Building Learning Power at Verwood C of E First School & Nursery

At Verwood C of E First School and Nursery our tag line is “Learning Values for Life.” These values are those that help every child develop as a whole person and build the personal characteristics required to succeed in future learning and beyond. These values include our learning values, the 6 Rs: Resilience, Reflectiveness, Reciprocity, Resourcefulness, Respect and Responsibility.

As a school we want to create a culture:

• that cultivate habits and attitudes that enable children to help themselves become better learners who face difficulty and uncertainty calmly, confidently and creatively
• that helps children to think harder
• that makes learning more enjoyable
• that prepares children better for an uncertain future (lifelong learning)

Lifelong learning and the promotion and development of independent learners is a key objective for our school. We follow and have adapted Professor Guy Claxton’s work on Building Learning Power (BLP). Guy Claxton suggests that there are four key learning dispositions, which are Resilience, Resourcefulness, Reflectiveness and Reciprocity. We have worked hard to embed these four Rs of learning and to also include two additional Rs, which are the behavioural Rs Respect & Responsibility. This makes up our school’s 6Rs.

Each of the four learning Rs is made up of a number of areas of learning (capacities). We use BLP to develop our ‘Language for Learning’ in school and this has enabled us to engage all pupils in a dialogue using a common language to support and develop our understanding of how we learn. It is our intention that the children use the language for learning to explain ways in which they achieved or approached tasks and how they can move forward to improve further or move on to the next chapter in their learning.

No doubt you would have already heard your child use these Rs when talking about their learning or when receiving gems or praise for when they have been recognised demonstrating the Rs. Here’s a bit more information about what they mean.

Resilience – the emotional aspects of learning. The key elements of this disposition are Perseverance, Noticing, Managing Distractions and Absorption. The children will learn how to stay locked onto their learning, the importance of never giving up and the benefits of learning when getting un-stuck.

Resourcefulness – the cognitive aspects of learning. The key elements of this disposition are Questioning, Capitalising, Making Links, Reasoning and Imagining. The children will develop their ability to ask and answer questions, use resources around them to help them with their learning, make links between the different areas of their learning and of course, use their imaginations!

Reflectiveness – the strategic aspects of learning. The key elements of this disposition are Planning, Meta-learning, Distilling and Revising. The children will learn how and why they learn and will be encouraged to regularly look back on their learning to see whether they have met their learning objectives. They will be asked to think about future areas for improvement and alternative ways they could have met their objectives.

Reciprocity – the social aspects of learning. The key elements of this disposition are Imitation, Interdependence, Listening and Collaboration. The children will learn how, why and when it is best to learn on their own, with a partner or within a group and develop the skills they need to be an effective learning partner and valued member of a team and a learning community.

The four learning R’s is made up of a number of learning behaviours, which we call capacities. Every half term, all children focus on a particular R and we review what they already know about this R, whilst introducing them to a new capacity associated with this R.

From Year 1 onwards the Learning-Power capacities are introduced.

R Learning Journey Progression	Oak	Sycamore	Beech	Willow	Ash
Resilience	Resilient- Not giving up, keeping trying!	Persevering	Managing Distractions	Absorption	Noticing
Reflectiveness	Reflective-What am I proud of? What would I like to do differently?	Planning	Distilling	Revising	Meta-Learning
Reciprocity	Reciprocal- Learning together	Collaboration	Empathy and Listening	Imitation	Interdependence
Resourcefulness	Resourceful- What do I need to help me be successful?	Questioning	Imagining	Making links	Reasoning Capitalising

 

We hope that this information helps to make you aware of the language we use so you can use the same language to discuss and support your child’s learning. Please take some time to read the parent guide on BLP for further information by clicking here.