Growth Mindset and Positive Learning Culture
Mindfulness
St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School is championing the use of Mindfulness during the school day to teach children calming techniques and strategies; to help ease any anxieties they may have and encourage them live in the ‘now’ rather than the past or future. We are taking our lead from Wendy Guest, SafetyNet Mindfulness Practitioner, who is leading staff training and pupil support.
So far, children and staff are really enjoying this new initiative, and positive impacts have already been felt in all aspects of school life! We are dove-tailing this teaching with other curriculum aspects including RE, PHSE and Protective Behaviours.
What Is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is when we are thinking about what we are doing right now. Ignoring the past or the future, we just think about the present. Of course, sometimes, we want or need to reflect positively about the past or become excited about things in the future. Mindfulness is about living for the here and now and enjoying this very moment of our lives!
Can you be more ‘Mindful’ from now on?
Plan for future, reflect on the past, however, concentrate and enjoy what you are doing at the moment.
Your mind will feel more like a calm snow globe than a snow storm!
Some Mindfulness Activities
Laughing is a fantastic way to relax. Try some of the activities below with a friend and relax and have a laugh.
BALLOON BREATHING
Sit or stand comfortably and close your eyes.
Imagine you have a balloon in your stomach. When you breathe in, imagine you are blowing the balloon up slowly.
Then, hold your breath for a few seconds then slowly breathe out and imagine the balloon is going down.
Repeat until you feel calm and you are able to think more clearly.
FOCUS BREATHING
Make sure you are comfortable either sitting or standing in a quiet place if possible.
Close your eyes and take some slow deep breaths through your nose.
Concentrate on your breath flowing in and out of your body.
Notice how it is cooler when you breathe in and warmer when you breathe out.
Continue until you feel calm and relaxed.
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
Kindness is:
being friendly, generous and considerate of others;
showing good will to others;
being concerned when others are upset or worried;
helping people when they need you;
doing something nice for someone else, without expecting anything in return.
ONE A DAY – WHAT COULD I DO?
Let somebody else go first.
Share your snack.
Draw someone a picture.
Leave a positive sticky note for someone.
Hold a door open for somebody.
Compliment someone.
Donate toys or clothes to charity.
Wash the dishes without being asked
WHY BE KIND?
Being kind to someone can make them feel happy and it can also make you feel good about yourself too.
What will you do today to make someone else feel happy?
CALMING A CHILD
Try these simple techniques:
Talk to me – without trying to offer solutions, give your child space to talk about their feelings openly. This will help them verbalise worries.
Show me – your child may find it easier to draw their worry or fear. You can then ask them a few questions about what they have drawn.
Tell me a story – you can help your child to get out of their pattern of worry or fear by telling a story about it and changing the ending.
Let’s find out – research your child’s fear together, using books and the internet, and try and rationalise it. It may help your child to feel empowered.
I’m going to take a breath – model this great calming strategy to your child so that they can copy your behaviour and get out of the height of their worry.
I can’t wait for you to tell me about – change the subject by encouraging your child to think about something exciting that is happening later in the day.
This will pass – remind your child that all of these feelings pass eventually. It’s ok to have these feelings; it’s also ok to let them go.
Growth Mindset
We believe it is important to set a firm foundation for all children and have developed a Learning Culture in the school based on Shirley Clarke’s Formative Assessment.
This starts in each year group by getting the children to understand what makes a good attitude for learning. By using an analogy based on the brain being seen as a muscle, the children quickly understand that ‘intelligence’ is owned by everyone. By putting in effort, as we do in growing muscles through exercise, all children are intelligent and grow their intelligence through effort and owning a ‘Growth Mind-set’.
A ‘Growth Mind-Set’ is achieved by knowing: all intelligence is expandable, challenge is embraced, to persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the way and learn from constructive feedback. Children realise that through this they can reach ever higher levels of achievement and their full potential. The sky really is not the limit but just the beginning!
The children learn, through a combination of a series of lessons, and being introduced to eight learning skills as characters, how to become the most successful learner they can be. Here we introduce you to the eight learning characteristics and skills:
Learning Characters
Have a Go Husky
Dear children,
My pack and I lived in Arctic Siberia when I was a young cub. We lived happily alongside the Chukchi people, helping them by pulling their sleds from place to place through the thick snow. We played with the children and kept them entertained, watching over them and keeping guard. More than this, we were their friends and companions.
