STUDENTS

Rough Guide to Twickenham Academy

We want everyone who joins our school to receive a great education and to feel valued as an individual. To make this happen we have developed a unique education approach which ensures that we get to know every student individually and involve their parents/carers as partners in their learning. That means understanding how a student works and learns best, knowing what inspires and motivates them, and ensuring that we are there to support and challenge them throughout their education journey.

Our model has a number of key elements that work together to provide a completely personalised learning experience for each student:

Personalised Learning

Our aim is to embed personalised learning and thinking skills within the Academy. This means developing the competence and confidence of every student by actively engaging them, stretching them and developing their skills so that they can take forward their own learning. Students are only given the amount of freedom to manage their own time that they are mature enough to handle.

Goals

Everyone is different and has their own goals in life. A tutor works with the student and their parents/carers to understand these and to set ambitious, yet realistic, goals for their time in the school, the coming year and term. We recognise that students in Year 7 may not yet have clear goals. Tutors work with these students, and with older students with low aspirations, to develop their ambitions during their time in the Academy.

One-to-One Tutorial

Every student has a personal tutor whom they meet on a one-to-one basis each week for between 15 and 20 minutes. The tutor receives reports on the student´s progress from other teachers to build a rounded picture. During the weekly tutorial they work with the student to review and reflect on progress toward their goals, define new goals for the coming week, identify priorities and agree learning strategies that they would pursue to achieve their goals.

Personal tutors have both an academic and a pastoral role. They would be responsible for identifying additional support needs for students. For example, this might be through extra learning support or via a wider range of external services.