Our emergent curriculum is developed with pupils, taking account of their many questions and theories about the world; it’s influenced by the Reggio Emilia Approach, the Montessori Approach and the National Curriculum.
The five interconnected ways in which pupils learn and develop new skills to complement their academic studies are:
- Workshop Wednesdays – when they develop new skills to complement their academic studies
- Self-directed Learning (in areas of personal interest)
- Wild Fridays (outdoor learning for the whole school community)
- Personal projects/Big Studies – cross curricular project-based learning for real world experience
- Entrepreneurship – personal growth and ‘Passion Pays’ initiative where business entrepreneurs visit the school to give inspirational talks to the children about potential future careers.
These are underpinned by the Reggio Emilia enquiry-based approach to learning and prolific Guy Claxton’s ‘Learning Power Approach’ to delivering a unique and emergent curriculum. It is all about developing pupils’ independence, the ability to take measured risks and other life-long skills – e.g. Guy Claxton’s Light bulb moments, Wonderings, Mistake of the Week and the Big 6 Learnable Intelligences – mental agility, decision making skills, interpersonal skills, character development, thinking skills and emotional intelligence. This means pupils learn not to fear making mistakes and become intelligent learners for life with a moral compass and a growth mindset in place. The children quickly learn that you can make ‘sloppy’ or ‘smart’ mistakes and learn to celebrate the ‘smart’ mistakes. For example, a pupil who noticed he often doesn’t have the right equipment at school and now has learnt to look at the equipment list and timetable in his learning journal to pack the correct equipment for the following days learning the night before – so that he has a ‘stress free day.’ Or made a calculation error and corrected it.
This blend of chosen pedagogies from the best schools across the globe, helps children master the skills that will be demanded of them in the future – we call these the BIG 6 Learnable Intelligences.
