Yinnar Primary Curriculum

Our Approach to Learning
Before we even mention the Curriculum offered at Yinnar Primary School, we first need to acknowledge the work of Carol Dweck, James Nottingham and Guy Claxton and the significant effect it has had on the learning at Yinnar Primary School.

Carol Dweck's work on 'Mindsets' has helped us understand the need to cultivate growth Mindsets in our children. People with a Growth Mindset believe that Intelligence is Cultivated through learning. Their priority is to become smarter through learning. They feel smart when they are engaged fully on new tasks, exerting effort, taking risks and stretching and applying skills. They avoid easy, previously mastered tasks.

Through James Nottingham's Challenging Learning we work with the five aspects of Facts:

• Feedback - providing information relating to set learning that helps move students towards their learning objectives.
• Application - how much students apply themselves is often a product of the value they place on the learning goal multiplied by the level of expectation they have of achieving the goal.
• Challenge – underpins all the other factors. It involves helping people to overcome difficulties in a task that has been set for a purpose.
• Thinking - helping children to develop conceptual capacities, powers of judgement and practical wisdom. Self esteem- involves confidence, self worth and the personal resources to work through setbacks.

We use The Learning Pit to challenge students even more than they might expect to be. The conflict and confusion generated from being 'in the pit' clarifies concepts and learning at a great level. Through Guy Claxton's 'Building Learning Power' we recognise the learning capacities or 'muscles' that all children need to develop through exercising them.

The true learner will be Resilient, Resourceful and Reflective. They will also be able to work by themselves and just as effectively with others. This is known as Reciprocity. In every lesson children are aware of which learning muscles they will need to use in their learning.