Building Learning Power

Building Learning Power is an approach to help young people to become better learners, both in school and out. It is about creating a culture in classrooms—and in the school more widely—that systematically cultivates habits and attitudes that enable young people to face difficulty and uncertainty calmly, confidently, and creatively. Students who are more confident of their own learning ability learn faster and learn better. They concentrate more, think harder, and find learning more enjoyable. They do better in their tests and external examinations. And they are easier and more satisfying to teach.

Building Learning Power—BLP for short—is an attempt to refocus schools on preparing youngsters better for an uncertain future. Today’s schools need to be educating not just for exam results but for lifelong learning; building their all important learning character. To thrive in the twenty-first century, it is not enough to leave school with a clutch of examination certificates. Pupils need to have learnt how to be tenacious and resourceful, imaginative and logical, self disciplined and self-aware, collaborative and inquisitive.

At Godstone we believe that the ‘core purpose of education is to prepare young people for life after school; to get them ready’ (Professssor Art Costa) and to be ‘confident in a changing world’ (Professor Guy Claxton).

To ensure that children are given lifelong learning skills, we implement the following four key components into daily teaching and learning across the school: