Steps to Success - C&I

The Connex ‘Steps to Success” is a Pedagogical Approach linked closely to the Rosenshine’s Principles in Action (Sherrington, 2019), which identifies ten effective strategies based on research to support learners within the classroom. Our learners deserve the best education possible, so using these principles ensures that Connex are using an evidence informed approach to:

Focus on how the brain acquires and applies new information.
Use practices that are highly effective in teaching and learning theory.
Teach strategies to learners for lifelong learning.

Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction emphasise structured, explicit teaching that supports memory, understanding, and skill development. Teaching is broken into small, manageable steps and activities are focused and matched to the learners development stage. Staff model behaviours, actions, language, and routines clearly and repeatedly. This includes demonstrating play skills, gestures, facial expressions, and use of objects so children can learn through observation and imitation.

Repetition is essential for early learning. Songs, rhymes, routines, and repeated play experiences align with Rosenshine’s emphasis on practice, helping children build secure neural pathways for communication, movement, and social interaction. Staff assess learning by carefully observing behaviour, engagement, eye contact, gestures, vocalisations, and responses to stimuli. Teaching is adjusted based on these observations. Feedback is given instantly through praise, facial expressions, mirroring sounds, or extending a child’s action or communication attempt. This reinforces learning and supports motivation, in line with Rosenshine’s focus on timely correction and encouragement. The timetable of the day ensures that predictable routines act as a ‘Daily Review’ helping learners to feel secure and reinforcing learning. Repeated daily experiences support memory, understanding and language development.

At Connex, the teaching of our Core subjects follows our eight ‘Steps to Success’.

	Step	Learner Vocabulary	Link to Rosenshine's Principals in Action	In action at Connex, you will see
1	Retrieval Practice	Retrieve	Daily Review Long Term Retrieval	Retrieval of information from prior learning (mixture of topics)
2	Review prior learning	Recap	Daily review Weekly and monthly review	Recap yesterday’s learning - in problem solving or related to real life context so that it was applicable to all learners
3	Vocab Rich	Vocabulary	Present new material using small steps	Introduce 3-4 words linked to that topic to explain the meaning
4	What are we learning?	Learn more	Present new material using small steps Ask questions	Breaking content into manageable chunks to avoid cognitive overload
5	Model an example	Model	Present new material using small steps Ask questions Provide models Guide student practice Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks	Demonstrate the task using several worked examples, with staff thinking aloud
6	Work together	We apply	Present new material using small steps Ask questions Provide models Guide student practice Check for student misunderstanding Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks	Group/partner problem solving, this could be with peers and support staff, giving immediate support and feedback Monitoring responses and addressing any misconceptions as they occur
7	Independent learning	I apply	Provide models Guide student practice Check for student misunderstanding Obtain a high success rate Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks Independent practice	Independent work with adult oversight, applying new strategies
8	Live marking and feedback	Review	Guide learner practice Check for student misunderstanding Obtain a high success rate Weekly and monthly review	Reflection activities and quizzes