The Long Eaton School Sixth Form Curriculum
We offer a broad curriculum that reflects the interests and strengths of our students. Teaching and Learning at the Sixth Form is underpinned by the same principles as the wider school.
Retrieve
Each lesson begins with a challenging retrieval task which requires pupils to answer low-stakes questions from memory by recalling previously-learned knowledge. This helps create schemas of knowledge and increases the likelihood that the information will be transferred to long-term memory. The retrieval of knowledge and skills is spaced over increasing lengths of time, so pupils have time to forget things, and re-learn them the next time they revisit the information. Re-learning is key to strengthening memory and makes it more likely that the information will be remembered in the long term.
Instruct
Instruction refers to a range of teacher-led approaches, focused on exposition and demonstration of the substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge – often with an emphasis on reading. The teacher will provide explicit instruction which involves clear explanations, simple language and relatable examples. The ‘Instruct’ phase of the lesson typically follows the ‘Retrieve’ phase and shares the substantive and disciplinary knowledge that pupils need to remember and master.
Practise
The ‘Practise’ phase of the lesson follows the ‘Instruct’ phase and gives students the opportunity to further engage with the key subject knowledge. The most important aspect of every lesson is that the pupils can know more, remember more and do more of the work themselves, with increasing success and independence. Pupils need to practise what is learned to secure the knowledge and achieve success and mastery.
Secure
Once teachers are assured that Practise has been successful, they direct pupils to independently capture their knowledge in writing or performance. We allow ample time in all lessons for pupils to secure their new knowledge. Scaffolds used to support independent practice are removed as much as possible so that pupils get a chance to secure their own best work.