Growth Mindset

At St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School, we know that pupils who have a positive attitude towards new challenges and their learning will make good progress and be successful. We instil all our pupils with 'growth mindsets' through teaching strategies, lesson planning, activities, language and positive reinforcement. We use the theories and strategies of Dr Carol Dweck and embed them in every aspect of school life.  We want all our pupils to relish challenges, embrace their mistakes as part of the learning process, value the importance of effort, respond carefully to feedback and take inspiration from others. This will help them to achieve, not only with us, but also in their future lives as adults.

Carol Dweck clearly evidences how positively praising the amount of effort a child has put into a task instead of praising how intelligent they are has a much higher impact on the child’s resilience and outcome.

Inspiring Confident and Resilient Learners

‘Let Your Light Shine’ is our motto. We want all of our children to challenge themselves. We know that in order to fulfil the potential of our pupils and encourage them to become confident and resilient learners we, as a team of parents and staff, need to be modelling the mindset of a learner who is not afraid of making mistakes but who thrives upon them, knowing that this is all part of the learning process. The way in which we encourage children to learn and explore is vital to their success, not only at school but at home as well. At St Vincent’s, we consistently challenge and develop the attitudes of all pupils and staff towards learning by considering what makes a successful learner.

Key aspects of growth mindset at St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School:

• We celebrate having a wobble or making mistakes – we can learn from them and show resilience;
• We don't give up – perseverance is the key if we are to succeed;
• We learn from each other;
• We don’t compare ourselves with others;
• We challenge ourselves and take risks;
• We celebrate achievements no matter how big or small
• We remember that our brains are making new connections and growing all the time.

The following video explains the concept of growth mindset in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUWn_TJTrnU

https://www.mindsetworks.com/parents/growth-mindset-parentinghttps://www.oxfordlearning.com/growth-mindset-tips-for-parents/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/help-your-child-try-new-things

In light of the recent circumstances, we have identified three main areas which having a growth mindset will have a positive effect on:

• self-confidence
• resilience
• self-discipline

On the children’s return to school, we have mapped out a plan to focus on all three areas with informative assemblies, fun and meaningful activities and lessons and interactive displays. We look to encourage a healthy relationship between the pupils, their minds, school and their education.

Austin's Butterfly

At St Vincent’s Catholic Primary we aim to build resilience and understand that 'mistakes are proof that you are trying.' This video, Austin's butterfly, helps us to understand what this looks like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqh1MRWZjms

The Learning Pit

We can also use the analogy of a learning pit to help understand that new learning is hard and that we need to work to gain understanding and knowledge to get out of 'the pit'. This is based on the thinking of James Nottingham and develops the children's resilience when tackling something new. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pdYmAbWR-k