WRA CAT-alyst Learning Lab
WRA Cat-alyst Learning Lab - Our Professional Learning Platform
At Woodchurch Road Academy (WRA), our Learning Lab is a hub for research-informed, equity-driven pedagogy.
Rooted in the Trust’s CAT-alyst vision, the lab brings together:
Expeditionary Learning (EL) inspired practice – emphasising authentic purpose, ethical scholarship and beautiful work
Project-based learning through an expeditionary model – driven by social justice, identity, belonging, and climate action
Research foundations from Hattie (Visible Learning), Nuthall (The Hidden Lives of Learners), and Learning Without Limits
Classroom tools including anchor charts, WAGOLLs, child-engaged assessment, and whole-class formative feedback protocols
Our Learning Lab exists to ensure pupils thrive academically and personally—becoming ethical, articulate and courageous young citizens who can shape, challenge and improve their world.
Professional Learning Tours
We welcome school leaders, teachers, and Trust partners to visit WRA for an immersive professional learning experience. Each tour includes:
A keynote talk from Headteacher Alex Borrill
A guided learning walk, lesson observation, and live discussion of practice
Observation of a Council Crew or Crew session (relational culture in action)
A meet-the-children panel, with pupil voice at the heart
Time for professional dialogue and questions
Choose from two specialist tours:
Curriculum for Human Thriving: The WRA Expedition
An energising exploration of our expeditionary project-based curriculum, designed to nurture human flourishing.
This tour focuses on how we:
Design learning that builds identity, belonging and agency
Use EL inspired expeditions to integrate ethical decision-making, climate action, and social justice
Develop scholarship, activism and empathy through purposeful, community-facing projects
Produce beautiful work for public exhibition and presentation
Embed inclusion through culturally responsive curriculum design
Visitors will see how curriculum becomes more than content—becoming a vehicle for character, voice, and change.
Relational Culture for Learning & Behaviour: Crew in Action
A compelling deep-dive into our relational approach to learning culture and behaviour, powered by Crew.
This tour explores how we:
Establish a safe, high-trust learning community
Teach habits of learning, collaboration and self-regulation
Use Crew to support behaviour through connection, not compliance
Build pupil leadership via Council Crew, restorative dialogue, and coaching conversations
Maintain high expectations while honouring individual needs and strengths
Visitors will observe the structures and relationships that make WRA a place where children feel known, valued and motivated to learn.
Core Practices in Action at WRA
WRA Professional Craftsmanship Model
Visitors will observe how teaching at WRA is treated as a professional craft, refined through deliberate practice, coaching and critique. In classrooms and during learning walks, you will see:
“Beautiful Work Protocols” — drafting, redrafting, peer critique and presentation to an authentic audience
High-quality scaffolds: anchor charts, models, success criteria, and exemplars built with children
Teachers using a coaching stance: responsive feedback, precise language, and micro-adjustments in the moment
A shared craft vocabulary across the school: scholarship, craftsmanship, ethical citizenship, and crew
Celebrations of process, not just product - children articulating how their work improved
Child-Engaged Assessment Model
Assessment at WRA is visible, participatory and empowering, designed to build learner agency. Within live lessons, observations, and pupil dialogue, visitors will see:
Children self-assessing against co-constructed criteria using age-appropriate reflection routines
In-lesson feedback loops with immediate opportunities for correction and improvement
Whole-class feedback delivered the next day — addressing misconceptions, celebrating strengths, guiding next steps
Use of WAGOLLs (What A Good One Looks Like) to clarify quality and inspire ambition
Pupil learning conferences — children explaining their progress, challenges and strategies for improvement
Simple, consistent evidence of teacher attention: every piece of work stamped or annotated as ‘seen’
Expeditionary Learning Structures
Across all tours, visitors will experience the signature structures that drive learning and character development:
Expeditions with purpose - long-term, cross-curricular projects rooted in social justice, identity, belonging and climate action
Case studies of ethical citizenship in science, humanities and the arts
Learning that connects to community through public exhibition, activism and presentation
Inclusive curriculum design reflecting the school’s diverse cultural capital
Relational Culture & Crew
Visitors will step into the relational heart of WRA by observing live Crew sessions. In action, you will see:
Council Crew or Class Crew - structured, dialogic sessions for community, leadership and reflection
Restorative conversations rooted in connection, not sanction
Children who feel known, valued and accountable to their community
Teachers reinforcing habits of learning through relationships and routines
Shared problem-solving, self-regulation language and peer support
Professional Learning Systems
WRA tours also illuminate the professional learning architecture behind the practice:
Instructional coaching cycles with bite-sized, actionable improvement steps
Lesson observations followed by developmental dialogue
Collaborative curriculum design and ongoing research engagement
A school committed to equity, inclusion and learning without limits
What makes WRA unique to experience
Classrooms where children talk about learning like professionals talk about teaching
Teaching framed as a craft to refine, not a performance to perfect
Assessment that builds agency, voice and ownership
Curriculum that cultivates identity, justice and hope
Relationships that drive behaviour and culture through belonging
