At Holy Cross and All Saints we are working towards becoming an accredited ‘Thinking School.’

What is a Thinking School?

A Thinking School is an educational community where all students and staff learn how to think reflectively, critically and creatively, and to employ these skills and techniques whilst learning and completing activities across the whole curriculum.

We are learning about;

• The 'order of questioning' to focus our learning in a subject being taught.
• Making our 'thinking visible' and developing our language and oracy skills to share our thinking, challenge each others thinking and present our learning.
• Recording our thinking and learning efficiently: using small steps to break up learning so we can commit it to our working and long term memory to recall when we need it. 

What is Metacognition?

The process of learning how to think reflectively, critically and creatively is called Metacognition. Metacognition is often described as the process of ‘Learning to Learn’ or ‘Thinking About Thinking.’ It is something many of us do every day without even noticing but reflecting on our own thoughts is how we gain insight into our feelings, needs, and behaviours. Understanding our metacognition can be such a powerful tool; positively affecting how we learn, make decisions, manage situations, overcome obstacles and adapt to new experiences, challenges, and setbacks.

Why Develop Metacognition in our Children?

Metacognition has been proven to improve the performance and outcomes of pupils from all age groups and abilities. More and more educational research confirms that children who are taught to use metacognitive strategies early on in their lives are more resilient, have better mental health and are more successful, both in and out of school. They demonstrate high levels of independence, achievement, questioning and problem solving, co-operative learning skills and enjoyment and satisfaction in learning.   

We are looking forward to becoming part of a wider 'Thinking Matters Schools' community which places the value of metacognition at the centre of children’s learning and wellbeing.