placed to choose the approach(es) that will drive students’ learning.
Our aim is to enable students to take increasing ownership of their learning, to increase their capacities of metacognition and self-efficacy, and to ensure that they are able to engage with and benefit from the cognitive challenges of our curriculum. In order to achieve this the school is committed to providing staff with continuing professional development to help each teacher develop their practice and approaches to teaching.
Our whole-school CPD combines the whole school foci and with an opportunity for individual teachers to explore their own areas of interest. The school has a particular focus on educational research and how this can be applied in the classroom. Our CPD provision includes research-based explorations, which all teaching staff engage in as one of their appraisal targets, and an elective Teaching and Learning group, which meets each half term to consider aspects of research in more detail. Throughout the year staff are also invited to a range of other professional development opportunities for example, data and SEND training.
