All staff and children at St Marie’s Catholic Primary School are committed to make our school a successful Thinking School.
The members of the Drive Team are members of staff who hold various responsibilities.
They meet regularly to develop projects, discuss ideas and evaluate the impact and effectiveness Thinking Schools is having. The main goal is focused on implementing and embedding thinking to ensure improvement in all areas of learning and behaviour. Meet the Drive and some of the projects that have been developed.
Mrs Bunting
Mrs Bunting is the reception teacher and Early Years lead. She has worked as a Specialist Leader of Education for Early years, across schools in Wigan supporting teachers in the development of the early year’s principles. Her classroom promotes the children’s independence and develops their meta-cognition skills in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Mrs Bunting has introduced the PSHE programme across Early Years and Year 1 ‘Think Equal’. The introduction of ‘Thinking Frames’ into the prior learning of science enables the class teacher to see what the children have remember from previous teaching in different year groups and then at the end of current teaching it is revisited again.
Mrs. Waterworth
Mrs Waterworth teachers in KS1 and some of her projects have included implementing Rosenshine’s Principles in Maths, working to create a calm and purposeful learning environment, developing Zones of Regulation and the teaching of the PHSE scheme, Think Equal.
Mrs Hawkins
Mrs Hawkins teaches in KS2. In her capacity as English and History lead, she has trialled and modelled the implementation of Thinking Frames in History and the uses of success criteria and stem sentences in reading and writing to encourage independence. Her classroom practice promotes metacognition skills, focusing on independence and resilience. Mrs Hawkins has introduced Reflective Journals in class to encourage the children to think about their feelings; how they overcome challenges and how they learn.
Mrs O’Neill
Mrs O’Neill is a HLTA and is responsible for Wellbeing and Nurture throughout school. She implemented the new scheme ‘Think Equal’ to Reception and has applied the principles throughout the classroom.
Mrs O’Neill works both with groups of children and 1:1 to help develop a sense of self worth, build communication skills and to promote independent thinking and coping strategies. She uses Zones of Regulation and the Blob Tree to encourage children to think about their feelings and how to prepare themselves for learning. Mrs O’Neill has overseen Thinking display’s in communal areas and throughout school to promote the strategies learned on our Thinking School journey.
Mrs Annemarie Bell
Annemarie has been a Governor at St Marie's for three years and was attracted to our Thinking Schools project because of the benefits that metacognition can bring to the children. She has found it an honour to witness the development of pupils' critical faculties and self-awareness whilst observing lessons and assemblies, and in targeted pupil voice discussions with the children. As a parent of three children at St Marie's, she has seen first hand how their critical thinking has been enhanced, not just in their academic work but in lively discussions around the dinner table!
Quotes from the children at St Marie's:
“Mind maps help me organise my learning before we start a topic. Thinking frames help me reflect on how much I have learned at the end of a topic."
“You can develop a growth mindset by ‘asking for help’, ‘staying positive’, ‘saying I don’t understand this yet”
“I know where I am on the thinking ladder by reflecting on the verbs for each step
Feedback from St Peter's Catholic High School, evidencing St Marie's children's application of Thinking strategies when they transition to Year 7:
Two pupils from St Marie's have stood out in my Year 7 RE class for their ability to think critically about the point at hand, and they take it further to be able to argue from different points of view.
St Peter's Catholic High School
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