Teaching and learning at Grimwade House strikes a balance between the best of traditional approaches and contemporary practice. We are focused on growth and active participation, and our work is supported by expert and dedicated teachers, outstanding resources and learning spaces purpose-built for young learners.
Of course, we focus on strongly embedding high standards in literacy and numeracy, but our learning programs are much wider than this, encouraging children to explore new ideas and achieve new goals every day while still experiencing the joy of childhood.
“I learned to have a go at things [at Grimwade House]. Even if I wasn’t great at what I was doing, there was that culture of taking every opportunity to try something new and I think I have taken that with me throughout my life.” Steph Vizard (OM 2007), lawyer and author. Read more.
Our classrooms focus on the individual learner
Grimwade students excel because we have the people and resources required to adapt our teaching in response to individual academic, physical, social, and emotional needs. In our classrooms, it’s common to see students spending time working in groups on personalised tasks, each designed to encourage the development of a particular skill.
We recognise that children will develop at different rates in different areas, so we also recognise and reward their growth and development. By measuring progress and setting personalised goals, we ensure every child is improving across each learning dimension throughout the year.
We focus on delivering a pathway for each student, helping him or her to grow and develop across all strands of the curriculum, at a tempo and within a framework that makes sense to them. Read more about growth pathways.
Alongside our teachers having the expertise to recognise and respond to variations in learning needs, our high staff-to-student ratio enables us to offer this level of personalised learning. Over time we’ve found that this approach improves outcomes while also creating classrooms where students feel happy and cared for.
Our approach builds active participation
We use an inquiry-based approach to build our lessons and shape our curriculum. This means moving beyond a teacher-centric model to encourage students to question, experiment and identify their own knowledge gaps. This approach builds academic confidence while also strengthening students’ ability to seek knowledge outside the classroom.
Inquiry-based learning involves challenging assumptions, undertaking research, forming links between ideas and looking for new possibilities. This is intended to lead students to move beyond merely knowing to understanding, exploring and analysing. Read more about inquiry-based learning.