At St Mary’s we promote an innovative and exciting approach to learning called ‘Building Learning Power’. This initiative equips our pupils with the skills that they will need to become ‘lifelong learners’.
As a result, some of your children may come home using some interesting language, including more complex vocabulary linked to our ‘Learning Professors’. Each of these Professors have different characteristics that reflect the skills of learning being promoted and practised. Our younger pupils will refer to ‘Wizard Wonderful’ who is an alternative and simplified character who is also an expert learner that they can aspire to be like.
BLP makes children aware of the strategies that make an effective learner. Over the next half term children will be introduced to numerous strategies through assemblies, displays and activities within the classroom. These will include skills of resilience, resourcefulness, reflectiveness and learning relationships. These 4 Rs are briefly explained below.
Resilience – perservering with tricky tasks, managing distractions, noticing details, being absorbed in their work – NOT GIVING UP!
Resourcefulness – Asking good questions, making links to previous experiences and learning, knowing what they need to achieve a task, be able to think about what they want to know and how they are going to go about finding the answers and solving the problems.
Reflectiveness – Planning what they want to achieve, Evaluating their own and others work, saying what they have done well and how they can improve their work, deciding what problems they came across and how they could stop them from happening next time, learning from experience, being able to identify skills they used/ have learnt and how they could help them in different situations.
Reciprocity – Collaboration, teamwork, listening, understanding others points of view, knowing when to work alone and when to work in groups.
We believe that by developing these four areas children will become more confident and independent learners, keen to tackle new challenges without getting worried and upset. We would be grateful if you could discuss and reinforce this new language with your child. The words and the language we use give powerful messages…
e.g. use learning rather than work, effort instead of ability and use could be to encourage wonder instead of is language.
Above all, BLP recognises the importance of building childrens appetite to know and capacity to learn in order to help them be successful beyond the confines and time of their schooling. It should have long lasting impact.
If you would like to learn more about developing B.L.P please visit – http://www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk