Our Approach to Teaching

At Great Yarmouth Charter Academy, we believe in traditional teacher-led instruction. We believe that children learn best when they have the opportunity to learn from the knowledge and expertise of an experienced teacher.  We believe that children thrive in an environment where they are permitted to learn without distraction and understand exactly what is required in order to succeed.

We believe in teacher-led lessons in a calm and focussed environment where every pupil can benefit fully from the subject expertise of the teacher.

To achieve this environment, Charter teachers teach from the front of the classroom.  They tell the pupils what they need to know, show the pupils what they need to do, and they check that pupils understand what is being learned.  We believe that our approach to teaching is the most inclusive possible, because it ensures that each pupil is able to access the curriculum and leaves no pupil behind.  Charter teachers use techniques such as ‘choral response’ in order to ensure that all members of the class understand something before the group moves on. 

We teach pupils to:

• Speak confidently in full sentences using advanced subject-specific vocabulary
• Use standard English appropriate to context in speaking and writing
• Present their work very neatly
• Check grammar and spelling systematically
• Develop the habits of highly successful learners
• Avoid common high-frequency errors
• Check their own work carefully
• Practise new skills until they are solid
• Revisit and revise key knowledge and so memorise effectively

Teaching at Great Yarmouth Charter Academy is designed to foster a culture in which the pursuit of academic excellence is at the heart of everything our pupils do.  The aim of the curriculum is to provide pupils with knowledge that will cultivate their minds and intellect, so they can discriminate between truth and falsehood and arrange things according to their real value. 

Because we believe that all pupils can achieve and succeed, Charter teachers have high expectations about what our pupils can learn and how our pupils can perform.  In lessons, we expect pupils to answer all questions in full sentences, to memorise important knowledge that will benefit them throughout their whole lives, and to read extensively.  We expect pupils to have an attitude of gratitude towards their teachers and peers, be courteous and polite to people they meet on the corridors, and to strive to be the best they can be at all times.

Teaching at Charter is designed to empower pupils.  It is designed to help pupils to become the best versions of themselves that they can be.  We want passionately for our pupils to grow into successful members of society.  Ultimately, we want our pupils to have the power to choose for themselves what they will do with their lives once they leave Great Yarmouth Charter Academy.