Is there any such thing as a Thinking School? by Professor Bob Burden
It is with great pride that we presented our portfolio of evidence to the Cognitive Education Centre at Exeter University in December 2009. The Rochester Grammar School is a selective girls’ grammar school in Medway – an area with its fair share of socio-economic issues. We have a mixed 6th Form. In 2008 the school was judged to be outstanding in all areas by OFSTED.
St Robert of Newminster: How we became a Thinking School
Video showing Burraton thinking school in action.
Christ the King Catholic Primary School: Our Thinking Journey
How Stanley Park Infants School (London Borough of Sutton) became a Thinking School
How Oakwood Park Grammar School became a Thinking School
Videos showing Thinking Maps in action.
Richard Coe explores how to employ thinking skills in your school and work
towards achieving Thinking Schools accreditation from the University of
Exeter.
An article in Teaching Drama - 2009, published by Rhinegold.
The Thinking Schools approach is now core to the school as is made clear in our recent Ofsted report. As the first school in the country to gain the Thinking Schools Award from Exeter, Spinney Avenue has had an enormous boost.
A small, single form entry, mixed primary school with pupils aged from 4 to 11. This case study looks at their experience with thinking maps.
Headteacher, Bernadette Hancock describes how thinking maps have been used at her Cardiff school in all curriculum areas, helping children to become more fluent in developing key communication skills.
"We have been using these eight maps very successfully in our school, as visual tools for children to use in all curriculum areas. The maps are used to develop mathematical concepts, to act as a bridge that enables a child to move their random thoughts into writing and when undertaking research to prevent children from just copying text. The strength of the tools is their flexibility. Children quickly take ownership of them, choosing which map to use and expanding the maps to suit the content. We have found their use has led to children becoming much more fluent in developing their key skills of communication, maths and thinking."
Bernadette Hancock, Headteacher, Cardiff
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