Our school Learning Heroes are modelled on Guy Claxton’s Building Learning Power which focuses on “Not just for a life of tests, but for the tests of life”:

“This means helping the children build up the mental, emotional, and social resources to enjoy challenge and cope well with uncertainty and complexity. Of course, this has to be done in a way that also develops literacy and numeracy, and gets young people the best test results possible; this involves helping young people discover the things that they’d really love to be great at, and to strengthen the will and the skill to pursue them.”

We have five special friends at Pilton Infants' School who help us develop our Thinking and Learning Skills. They promote our key values of Teamwork, Compassion, Thinking, Determination and Resilience. We help our children learn to reflect on how they grow and learn and we celebrate these skills each Friday in our Celebration Assembly.

BUILDING LEARNING POWER

At Pilton Infants School, Building Learning Power sits at the heart of our curriculum. It provides a framework which we can use to demonstrate the building blocks of learning. Building Learning Power ensures that all our children have a better understanding of what it means to be a great learner both in and out of school. It develops the knowledge that we can continually improve how we learn regardless of age, situation, gender or any other false boundary that tries to hinder our progress.  BLP gives us a common language to talk about learning and helps us make explicit the various skills that enable us to learn. It is organised into four key components, resilience, reciprocity, resourcefulness and reflectiveness.

Resilience – Perseverance

• Good concentration
• Don’t worry if you make a mistake
• Don’t give up – try, try, again
• Managing distractions.

Reciprocity – learning together and learning alone.Working Well Together

• Taking Turns
• Listening to Each Other
• Working Well Together
• Working Well On Your Own

Resourcefulness – Curiosity

• Find another way
• Asking great questions
• See things that link together
• Using your imagination

Reflectiveness - Thinking

• Look carefully
• Thinking about what I know
• Thinking about what to do
• Thinking about what you are learning

In each of our classrooms we display Building Learning Power to encourage children to use phrases such as ‘not giving up’, ‘making links’ or ‘managing distractions’. Our collective worship and celebration assemblies also provide us with many opportunities to explore the different elements of Building Learning Power.

Here are our friends, and you can find the stories which introduce them.