One bitterly cold morning, I was given news that I really had not been expecting; we were going travelling to a place called Alaska in Canada! At first, I was a little bit worried about the idea of going somewhere new. I didn’t know where this ‘Canada’ place was, nor what we would do there or what my life would be like. I started to become a bit nervous: my paws began to shake and I felt my heart beating really fast. I started to panic and felt a tear run down my furry face, when it suddenly dawned on me. I had been looking at this all wrong. So badly wrong! This was a chance to try something different. A new feeling replaced the old one; I was suddenly full of excitement and anticipation.
When I first arrived in Canada, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I was talking to some of my oldest packmates when suddenly it occurred to me: I would become the greatest ever Husky Sled Racer. I told them my new dream and waited for their response. One said “You? A racer?” Another cried “But you don’t even know how to race!” Whilst another chuckled “You do know how much you’ll have to train for this, don’t you?” I paused and smiled at them. “Practice makes perfect. If I don’t try then I’ll never know. If I was afraid of something going wrong, I would never do anything at all!”
On the first day of my training, I was speeding along the icy-cold surface as fast as my paws could take me. I was on top of the world, the wind billowing through my fur, when SMACK! I tripped and somersaulted head first into a pile of thick snow. I was truly a humiliated husky! For a split second, I lay there, wondering if I would ever be good enough to be taken seriously for my racing. Pulling myself to my paws, I shook the snow off my body and started again. And again. And again. With each fall, each mistake, I learnt how to be a better racer.
Five years on, now look at me. Through my hours of effort I have now become so successful I was even part of a film about my racing!
Thanks for listening to my story! I hope you don’t mind, but I’m quite enjoying my summer holiday in England; d’you mind if I stick around for a bit? I was hoping to stay on my warm perch, guarding the classroom like I used to back in Siberia, keeping an eye out for anyone Having a Go…
My wise mother husky used to tell me this poem every morning to start the day, so I hoped you might start each day this week saying it too…
To learn what lessons life has in store,
You must be willing to open every door
If you don’t try you’ll never know
All you can do is have a go!
Imagination Giraffe
Dear children,
Sorry I’ve taken so long to introduce myself; as you have probably noticed I’ve been busy enjoying your school over the past week since I first arrived here. Before I share a bit about who I am, would you try something for me? I’ve put together a few clues about my story; can you imagine what it might be?
As a young calf living in a beautiful savanna in North Africa, I was responsible for listening carefully as my grandfather and grandmother told us stories of the giraffes who had roamed these lands before us. They told me it was my job to learn the stories, to memorize them so that one day I could pass them on to young giraffe calves and continue the cycle.
I tried desperately to learn these tales, practising them as I grazed on the twigs of trees. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the details to stick. I didn’t want to let my family down: all I wanted was to make sure these special stories were remembered.
Near the point of giving up, I was grumpily pulling off bark from the branches of my favourite tree when an idea appeared. It occurred to me; a tongue this long and flexible might be useful for more than just gripping food. So I put it to use. Knocking fruits to the ground, I began to mix their juices to make dyes and paints. Using my tongue, I painted the most beautiful pictures: pictures of animals living long ago; pictures of the most amazing adventures; pictures that told a thousand words. All the words that my memory could not retain.
I kept my paintings for many years, holding onto the precious memories of my family’s history, ready for the time when I would share these most special stories. When that day arrived, I gathered the young calves close under the shade of my ‘Eureka’ tree. I lay down the pictures in front of them, ready to pass on the stories as I had once been asked to. To my surprise, the calves began to smile and laugh before I had even begun. Looking at the paintings, they began to create the most wonderful stories, bringing to life all of my colours and details with their excitement and joy. And with that, I let go of the memories of my old stories and finally allowed my imagination to run free.
I had always thought I was a failure for not being able to remember the original stories and pass them on as I had been asked. Now, I realise that I was given a far greater treasure; my imagination. And boy have I made the most of it since!
Teamwork Tiger
Concentration Chimp
Keep Improving Koala
Enjoy Learning Elephant
Curiosity Meerkat
Perseverance Penguin
Growth Mindset for Parents
Developed in collaboration with Raise The Bar. Parents learn what a growth mindset is, why it’s important, and best practices to support their children in developing this learning belief.
Three Ways Parents Can Instil a Growth Mindset
The way parents talk about ability and learning can have powerful effects on their kids’ beliefs. Below are three ways parents can instil a growth mindset. And remember, developing a growth mindset in yourself and in your kids is a process that takes time. Have a growth mindset about developing a growth mindset!
Growth Mindsets: Help Your Child Try New Things
What is growth mindset theory and how can it help your child’s learning and social skills?
This activity helps: Emotions Behaviour | Pre-school | School