Our staff worked together to consolidate our teaching principles into what we call ‘The Warkworth Way’. They are informed by our vision and values, our proud history, and educational research.

The Warkworth Way is that we teach rigorous lessons with high expectations within a loving, nurturing environment, enabling all to flourish. 

What does the Warkworth Way mean for my child?

The Warkworth Way is the shared approach used by every adult, in every classroom and across every subject. It means that, whichever class your child is in, they will experience the same essentials: clear explanations, careful modelling, purposeful talk, regular checks of understanding, plenty of practice and high expectations of what they can achieve.

Children are known, valued and supported as individuals, but we do not confuse care with lowering expectations. When a child needs additional help, we adapt how they access the learning without unnecessarily narrowing what they are entitled to learn. Our aim is for every child to participate, think deeply and become increasingly knowledgeable, articulate and independent.

At Warkworth, rigour and nurture belong together. Children flourish when they feel safe, known and loved – and when the adults around them believe they are capable of great things.

How do we teach at Warkworth?

We believe excellent education is the solemn transmission of the best that has been thought, said and written – the enduring ideas, language and knowledge that help us understand ourselves and the world. At Warkworth, our curriculum is knowledge-rich, delivered through research-informed instruction that demands focus, fosters clear reasoning, and cultivates deep understanding and character. Our pupils are not just learners but custodians of a time-honoured tradition, encouraged to nurture an insatiable thirst for truth and beauty.

Rooted in Jesus’s promise of life in all its fullness, our Christian mission compels us to expose every child to a broad, balanced and intellectually challenging programme. Love remains our guiding principle – evident in our unwavering support, high expectations and the example set by every adult – so that each pupil is prepared to serve the common good with wisdom, courage and compassion.

In short, the Warkworth Way is that we teach rigorous lessons with high expectations within a loving, nurturing environment, enabling all to flourish. 

Our approach draws on the latest educational research, which shows that children learn most effectively through clear, direct teaching (explicit instruction) and that memory is the engine by which they make connections both within and across subjects and in real-world contexts.

Vulnerable children are equally, if not more, entitled to acquire and celebrate the knowledge and cultural capital that an ambitious curriculum can provide. This comes from our strong belief in inclusivity, so they can fulfil their God-given talent. As such, we take a ‘keep up, not catch up’ approach, focusing on adapting teaching approaches rather than curriculum content.

The Warkworth Way in practice

On an ordinary day at Warkworth, this might mean:

• A lesson beginning with children recalling important knowledge from previous learning, so that new ideas have something secure to build upon.

• A teacher explaining a new idea clearly, modelling how to approach it and thinking aloud so that children can see what successful thinking looks like.

• Every child being expected to think and participate – not only those who are quickest to put up their hands.

• Children using routines such as Think–Partner–Improve–Share to rehearse and strengthen their ideas before contributing to the class.

• Pupils being encouraged to Answer, Build, Challenge and Clarify, learning how to listen carefully, speak confidently and improve one another’s thinking.

• Teachers checking understanding throughout the lesson, identifying misconceptions and responding before children move on.

• Children receiving appropriate scaffolding, such as a worked example, carefully chosen vocabulary, a visual prompt or learning broken into smaller steps, while continuing to work towards an ambitious shared goal.

• Support being gradually removed as children become more confident and independent.

• Teachers deliberately connecting new learning to knowledge from other lessons and subjects, helping children develop a rich and connected understanding of the world.

• Warm, respectful relationships in which children feel secure enough to make mistakes, ask questions, persevere and improve

What you will see in a classroom

• Teacher-led education that drives high standards with love.
• Simple, effective, research-backed and gimmick-free teaching approaches, including explicit instruction.
• High participation, high challenge education that promotes independence and resilience and which places a high demand on student involvement and engagement.
• A focus on thinking – the role of the adult being to guide children’s thought through deliberate, careful practice. Purposeful dialogue strengthens thinking: when children put ideas into words, listen and respond, the language they hear and use shapes the inner dialogue through which they reason.
• Teacher-led, dialogue-led teaching: adults direct the learning, while children are expected to participate actively in purposeful classroom talk. This may include:
  • Frequent checks for understanding
  • Adults modelling their thinking aloud.
  • Dialogue between adults and children through questioning, and between children through structured discussion.
  • Discussion that is active, purposeful, challenging and reflective, and carefully guided by an adult.
  • Children given time to think and time to articulate their thoughts.
• Relationships at the heart of teaching practice.
• Scaffolding to support children to meet age-related expectations, rather than different objectives wherever possible.
• A focus on making connections across and between areas of the curriculum.
• Promoting an environment to be curious, to ask questions and to want to know more.