Positive Learning Habits

 At St Thomas More School we are committed to helping our pupils to become compassionate, independent  articulate and empowered learners.  We are aware that effective learning behaviours are essential to the success of our curriculum and are at the centre of all that we do.

Based upon the research of Professor Guy Claxton, the philosophy of Building Learning Power underpins our approach to all subjects. Children are encouraged to be Resilient, Resourceful, Reflective and to Relate well to each other. As a Rights Respecting School, we have added a fifth 'R' to this list as we believe that Respect is another useful tool in fostering a positive approach to life, learning and challenges.

 Respect

We believe that we should show respect to everyone because every person is created in the image of God and is deeply loved by Him. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has defined an internationally agreed set of rights all children have. The Convention sets out the rights that must be realised for children to reach their full potential. These include:
• the right to a childhood
• the right to be educated
• the right to be healthy
• the right to be treated fairly
• the right to be heard
See our webpage on RRSA for more details.

Resilient

Being ready, willing and able to lock onto learning, even in the face of shifting feelings & distractions.
Absorption: being engrossed in your learning.
Perseverance: keeping going in the face of difficulties.
Managing distractions: creating your own best environment for learning.
Attentive noticing: immersing self in patterns, details and nuances of what is going on; being perceptive.

Resourceful

 Being ready, willing and able to be proactive and smart in learning; making flexible use of resources. Questioning: being curious & puzzling things out.Making links: making connections between events & experiences; looking at the bigger picture. Imagining: playing with possibilities creatively. Reasoning: organising systematically and critiquing sensitively own and others’ arguments. Capitalising: drawing on all kinds of external resources (books, internet, other people) to support thinking & learning.

Reflective

Being ready, willing and able to be strategic about learning; have a good sense of ‘me as a learner’.
Planning: thinking about what I will need; future steps.
Revising: being flexible as learning progresses; changing ways.
Distilling: mulling over learning; taking on board learning for future tasks & being a ‘learning coach’.
Meta-learning: being able to talk about how we learn.

Relating 

Being ready, willing and able to learn from and with others, as well as on own.
Interdependence: knowing what balance of sociable and solitary suits the learner.
Collaborating: being a good team player, able to draw on the strengths of the group.
Empathy & listening: being ready to put yourself ‘in others’ shoes’ in order to enrich the learner’s experience.
Imitation: being open to other people’s smart ways of thinking and learning.

 Click here to see our Leaflet for Parents about BLP.