Powell's School Church of England (VA) Primary School

As a school last year we focused on Metacognition to help the children to understand the best way they learn. This was very successful, with the children being introduced to animal characters and their associated 'learning power', in order to help them understand metacognition in a child-friendly way. Now our understanding of metacognition is strong and both children and staff refer to it as part of our everyday discussions about learning, we will be having a whole school focus on ‘Growth Mindset’.

The idea of a growth mindset is a concept to describe the way children need to feel about themselves and their abilities in order to be successful learners. A person with a ‘growth mindset’ has the belief that intelligence and ability will grow with effort, opposed to someone with a ‘fixed mindset’ who believes that are ‘not good at something’ and therefore often does not try. Research has shown that children with growth mindsets will embrace challenges, persist and ultimately will reach a higher level of achievement.

The children will be learning more about the importance of having a growth mindset with a series of lessons this half term, many of which will be taught through children’s books. A key word that we are promoting with the children is ‘yet’ – I can’t do it – changes to - I can’t do it YET!

Here is a short 10 minute video explaining more about the differences between having a fixed and growth mindset and how much it affects future success: RSA ANIMATE: How To Help Every Child Fulfil Their Potential (youtube.com)