Woodnewton – A Learning Community is an Advanced Thinking School

In June 2013 we received accreditation from Exeter University as an Advanced Thinking School. We take the teaching of different strategies for thinking very seriously.
We want your child to take away thinking strategies that will help them for the rest of their lives. We want your child to be equipped with skills which they can draw upon whenever they encounter a new situation in order for them to achieve their potential.

What are the thinking strategies that your child experience and use?

Thinking skills are developed throughout the school day and it is expected that every child will bring these skills home to share with you.
At Woodnewton your child will experience and learn to use different thinking strategies to improve their achievement:

Thinking Maps

Thinking Maps are visual tools, created by Dr David Hyerle, which help people to organise their thinking. There are eight different maps which the children are encouraged to independently use depending on the task they have to complete. Thinking Maps are used by all school users – children and staff.
If you wish to find out more about Thinking Maps then feel free to contact the school office to arrange an appointment to talk to staff.

Write from the Beginning

Write from the Beginning is a developmental writing programme that is taught and used across school. It is based on the work of Jane Buckner, a consultant for Thinking Maps. It consists of the thorough and rigorous teaching of all the essential elements of writing, from the very first mark making that a child undertakes to imaginative narrative with outstanding use of a child’s own style and voice. Please feel free to contact your child’s class teacher or any member of the Senior Leadership Team if you wish to learn more about this programme.

Philosophy 4 Children (P4C)

P4C encourages children to develop their questioning skills, reasoning and reflecting on what they, and others, have said. If you wish to find out any more about the P4C approach to child development then please click on this SAPERE link.

Habits of Mind

There are sixteen Habits of Minds and these encourage your child to develop a positive attitude to life and to learning. They were originally designed by Art Costa and Bena Kallick. Art Costa has since written an acrostic about our school which is displayed in the school halls and serves as a good visual reminder for the children. The sixteen Habits of Mind are: Persisting, Managing Impulsivity, Listening with Understanding and Empathy, Thinking Flexibly, Thinking about Thinking (Metacognition), Stiriving for Accuracy, Questioning and Posing Problems, Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations, Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision, Gathering Data through All Senses, Creating, Imagining and Innovating, Responding with Wonderment and Awe, Finding Humour, Thinking Interdependently and Remaining Open to Continuous Learning. If you would like more information about the Habits of Mind please contact your child’s class teacher.

Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats were originally designed by the Psychologist Edward De Bono to improve the quality of a person’s thinking. At Woodnewton all children are taught how to use each of the six hats and use this approach to think about new ideas, new projects and issues that can come up in school. If you wish to learn more about using the Six Thinking Hats then please come in and talk to your child’s class teacher.