At The Link Academy, all subjects follow an ambitious curriculum that is logically sequenced in order to prepare learners for Key Stage 4 and their GCSE examinations.

Our lessons follow a clear structure with expectations for every lesson. They begin with a ‘Do Now Activity’ (DNA) which will often recall and retrieve the most important information from previous lessons and sometimes previous topics. Following the ‘DNA’, learners’ progress indicators are shared so learners understand what the main priorities are for the lesson.

Our teachers are skilled in explaining new information and giving clear instructions in a clear and concise manner. Teachers will very often ‘model’ the work that learners are going to complete. Depending on the subject, many teachers will use a visualiser to do this, and they will ask questions to check for understanding before moving on.

Developing learners’ use of disciplinary language is a key feature of our lessons. Teachers use glossaries that contain key terms and complete Frayer models in order to ensure learners are able to define key terms and use them correctly within their work. This vocabulary will often be checked as part of a ‘DNA’, and learners may be guided to use these terms when speaking within the lesson or answering questions.

When learners are completing a task, whether that be through guided practice (with additional scaffolding such as worked examples, sentence starters and additional prompts from the teacher) or through independent work, our teachers will circulate to ensure learners are on task and are able to access the work, intervening if necessary.

As part of our commitment to inclusive teaching, our teachers have good knowledge of learners with additional needs, with guidance from our SEND team in the form of learning passports, which teachers use to create their own ‘teacher placemats’, considering strategies that are specific to their subject and what they know about the learner over time.

Throughout the lesson, there are many opportunities that teachers have planned to check understanding and measure progress through use of adaptive teaching strategies (e.g. hinge questions), and will, if appropriate, respond in the moment to address errors or misconceptions. The final section of the lesson is used to review progress towards the progress indicators shared at the beginning of the lessons. The information gathered here and throughout the lesson is used to inform planning of future lessons.