Bolton St Catherine’s Academy

Core routines

At Bolton St Catherine’s Academy, there was a high number of new staff in 2018. This provided an ideal opportunity to re-establish an expectation about how students should move around school between lessons, how they should enter classrooms, and how lessons at BSCA should begin. As a school we believe that start and end of lesson routines are crucial for our most vulnerable students and the development of core routines were vital for all. Each department developed their own core routines from January 2018, and the best of these routines were combined with an initial launch in July 2018. It was revisited again in September 2018, shared with students and core routines were added to the school lesson observation pro-forma. We have trained staff throughout the year, including filming some staff and sharing on CPD sessions, and completed whole school core routine reviews.

What was the impact?

There is a shared understanding of the importance of core routines. Where core routines are used well there is evidence of improved overall focus in lessons and improved learning as a result of well-pitched DO NOWs that enable a greater retention of knowledge through regular recall.

To find out more, contact Bolton St Catherine’s Academy.