Thinking Schools Network
Vision Statement
At Shiplake College, we want to ensure that our pupils are fully prepared for the uncertainties, demands and challenges of their future pathways. Through the Shiplake Seven, we want our pupils to adopt a problemsolving approach where they are given the tools to build resilience, foster independent thought and ask the right questions.
As part of the Thinking Schools Network, we will embrace a common language of thinking and a common toolkit of resources. We will explicitly make thinking visible across the curriculum and enable pupils to take greater ownership of their learning. Pupils will be encouraged to embrace the challenge of thinking, to become explicitly curious and independent, and to develop the academic resilience to approach any problem with confidence.
Thinking School Status
Shiplake College is a proud member of the global Thinking Schools Network. These schools take an explicit, evidence-informed approach to developing pupils’ thinking skills, placing metacognition at the heart of pupils’ academic experience. Collaborating with Thinking Matters, the College is working towards formal accreditation as a Thinking School by the University of Exeter.
What is a Thinking School?
A Thinking School is a learning community in which teachers and pupils have a deep understanding of how to learn effectively. It is also a school where:
• effective questioning is used to promote higher-order thinking
• thinking is made visible across every subject and every year group
• pupils develop a knowledge of the brain, and of themselves as learners
• pupils are encouraged to think reflectively, critically and creatively
Metacognition
Metacognition is essentially ‘thinking about thinking’, and by making this explicit we will help pupils to deconstruct the process of thinking, thereby giving them the tools to approach any problem with confidence. Metacognition also includes self-regulation, the process by which pupils plan, monitor and evaluate their thinking and learning behaviours in pursuit of a goal or target. Ultimately, metacognition helps pupils to become independent learners and, based on the research, this approach can be worth the equivalent of an additional seven months’ academic progress (Education Endowment Foundation, 2017).
Why at Shiplake?
The educational research is clear: when pupils understand how they think and learn they become more resilient and adaptable, and make greater academic progress. Our work with Thinking Matters and our membership of the Thinking Schools Network has drawn together many existing strands of our practice in recent years (including collaborative projects with a range of local schools).
A 2022 action research project at the College (as part of our staff-led Learning Research Group) showed that knowledge of metacognitive strategies had a positive impact on the outcomes of pupils who are part of the ‘core’ Learning Development programme. It is widely acknowledged that effective ‘SEN teaching’ is effective teaching.
Recent research by the University of Exeter on the attainment and progress in Thinking Schools has shown that pupils from accredited secondary Thinking Schools in the UK show the equivalent of a GCSE grade increase against those starting at the same point at non-Thinking Schools.
In a future rich with AI, nothing will be more important than the ability to think.
Our work as part of the global Thinking Schools network involves several strands:
1. Neuroscience – we have started to teach our staff and pupils about the science of learning and creating the optimal conditions for learning.
2. Questioning – learning is a consequence of thinking, therefore high-quality questioning is used across the College to promote higher-order thinking. We will continue to embed Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956), a hierarchical tool to develop higher-order thinking.
3. Common Language – we will continue to embed a common language of thinking across the College based on the research of effective Habits of Mind: Dispositions for Success (Costa and Kallick, 2009) and our very own desirable learning characteristics included in the Shiplake Seven.
4. Common Toolkit – we have also introduced a common toolkit of resources (Thinking Frames) to promote thinking and to make thinking visible across every year group, and every subject.
5. Growth Mindset – if you have a ‘growth mindset’ (Dweck, 2006), you believe that with work, practice, and perseverance, you can improve – whether it’s your academic performance, or any other skill. This mindset remains central to our work at the College and why we are keen to recognise and reward academic effort, the process of learning, and pupils achieving their personal bests.
The Shiplake Seven
Since 2015, the Shiplake Seven has represented the key skills and qualities the College has promoted throughout pupils’ academic and co-curricular journey. Through the College’s work with Thinking Matters, it was clear that there was a natural crossover with the Habits of Mind: Dispositions for Success (Costa and Kallick, 2009). Therefore, the Shiplake Seven is now firmly positioned as our common language of the classroom and refer to the dispositions our pupils need to be effective learners e.g. determined and openminded.
Thinking Frames
Thinking Schools focus on the explicit teaching of the eight fundamental cognitive processes. Thinking Frames are tools designed to promote these eight ways of thinking, and to make thinking visible across the curriculum, regardless of subject or curriculum. They are part of our common toolkit of thinking, they provide a useful record of pupils’ thinking, and they can be especially useful for revision. Pupils have full access to these templates at www.thinkingframes.app
