Our Approach to Teaching and Learning

The Science of Learning

We are passionate about education and about incorporating the latest pedagogical research into our teaching practices. The school is staffed with highly qualified teachers with a thirst for continuous professional development. We review our teaching and learning methods constantly and use a combination of more traditional, tried and tested strategies and newer approaches based on research in learning theory.

At St. Helen’s College, children discover how and why particular ways of learning work for them and continuously reflect on their learning to improve. Class work, both oral and written, is completed to a high standard and homework is set at appropriate levels throughout the school. At all levels, reading forms the first and most crucial part of the homework routine.

Specialist and Team Teaching

Much of the teaching throughout the school is done by specialists, right from the earliest years. Our specialist teachers have an absolute love for their subject and a passion to share it and to inspire others. For example, our Head of Science is an ex Research Scientist, our Head of Computing is a computer scientist who worked in the software industry for many years, music teachers are themselves regular public performers and children from 2+ (Ducklings) up to 11+ (Year 6) are taught Spanish by a native Spanish speaker. Our staff are learners, too, who regularly undertake extra training and gain further postgraduate qualifications.

We are very well-staffed, with a high ratio of staff to children, and teachers are able to ‘team teach’ some lessons, so that there is more than one teacher facilitating the learning in a class. In addition to our teachers we employ a team of 30 teaching and learning assistants (TALAs) who support the teaching and learning throughout the school.