Teaching and Learning

At Sydney Road learning is a journey. It’s a journey that students, staff and family take together. It’s also a journey about more than just knowledge, dates and content. At SRCS learning is about finding your own way, developing the curiosity and creativity, applying yourself with commitment and a yearning for quality and craftsmanship whatever the focus. As a team we develop collaboration, confidence and the ability to communicate what we learn, what we think and what we want the future to hold with passion and impact.

We also know that learning is about taking educational risks, pushing yourself to attempt things that you can’t yet achieve, this is where learning lives. This is scary though, particularly for students who have had negative experiences with education in the past. At SRCS we do everything we can to take the ‘hidden’ out of the learning experience; to ensure that students know what they are learning, how they are learning and how that learning will be assessed to make sure that they are learning and thriving to the best of their ability.

Instructional Model – The How of Our Teaching

At Sydney Road we have developed an instructional model. This is a fancy way of saying a plan for how our classes will run. By having a regular and consistent approach to how our classes progress we not only maximise learning time but we also reduce the ‘cognitive load’ or the amount of things our students need to be thinking about in lesson.

One way of thinking about an instructional model is to think about a visit to the supermarket. Most people will have some sort of plan; maybe vegetables first, boxed goods then dairy. Most supermarkets also have a standard and non-changing layout so you know where you are going and where to find things. Imagine if these things didn’t happen, if the supermarket aisles and arrangement changed every time you went and you had to plot a new course for every visit and work out a new payment system every time you tried to leave. Shopping would not only be stressful but would be really inefficient because everything would be new so you would need to think about everything all at once to succeed.

An instructional model is the same for learning. It’s a standard pattern so students can focus all their attention on learning, taking educational risks and thriving. It’s not a paint by number teaching plan just a way of making learning less stressful and more successful.

The Curriculum – The What of Teaching

If the instructional model is how we are travelling on the journey, the curriculum is the sights and activities that we will do on the way. A curriculum that is planned, paced and differentiated gives every student the chance to work in their ‘learning zone’ where they are learning something new. By structuring the curriculum in a planned way we also ensure that there is equity of opportunity for all students and also that we leave space to explore, question and follow the interests that the students have in the topics we are covering. Our curriculum aims to be dynamic, engaging and give the opportunity for students to develop applicable skills and deep thinking practices.