Our Learning Powers

At St Philip's CE (A) Primary School, our curriculum is designed to nurture children to become inquisitive, independent learners. To be able to become an independent learner, children need to master key metacognitive skills so that they are able to plan, evaluate and monitor their learning to help them learn in an effective way.

What is metacognition? 

metacognition definitions for website.pdf

 Our Learning Powers

At St Philip's, we focus on teaching children to develop the metacognitive skills which they will need to partake in the deep learning challenges that are set for them within their curriculum. To help children understand what it means to be a metacognitive learner, we teach the children to use their learning powers. 

Teachers choose the learning powers which are needed to be successful within a lesson and explicitly model strategies to help the children develop these skills. Each classroom has a Learning Powers working wall which they use to show the children which learning powers they are using that lesson. 

 Throughout the week, house points are awarded for children who are working hard to develop their learning powers. On a Friday, we celebrate children from each class who have worked particularly hard to develop their learning powers by presenting Learning Hero certificates. By using our learning powers, we become learning heroes. 

learning powers certificates pdf.pdf

 The Learning Pit 

At St Philip's, we recognise the value of challenging learning. We create a learning culture which combines intellectual risk taking with psychological safety to enable our students to challenge themselves without fear of failing. At St Philip's FAIL means - First Attempt In Learning. 

In order to create the safe environment for challenging learning, our students and teachers see the learning journey as a 'Learning Pit'. 

Throughout a lesson, children self-asses to see where they are in the Learning Pit and use the strategies which have been modelled within the lesson and their learning powers to try to find a way out.