Learning Powers at Wantage CE Primary School

At Wantage CE Primary school we want children to become independent learners and develop good learning behaviours so that they flourish at primary school and in future learning.

In order to support the children in Learning for Life, our school uses Learning Power characters to remind the children of good learning habits: they are designed to help children learn how to learn. Our aim is to enable all children to face challenges calmly, confidently and creatively so that they are better prepared to learn for life.

The 4 Rs

The concept of Building Learning Power comes from Professor Guy Claxton and he suggests that there are four key learning characteristics to help us become learners for life: Resilience, Reciprocity, Reflectiveness and Resourcefulness. We have taken Professor Claxton’s research and created four brilliant characters to help us all to become better learners.

How can you help at home?

Resilience: Maribel Mouse

• Demonstrate/model sticking at things even if they are challenging
• Praise your child when they persevere
• Praise them for trying to work through something that is difficult
• Help them to find interests and activities that are really absorbing
• Talk with them about what helps them to concentrate and manage distractions
• Talk about how you feel when you are taking on a challenge

Reciprocity: Betjeman Bee

•  Work, play and learn alongside your children to help them to pick up good habits through imitation
•  Make expectations of turn-taking and cooperation clear
•  Encourage your child to listen to the answer when they ask you a question
• Check they have understood your answer
•  Praise them when they are showing or following good learning habits

Reflectiveness: Ormond Owl

• Ask your child what they learned in school rather than what they did
• Help them to think about and to plan activities
• Celebrate last minute changes to encourage flexibility and the ability to change a plan when necessary
• Ask your child what they are getting better at
• Instil the idea that it is okay to make mistakes and that we can learn from them

Resourcefulness: Segsbury Squirrel

• Encourage your child to ask questions
• Demonstrate making links between different ideas
• Encourage your child to use their imagination
• Encourage them to find and use resources that will help them

When the children are showing the characteristics of any of the learning powers they can be rewarded with house points or stickers. As the children show the learning powers more consistently they may be awarded a certificate in our achievement and celebration assembly.