The Academy

How We Teach

At Dartford Excelsior, we are committed to excellence and this is reflected in how we deliver our teaching.

Using a mixture of Guided Lessons, Guided Assignments, and Tutorials, students are supported to reach the highest levels of their academic potential.

Guided Lessons and Assignments

Our lessons have been designed by experienced teachers and structured by online course specialists to be engaging and informative.

In each lesson, students are carefully guided through knowledge acquisition. Using video tutorials, short summative assignments, and independent research, students are encouraged to explore the multiple layers of a topic. Our lessons are designed to not only introduce knowledge to young people, but to begin the process of compounding it, building confidence and nurturing resilience.

Within each lesson, students are required to complete a Guided Assignment for submission to their tutor. This helps to build accountability in young people, teaching them the importance of working to deadlines. It also allows for careful monitoring of their progress, allowing tutors to identify early where students are struggling and to intervene accordingly.

The Guided Assignments are the principal tool we use to nurture in young people a respect for subject syntax, the use of subject-specific technical language, and a commitment to excellency in presentation. Students are given detailed written feedback on their Guided Assignments that considers the content, form and quality of their work, holding young people and their work to the highest standards.

Tutorials

A number of live tutorials run each week which students can attend. These tutorials are set in-line with the Guided Lessons and Guided Assignments to allow students to engage with their subjects under the supervision of a tutor. They are also an opportunity for students to discuss their ideas and reasoning with their tutors and other students, giving them the opportunity to learn from their peers.

In our Arts tutorials, tutors incorporate the Socratic method into their teaching, encouraging students to think more critically about the ideas, texts and skills being considered. In our Sciences tutorials, the focus is on compounding knowledge through exam-style analysis that forces students to deploy information from across the syllabus to solve tutorial problems.

Commitment to Excellency

As you can see, our programme is designed to empower students, compound knowledge, and develop academic resilience. Students benefit from comprehensive and individual feedback on their work while having the opportunity to share their ideas and learn from others. All of these help to provide the perfect environment for receiving an outstanding education.