The JOG Way is our ‘Teaching and Learning’ framework and it is rooted in the research collated and led by the EEF, particularly their 5-a-day adaptive teaching model. It supports teachers to know and apply ‘best bets’ for all students in terms of their pedagogy, but particularly those who are disadvantaged or SEND. ‘The JOG Way’ enables us to focus on ‘teaching children, not lessons’.
This mantra is really important to us at John O’Gaunt as we know that the best lessons are those that are responsive to the needs of the individuals sat in front of us; lessons where we have really planned how we might adapt our approach based on what we know about our students – both in terms of individual data (things like reading ages, SEND needs/passport information, whether they are below, meeting or exceeding standards) but also what we know are priorities for our context (supporting literacy, building resilience, confidence and aspiration).
Essentially, we aim to be really explicit and clear in our teaching so that all can aim high, but where necessary, we ensure that lessons are scaffolded and chunked to support students towards independence. Then we check for understanding and respond to the gaps we see, establishing a constant feedback loop as we nudge students to progress and the best outcomes they can achieve. We always teach to the top, but model and scaffold to support this depending on an individual’s starting point. This set of core principles is ‘The JOG Way’.
We have ‘The JOG Way for Students’ as well, and this is a series of ‘behaviours for learning’ that align with our pedagogical approach. Teaching and Learning is not something that is done ‘to’ our students; we expect active engagement and participation with all aspects of lessons and ‘independent learning’ (homework for example).
