Every teacher, and every school, has their own approach to teaching and learning, and the Royal Grammar School Newcastle (RGS) is no exception. Here, Director of Studies, Roger Loxley, talks about the RGS approach, focusing on the transition from Junior to Senior School.
“There is a real pleasure in teaching Year 7 students. They are, without exception, curious, excitable, energetic, fearless and relatively small. They ask great questions, they ask silly questions, they ask questions of procedure that simply baffle those of my colleagues who do not teach Junior School; it really doesn’t matter whether the date is put in the top left or top right of the page, or whether they write in pencil or in pen. There is so much enjoyment to be had by teaching this year group.
Two months ago they were in Junior School, but now they are in big school and everything seems to want to change. The management of the transition from one to the other is therefore something that requires a bit of careful thought. We don’t expect them to behave like Year 8s from the word go, but then we don’t expect them to be exactly like Junior School students either. They need to adapt and change and we need to help them do that.
Similarly, it’s a difficult transition for parents. They no longer gather at the school gate eagerly awaiting those happy, smiling faces so full of stories about the day. That’s quite a difficult change to manage as, perhaps, their relationship with the school becomes that little bit less intimate.
One of the changes we need to manage early in Year 7 is how children learn and how our teaching supports and promotes that. We need to ignite the curiosity and build on the excitement that they show in such abundance in those early September days. We must encourage that sense of fearlessness in getting things wrong. But we need to recognise that, as children, they grow up in different ways and develop that sense of self that make them unique.
So, what’s it like to learn stuff at RGS? What’s a typical classroom like in Year 7? The first thing to say is that it’s very different from what it was when a lot of us were in Year 7! We have a good intake of intelligent students who we can challenge intellectually. We like to think that we consider each of them as individuals, pay attention to their individual needs and adjust what we do accordingly.
We don’t like to spoon-feed; we want, above all else, to encourage our students to be strong, independent thinkers, capable of arguing a point and considering all views. We want them to be resilient in their learning, willing to try new things, to make mistakes, to learn from them and to move on. We want them to push themselves, to reflect on their learning and develop robust strategies for solving problems. That means we need to model this behaviour as teachers by taking risks with our teaching and not playing safe. We want to harness the power of different teaching strategies and using technology where it really enhances the learning.
We want learning to be fun and exciting. We want children to challenge us, to ask us difficult questions and make us defend a position. We expect them, in return, to try hard, to read, to pay attention, to be co-operative. We don’t want them to ask for help from the teacher the moment they encounter a problem. We want them to be equipped to use different strategies before they ask the teacher. We want them to get things wrong. It’s only by making mistakes that we understand how to improve. The classroom should be the safest place to have a go at something. If they didn’t get it right, then they simply haven’t got it, yet. But it will come.
We don’t expect them to get everything right from the start. We don’t expect homework to be 10 out of 10 all the time. If they’re always getting 100% then are we really teaching them anything new or is it just too easy? There’s no challenge in that.
Above all else, homework should be manageable and purposeful. It really shouldn’t take students hours to complete nor should it be too hard or, worse still, too easy or pointless.
The best education is only possible through good mutual understanding and support by school, student and parents. We need to keep that dialogue open, trustworthy and honest. This we hope continues throughout their journey at RGS.