Our Approach to Learning

We want to nurture in our children a strong sense of connection with themselves, with their community, with nature and with the wider world. 

We want to help children discover their passions by giving them a wide range of skills and knowledge. We want the children to understand their responsibilities as global citizens but also to have the choices and freedoms that will enable them to flourish as individuals.  Our curriculum will be planned with purpose and taught with passion so that children learn more, know more and remember more.

Rosendale’s Theory of Pedagogy

Rosendale has a long history of engaging with research to make sure that we are offering the best possible teaching and learning opportunities. The graphic below reveals approaches to learning that have been shown to have the most impact on outcomes for pupils.

As a result of this evidence, Rosendale moved to mixed attainment teaching in 2011.  The approach that we use is Kagan Cooperative Learning and we have become the only Kagan Model School in the UK.

The Kagan approach teaches pupils the skills of coaching and peer to peer learning as well as increasing engagement and providing a language rich classroom. 

“When students are engaged, they pay attention, they’re motivated, they learn more, and the learning sticks.

The biggest difference between the Kagan approach and teaching using traditional methods is the ability to engage every student. Traditional classroom teaching captures the minds and attention of some students, but not all. Good teachers engage more students. But even the best teachers who use traditional instruction don’t require every student to participate. With traditional instruction, there is always a subset of students who fall through the cracks. We’re all too familiar with the results: a widening gap between high achievers and low achievers.”

- Dr Spencer Kagan

Rosendale has also developed its own approach to promote metacognitive skills in its pupils called ReflectED.  

In the last two years, Rosendale has examined Rosenshine’s Principles of Learning, developing a cycle of learning that informs our planning and ensures that all our pupils can meet the learning outcomes of every lesson.