Teaching methods

We think all children should be able to read fluently, spell accurately, know their times-tables and do long division.

We employ dedicated, experienced teachers to teach our classes.

Children at our classes are grouped according to ability. Children receive a lot of individual attention and support because of the small class sizes. We provide at least one teacher for every ten children. Support teachers work with individuals who are furthest behind and benefit from learning in a one-to-one environment.

Using traditional teaching methods, our English teachers focus on learning to read using systematic synthetic phonics, step-by-step methods to teach children the complexities of English grammar and reading stories with children to foster a love of books.

We provide our teachers with a range of excellent English resources to use in their classes. Irina Tyk’s Butterfly Book,  forms the basis of a synthetic phonics reading course. Over the course of a term children are introduced to the 44 letter sounds that make up the English language. Once children are familiar with these sounds and able to blend them to form words, the sequel textbook, Butterfly Grammar, is introduced. This no-frills approach to grammar is straightforward and easy to use. Covering topics that are sometimes considered beyond the comprehension of primary school pupils, children in our classes can distinguish between the active and passive voice and are dotting their 'i's and crossing their 't's before we know it. To supplement this grammar work with reading exercises, we our teachers follow the structured comprehension exercises laid out in the Galore Park Junior English series, rather than using a jumble of worksheets from a variety of sources.

We also regularly read Our Island Story with the children.

Charles Brickdale, English teacher at our Keighley Saturday School, describes what happens in his lessons:

“I teach English using a very traditional approach which emphasises the skills of comprehension and accuracy in spelling, punctuation and grammar. I use Galore Park's English textbooks. We take the view that children of all backgrounds should have access to the same high standards. I also teach some history by means of 'Our Island Story'. My classes absolutely love it.”

Teaching classes from a white board, our maths teachers make sure children are completely confident with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division before moving onto more advanced topics. Strong emphasis is also placed on the importance of learning times tables by heart. We give our teachers the freedom to spend as long as necessary on these aspects of the curriculum to ensure the children understand each topic thoroughly.

Our maths teachers use structured maths resources to help children practice their sums until they're perfect. In the classroom, strong emphasis is placed on repetition of exercises. The Collins Basic Skills series provides plenty of ready-to-practice questions that build confidence in mastering the basics in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

One of the maths teachers explains what happens during their lessons:

“One of my main aims as a teacher is to convince the students that learning is fun and very rewarding. At the Wapping classes we have hit a nice balance between enjoying ourselves and getting down to some serious work. We have been concentrating on the main operations of maths. This includes addition, subtraction and multiplication (we haven't yet reached division, but we're getting there)!

“The children in the younger group are struggling quite significantly. However, the group is very well behaved and have started to prove over the past few weeks that they are extremely smart too! Seven-year-old Tanya came into my class working at a very low level, with very little understanding of addition, and no concept of subtraction, multiplication or division. However, I am delighted with her fantastic progress. We’re making sure she’s fully confident with addition before moving on to subtraction and then eventually to tackle multiplication and division.

“Because the classes are small, I am able to deal very quickly and effectively with any problems individuals may have. Children don't walk away feeling ignored or helpless. In fact, I'd like to believe they walk away inspired and confident.”

We create and maintain healthy relationships with parents. We recognise that having the support of parents is necessary in helping children reach their full academic potential. Parents supervise the completion of homework tasks and play a key role in synchronizing reports from their child's full time school and the progress witnessed in our classes. Our teachers provide parents with regular feedback, both informally when children are collected at the end of classes and formally in end of term reports. As part of weekly homework tasks, children take home story books from our reading boxes - children are encouraged to read with their parents on a regular basis. The boxes contain classic stories, poetry and children's favourites-books by Michael Morpurgo, Anne Fine, Dick King-Smith and Michael Rosen.

In order to gauge the ability of new pupils and informally assess the progress children make over the course of an academic year, our teachers use the respected Holborn Reading Test. Our aim is to have children reading at a level appropriate to their age as soon as possible, and then move them ahead, as a child who reads competently and confidently will make rapid progress in other subjects.