In the previous blog we looked at the wider curriculum issues associated with flow. This time we home in closer and take a look at some practical ideas that may pave the way and enable learners to experience flow in your classroom. What you are trying to develop is learners who: Understand that learning is…
Friends in schools are telling us that many children returning after lockdown, while delighted to be back, are finding it harder to settle down, to pay attention, to keep going or to simply ‘be there’. So we thought we might devote a few blogs to the learning-friendly habit of Absorption — to explore what it…
The Big Picture Teachers at Squirrel Hayes First School in Biddulph, Staffordshire monitor every child’s use of learning behaviours in every single lesson. But why are they doing this? What are the benefits? Is it worth it? Headteacher Erica Pickford explains that this data gives teachers and the school the ability to track and identify…
Here a year 6 teacher from Miriam Lord primary school in Bradford offers a short explanation about how they draw out and develop their students’ learning habits.
It’s wonderful to be carried away by inspirational platform speakers who take you into the realms of possibility, speak to your inner beliefs about learning, and make change sound oh-so easy. And yet we know that anything worthwhile is never a matter of tweaks here and there, but more a stretching, sometimes tricky, learning journey…
Last week we took a peek at junior children from St Herbert’s C of E primary school in Keswick talking confidently about their learning power. This week we take a closer look at what’s going on in a learning powered maths lesson in Year 6. Take a look at how the story of the lesson…
For some weeks now we’ve been writing ‘behind the scenes’ of learning power…how it could look; how it might grow; what students might be encouraged to say; what learning friendly cultures could look and feel like; what emotional behaviours does perseverance seem to be made up of? In effect we have been using what’s come to…
Last week we looked briefly at the role of the teacher, but this week we look at the habits of the Supple Learning Mind framework; what they are, how the labelling has shifted and, importantly, how they might progress over time. If the big ambition of Building Learning Power is to work, the learning behaviours need to…
This week’s blog is a little different as it comes direct from Oakfield Primary Academy in Dartford Kent. The school has been thinking about building pupils’ learning power for a while now and recently started using the Building Learning Power online courses to deepen their approach. As we give time for the changes in classroom…
This week sees another guest blog from Patcham Infant School, this time by recently qualified teacher Lizzie Hilton.Here she shares her discoveries about how to get to grips with Building Learning Power. BLP as an NQT by Lizzie Hilton, Patcham Infant School As a newly qualified teacher (NQT), fresh out of teacher training, I was excited…
This week’s guest blog comes from Chris Taylor, headteacher at Patcham Infant School near Brighton. “It is inarguable that quantitative data represents an essential aspect of assessing a child’s development; it hopefully measures positive progress which is then often represented in numbers, letters, words or acronyms. However, measuring qualitative information, in my mind, enables us…
Chris Taylor, Head at Patcham Infant School, has written another insightful piece for us. This week he explores the introduction of learning power heroes to his pupils. How do you help infant children develop the notion of learning muscles and become better learners? Patcham Infant School and Nursery Class is not unlike many other schools…
In this guest blog Chris Taylor, Head Teacher at Patcham Infant School and Nursery Class, highlights some of the brilliant effects Building Learning Power has had on learners at his school. Take it away, Chris. A few weeks back Patcham Infant School hosted a Creative Curriculum evening for Key Stage 1 parents. This meeting…
This week’s guest blog comes courtesy of Katie Holt, Coordinator of Learning & Teaching and the Student Council at South Dartmoor Community College. Take it away, Katie ‘Take a risk with your learning.’ This is often something we say to students who tend to play it safe when it comes to their learning. So in the…
On a visit to a BLP hub school in Cornwall this week I came across a remarkable story from Jo Wotton, the Saints Way MAT’s Catering Manager. In just three years she has evolved from being the disgruntled parent of five to a finalist in the BBC Cook of the Year category; part of the…
The second installment in Fiona Corfield’s series about how The Saints’ Way Multi Academy Trust is embedding learning power. It’s been a really exciting few weeks as Building Learning Power begins to gather momentum across the academy. We decided that the best way forward, as an academy, is for leaders and learners to learn together.…
Fiona Corfield has been Headteacher at Lerryn and St Winnow Primary Schools in Cornwall and is now School Improvement Lead with The Saints Way Multi Academy Trust. They have taken the brave step of sharing their journey towards becoming learning powered schools in a series of blogs, written by Fiona, for the Building Learning Power…
Richard Griffiths, Deputy Head at The King’s School in Macclesfield gives a detailed account of the training and culture shift his school went through to embed learning power. There are some great ideas for involving senior leadership, teachers, and pupils across the board. “I first came across Learning Power at a conference, where I saw the…
This week Steve Baugh, Assistant Headteacher at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, shares the effect Building Learning Power has had on his students and his school more widely. “I have now been involved with developing a programme of ‘Building Learning Power’ (BLP) at my school for about 20 months. In that time I believe that I have…
Hallbankgate Village school opened it’s doors to teachers from across the country who were eager to discover how the school grows curious, independent and resilient learners. Here’s the first of a short series of blogs uncovering what we experienced. In June 2014 Hallbankgate Village Primary school was awarded the Gold Standard through the Learning Quality…
Today’s blog is brought to us by Building Learning Power teacher Tracy Goodyear. Having worked with Building Learning Power from early in her career, she considers its practicalities, pros and cons, impact, and importance. ‘I was first introduced to ‘Building Learning Power’ shortly after my NQT year; I was teaching in a mixed comprehensive school…
When pupils at Thameside Primary school in Abingdon were introduced to their learning power, little did they know they were destined for a muddy morning. Christmas had come and gone, the weather was wet and cold, and the children wanted to be warm and dry in school. But no, staff had spied out some lovely…
Here at Building Learning Power towers we have long been firmly of the belief that learning is learnable – to oversimplify, one aspect of Learning Power is an extension of Carol Dweck’s outstanding and well-accepted work on growth mindsets. But after you have accepted that the mind is a balloon, capable of expansion and lift,…
How children were empowered to take control of their learning, through investigating effective strategies for collaboration. Some time ago I caught up with some of our learning powered schools, and this gem of a tale was shared with me by the head of a primary school in Cumbria. Children there were taken out to build…
North Shore Academy opened in September 2010 following the closure of two failing schools in Stockton-on-Tees. The students from these two schools – along with existing staff – were amalgamated on the site of one of the previous schools. A new building was scheduled for completion on a brown field site for early 2013. Vice-principal,…
Uffculme School is an 11-16 comprehensive school serving a small town in east Devon. It is highly regarded in the local community and performs extremely well in public examinations. Relationships within the school are exceptional and the atmosphere calm and purposeful. The Oftsed inspection of 2007 rated the school outstanding. Headteacher, Lorraine Heath, knew that…
