At The Hayling College, we are committed to ensuring that every pupil experiences high-quality, inclusive and ambitious teaching. Our continued development of Teaching and Learning focuses on creating classrooms where pupils can access the curriculum, think deeply, participate confidently and become increasingly independent.
Our approach brings together formative assessment, adaptive teaching and dialogic teaching. Teachers continually check what pupils know and understand and use this information to inform what happens next. This may mean addressing a misconception, adapting an explanation, modelling a process, providing or removing scaffolding, pre-teaching important vocabulary or increasing challenge. The principle is simple: maintain high expectations while adapting teaching to remove barriers to learning.
Adaptive Teaching and SEND
A significant focus of our professional development has been strengthening adaptive teaching and our ordinarily available provision, so that classrooms are increasingly responsive to the needs of all learners, including pupils with SEND.
Our Adaptive 8 framework provides a shared approach across the College. It includes strategic use of seating plans, task planners, Knowledge Organisers, high-quality modelling, retrieval practice, pre-teaching vocabulary, adapted home learning and structured opportunities for dialogic talk.
These approaches are not a checklist or a separate curriculum for pupils with additional needs. Teachers use their professional judgement to identify potential barriers and select appropriate strategies, while maintaining ambitious curriculum goals. Support and scaffolding are used purposefully and, where appropriate, gradually reduced to develop pupils' confidence and independence.
Formative Assessment – Knowing What Pupils Need Next
Formative assessment sits at the heart of our approach. Teachers use questioning, retrieval, discussion, pupils' work and other checks for understanding to identify what pupils know, where misconceptions exist and what needs to happen next.
Assessment therefore informs teaching rather than simply measuring it. Teachers check, respond and adapt, while feedback helps pupils understand how to improve and move their learning forward.
Dialogic Teaching – Developing Thinking Through Talk
We have also invested significantly in developing dialogic teaching across the College. Purposeful, carefully structured classroom talk gives pupils opportunities to question, reason, explain, justify and build upon one another's ideas.
This is particularly important for creating inclusive classrooms. Structured talk, modelling and carefully designed prompts can support pupils with limited verbal confidence or literacy barriers to rehearse and articulate their thinking. At the same time, authentic challenge encourages all pupils to move beyond surface responses towards deeper analytical thinking and increasingly precise academic language.
Our ambition is to create classrooms where pupils do not simply give answers, but learn to explain their thinking, listen respectfully, consider different perspectives and respond meaningfully to others. This complements our wider Personal Development approach, where structured discussion is used to develop confident expression, respectful listening and reasoned thinking.
Continually Improving Our Practice
Improving Teaching and Learning is an ongoing process. Teachers and Teaching Assistants engage in sustained professional development, educational research, collaborative planning, reflection and shared observation. Our trios model supports colleagues to explore practice together and turn professional learning into sustained improvements in the classroom.
We do not expect every subject or every lesson to look the same. Instead, we have developed a shared understanding of what effective teaching seeks to achieve: high expectations, strong subject knowledge, responsive assessment, appropriate adaptation, meaningful challenge and increasing pupil independence.
Ultimately, our work is focused on creating classrooms in which every pupil, including those with SEND and those who may face additional barriers to learning, has the opportunity to participate, succeed and achieve ambitious outcomes.
We are building classrooms where pupils can reason, discuss and be understood.
Happy • Healthy • High Performing