On meeting your new class…

Grow your teacher reputation

Teacher-student relationships exert a strong influential role in personal development. Establishing relationships that will allow the children in your class to learn effectively take time and effort.

• Assure them that you are great at helping children to learn and that you believe that they can all improve. Your assurances will be backed up by teaching great lessons.
• Quickly learn and use their names.
• Tell them stories of past students who have had success with you.
• Speak with a warm, friendly tone but patrol boundaries consistently and fairly. Have a controlled, firm tone ready for appropriate times.
• Tell them exactly what behaviours you expect from them – that everything you ask them to do will be chosen carefully and you’ll never waste their time or let them waste theirs.
• Explain what they can expect from you.

Talk and model the vision

At Penn Wood, better never stops. Having sky high expectations from the first moment will pay dividends later in the year.

• Explain what ‘Better never stops’ looks like in your classroom.
• Mastery – the urge to get better and better at something that matters.
• Telling a story is a great way for them to get to know you and to see that you embody ‘Better never stops’ too.
• Tell them about your class tree, making links to mindset and vision

Expect a growth mindset

Working harder makes you smarter. It is through struggle that children learn more deeply and they should expect to find work desirably difficult.

• You’re going to practise lots because that’s how you get better – sustained effort is the route to success.
• Share stories, photos of work or books that show excellence from your current class.
• Describe the behaviours for learning that you expect to see.
• Explain the expectation of standard of work.

Set your working expectations

First impressions last a lifetime. The quality and amount of work that you expect in this session should set the tone for the year ahead.

• Books are at the heart of our curriculum. Choose quality texts to convey your messages.
• Expect children to think hard about content.
• Explain how you expect them to work in your classroom so that everyone can work hard and concentrate.