The Danebury Teaching and Learning principles 

At Danebury we have developed a set of Teaching and Learning principles to help structure our lessons and to develop a shared language of teaching and learning. The Danebury Teaching and Learning Principles are underpinned by cognitive science and the growing research evidence around how learning happens, with a focus on inclusive teaching.  

Connect prior learning  

• Activate prior knowledge in working memory through retrieval practice.  

• Connect new knowledge with prior knowledge in previous modules through interleaving. 

Share powerful knowledge and skills 

• Use a learning question / learning objectives to clearly identify the powerful knowledge and skills being taught.  

• Pre-empt misconceptions.  

• Chunk the learning and link to the success criteria. 

Model and scaffold 

• Live modelling to provide concrete visual and verbal prompts to reduce cognitive load. 

• Temporarily support learning and gradually remove scaffolding over time. 

• Introduce knowledge and skills in small steps to assist learning. 

• Questioning checks learning. 

Apply knowledge and skills through practice 

• Low stakes practice tasks to apply knowledge and skills. 

• Use ‘I do, we do, you do’ to develop fluency. 

• Practice and application linked to the learning question / learning objectives 

Challenge and link 

• Strengthen knowledge and skills by making links between modules and domains to build schema. 

• Raise expectations by providing increasingly complex problems and questions. 

• Promote independence and self-directed learning 

Review and reflect 

• Actively teach metacognition to help pupils move towards independence. 

• Develop self-review skills using success criteria and mark schemes. 

• Ensure misconceptions are identified and re-taught. 

• Review outcomes from QLA to inform future learning. 

The Danebury Way 

We foster a culture of belonging at Danebury and are on a continuing journey to empower our students with effective habits and routines that aim to maximise learning. We have created and are continuing to develop a culture of belonging, resilience and excellence in a phased approach through the implementation of ‘The Danebury Way’. 

Phase one of The Danebury Way aims to ensure that students are ready for learning, and are increasingly thinking and participating in lessons through the use of mini whiteboards and turn and talk. 

Phase two of The Danebury Way aims to further empower our students to achieve excellence by supporting the development of reading and oracy.