Vision

At Westfield Academy, we believe that every student joining the Academy has the ability to be successful in secondary education. We aim to empower students with the ability to study and learn independently, to develop their social skills and to enjoy new experiences. Westfield Academy aims to instil in all our students a love of learning, to develop skills, knowledge, resilience and qualifications to enable them to communicate to society through their abilities, conduct and self-reliance.

The Westfield student’s learning journey is encapsulated in the Academy’s motto   : Believe | Strive | Achieve.

The Westfield Way

“The best schools have a sign above the door, regardless of what context they are working in, which says “this is how we do it here”. The best schools have absolute consistency. I don’t care whether the system they use is behaviourist or whether the system they use is extremely old-fashioned, the critical difference is that people sign up to it and teachers act with one voice and one message “this is how we do it here”.

Paul Dix - “When adults change, everything changes”

 

At Westfield Academy, we have dedicated, passionate, subject-specialist teachers who are reflective and dynamic in their daily practice. To ensure equality of opportunity for all our students, we aim for all teachers to follow what we call the "Westfield Way" in the planning and delivery of their lessons.

The Westfield Way outlines the structure of the lesson in terms of managing students in the classroom as well as their learning. This can be as simple as how the teacher "meets and greets" students at the door to set the tone for the lesson. However, in order to ensure good progress in lessons, we incorporated the "gradual release of responsibility" model into our Westfield Way. This is designed to increase student independence in lessons.

"The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model is a teaching strategy that involves a sequence of learning activities shifting responsibility from the teacher to the student¹. The model has four components:

1. "I do it": Teacher modelling.
2. "We do it": Joint responsibility between teacher and students.
3. "You do it together": Collaborative practice.
4. "You do it alone": Independent application by the learner."

The Westfield Way or “How We Do Things Here”

PREPARATION: What to do before the lesson to ensure all students can make progress.

START OF LESSON: Aim for impeccable behaviour & positive behaviour management strategies. Meet & greet corridor presence: One foot in / one foot out, as students are welcomed into class; students stand behind desks; informal uniform checks; students get ready for learning (equipment out); students stand until asked to sit.

“DO NOW”: Recall & register. Do now - Recall activity, short and snappy tasks displayed at the start of each lesson; no longer than 5 minutes; recall of prior learning. Register - Formally call the register. If a student is absent but has been marked into previous lessons, raise an on-call. Late students are settled into the lesson, the register must be updated and detention recorded. Literacy - Highlight, and refer back to, the key “new words” being introduced in the lesson.

“I DO”: Teacher input. This would be where key information or new knowledge is given in preparation for the activity.

“WE DO”: Where we explore the topic together. Modelling - Demonstration of steps to apply skills & knowledge; embedding worked examples. Questioning - Questions should be embedded throughout the learning cycle to assess the depth, breadth and accuracy of the new knowledge & skills.

“YOU DO”: Where students work independently to demonstrate knowledge and understanding. Students demonstrate their knowledge, skills & understanding in a 10-15 minute, silent, independent task. This should provide "stretch" and "challenge" for all students. Review - Students are prompted through assessment for learning / recall or retrieval practice strategies, to determine how much of the knowledge they have understood from the lesson.

CONSOLIDATION: Students will demonstrate their new-found knowledge & skills in a mini-task, before leaving the lesson.

ORDERLY DISMISSAL: Orderly pack-up & students stand behind seats. Corridor presence: One foot out /one foot in as class teacher to dismiss students from class, row by row.

Leaders challenge pupils to 'Believe, Strive, Achieve'. This vision is making a difference to how pupils approach their learning. The 'Westfield Way' rules for learning lay out leaders' high expectations. Pupils want to learn.

- Ofsted December 2019