1. An introduction for parents Jane Williams

2. To be a lifelong learner there a certain skills and attributes a person needs in order to be a successful lifelong learner. Set 1 Learning and innovation skills: Those skills which enable students to become creative, innovative, flexible life-long learners who are able to be effective, multi-skilled productive workers Critical thinking Creativity Problem solving Independent learning Digital competence WHAT ARE THE COMPETENCIES OF A LIFELONG LEARNER?

3. Set 2 Personal and social skills: Those skills which enable students to become a cohesive, productive and tolerant member of society who is well prepared for the next stage of their education. Leadership and responsibility Collaboration/teamwork Communication Self-confidence Initiative/self-direction Entrepreneurship COMPETENCIES

4. Set 3 National and Global citizenship skills: Those skills which enable students to become concerned and responsible citizens who are active participants in the local community and the global, multi-cultural, technologically advanced world. Global and environmental awareness Cultural awareness/ citizenship COMPETENCIES

5. . THE BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM

6. Teachers plan to enable students to have opportunities for lower and higher order thinking, thus developing critical thinking, innovation, analysis and problem solving Planning by teachers shows how they carefully develop opportunities whilst linking the work to the Curriculum requirements. Starting in the KG with the Early Years curriculum throughout the years until Year 11 O CASTRO SCHOOL

7. To ensure that students are equipped with the soft skills and behaviours for the 21 st century. Information is changing rapidly and the need for students to retain volumes of facts has become less important than developing skills that will enable them to function well in an ever changing world. Think back about the changes that have happened since your mother was a child. Are you a lifelong learner? WHY DO WE NEED OUR CHILDREN TO DEVELOP THESE SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES?

8. We have talked about how the curriculum supports the levels of thinking which has been long established process in the British Education System but other skills such as self confidence from set 2 and global citizenship from set 3 require a whole school commitment and attitude by staff and those who lead it. I thought it would be useful to show how a school would teach and encourage self confidence within a learner in the Primary phase. Parents too can support this within their own children by using similar ideas and working with the school. IN THE CLASSROOM

9. Teachers set a culture of risk taking allowing students to guess, have a go and not hold back their thoughts for fear of being laughed at. I call this a safe classroom and is integral to promoting student confidence.Safe schools also reflect this for staff to learn and develop. Celebrate students who excel in areas that are not so common such as great chess players or musicians/dancers enable them to perform confidently to each other. A CLASSROOM PROMOTING SELF CONFIDENCE

10. Teachers tell stories that show self confident risk takers and celebrate these characters. Teachers tell students openly about their own achievements and times when they failed and how they learned from it. Marking of work shows students how to improve and what to do differently the next time to improve their work. THE SELF CONFIDENT CLASSROOM

11. Support students to review their learning and use their reflection to set new goals : The steps I have completed in this task include: The steps I still have to complete include: Something I did not understand about this task was: Something I am going to change/correct/add/remove from this task is: One concept I have learned from this task is: This piece of work demonstrates that I can (list the criteria): I can improve my work by: After reviewing this task, I would now like to achieve (define revised goals): I would like to do this because (explanation): Younger students choose the image that best describes the effort they put into their learning today. They then draw their own picture to show how they will put in more effort next time e.g. draw them asking a friend for help. A REVIEW OF MY WORK

12. It is important that the classroom is a place where mistakes are accepted as an essential part of learning. Teachers can share quotes to reinforce that making mistakes is a part of learning. “I haven’t failed; I have just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.” Thomas Edison CREATING A SELF CONFIDENT LEARNER

13. WHEN STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THIS, THEN THE SCHOOL HAS DEVELOPED A SELF CONFIDENT LEARNER

14. Some strategies to build a Growth Mindset in your students: Share the idea of Mindsets with students. Describe to them the Growth Mindset and the Fixed Mindset. Encourage them to think about what Mindset they have. Praise the processes students use when learning (e.g. their hard work and effort) rather than praising their natural intelligence. Instead of saying... You are so smart You’re a natural at this Try saying… You have a good understanding of... You used a really good strategy when you... You must have studied really hard to... I really liked how you... Students write about a time they achieved something and/or learned something through hard work, persistence or making mistakes. Collect in these stories and give them back to students to re-read when they are struggling with their learning Can parents also adopt these phrases and encourage the development of their own children to have a Growth Mindset? O CASTRO SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

15. Growth and Fixed Mindsets: Teacher’s understanding and using the idea of Mindsets, by Carol Dweck, can help build their students self-confidence. The idea is simple, everyone has either a Growth Mindset or a Fixed Mindset. If students are going to be self-confident they need to have a Growth Mindset. Learners with a Growth Mindset are more willing to make mistakes, learn from these mistakes, recognise their strengths and weaknesses, reflect on their learning and seek help when they are stuck. People with a Growth Mindset believe: A persons intelligence can grow People can be smarter with hard work and effort People with a fixed Mindset believe: A persons intelligence is fixed People are born with a certain amount of intelligence and it can’t be changed MINDSETS