Please click on the subject links on the drop-down menu to find out more about our core subjects.
The Holly Park learning skills are at the root of all of our learning.
The six learning skills are displayed in all of the classrooms. They are:
- Self Management
- Team Work
The six learning skills help pupil’s understand how they learn in order to optimise their education academically and socially.
You can see our Learning skills poster here
The learning skills were based on the idea of “Building Learning Power”. They were also brought about by the staff and leadership at Holly Park based on the idea that children who “know how to learn” achieve so much more academically, as well as having greater levels of well-being, than those who do not.
These skills are not just skills for learning but skills for life. It is impossible for us to know exactly what the economy or the jobs market is going to look like when the young people at primary school now emerge into the workforce of the future. Preparing our learners for adult life in the 21st century has to be about more than just the learning of facts and knowledge. At Holly Park we are committed to ensuring that the children in our care become life- long learners and know HOW to learn.
Throughout the year, there are often homework tasks based on the learning skills, learning skills assemblies, learning skills displays and House challenges based around a learning skill.
Our school sticker chart system is based around the Holly Park learning skills and children are rewarded for using these skills in their school work.
The children are often asked to reflect on their learning – on a piece of work just done; on behaviour; on a half term of work; on the previous year and to evaluate and assess and learn from what they have done. They may use that contemplation to set new goals and challenges for themselves. When being reflective children need to:
- Deal with praise
- Deal with setbacks
- Deal with criticism
- Understand their own progress
- Evaluate their learning experiences
- Set goals
- Ask for feedback
This is not just about designing and making things but very much about exploring ideas and asking questions to further the child’s creativity. It is about thinking ‘outside the box’ and using their imaginations in every part of their school life.
- A belief that creative potential is inside everyone and can be found everywhere.
- A belief that creativity can change things and improve things.
- A belief that mistakes are to be celebrated, learned from and used.
- An attitude of openness to new ideas and experiences when they appear.
- An attitude of ‘smart risk-taking’.
- Children taking part in discussions and coming to agreements.
- Adapting their behaviour to different roles.
- Showing fairness and consideration to others.
- Give support and feedback to others
The children work on:
- Raising questions
- Planning to answer questions
- Predicting and hypothesising
- Making observations
- Looking at learning in new ways
- Deciding which parts of what they have learnt are important
- Finding answers to questions
- Finding problems to solve
- Finding exciting ways to learn something new
- Explaining reasons for their decisions
This is very important if we want our children to be independent and be responsible both in and out of the classroom. At Holly Park we often use the phrases, ‘Be Responsible’ or ‘Take Responsibility’ when referring to learning behaviour.
We encourage children to:
- Take responsibility
- Manage risk
- Ask for help
- Deal well with pressure
- Organise their belongings and resources
- Respond well to change
- Willing to invest (time, themselves)
- Resilient – to keep going even when it is hard or tiring
- Participative – in the class, in the playground on the sports field etc
- Actively engaged – clear links to participation and investing time and self to work and friends.