Teaching & Learning

At Ridgeway, we are passionate about developing breadth and depth in children’s knowledge, skills and interests, so they thrive in our school and life beyond.

We support children to develop the skills and motivation for lifelong learning that ensures success in whatever life holds for them. The world our children are growing into changes constantly and rapidly. Therefore, they need to embed a broad range of skills to be able to thrive and succeed. Additionally, our school community is passionate about developing children’s social responsibility and this is increasingly a feature of the opportunities we provide.

The image below illustrates how we ensure a subject-based curriculum works in combination with the development of lifelong learning skills. While curriculum subjects (the branches and leaves of our tree) might be more familiar or noticeable, the life skills (roots), although more subtle, are vital for healthy growth. Both elements are equally valuable and contribute to children’s long-term growth and success. 

Curriculum:

At Ridgeway, the core of our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum. Each subject area is tailored to our school’s approach to enhance our curriculum offer. Early Reading is taught through Little and Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Developing strong subject knowledge, a broad set of subject-specific skills and a passion for learning are central to our approach. Research shows that the brain is better at linked learning, rather than discrete pieces of information. Therefore, our subjects are taught through termly contexts that enable different subjects to be connected; children develop a deeper understanding of the topics and a stronger knowledge of each subject. Find out more about the Ridgeway Curriculum, as well as our Contexts for Learning.

Lifelong Learning Skills:

Alongside traditional curriculum subjects, we develop children’s lifelong learning skills. Examples of these are shown as roots of the tree and also include: independence, focus, determination, problem-solving, risk-taking, empathy, imagination, self-awareness, etc. These life skills are key to children becoming effective, lifelong learners. To ensure children fully understand and appreciate what learning powers are and why they are so important, the language and opportunities for children to hone these skills are embedded in our school culture and everyday practice. With these aptitudes in mind, staff encourage, support and challenge children throughout their time in our school, so by the time children leave they are skilled and confident in applying them. Anecdotal evidence from former pupils, their families and secondary schools, is that they recognise and value these skills in children who have been at Ridgeway.

Further information about the research behind our approach can be found here. 

Our Teaching & Learning Policy also contains further information about our practice.

Our Remote Learning Offer, introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, can be found here.