It was an incredibly busy day again at Earls Hall today as the children across all the classes enjoyed taking part in our latest ‘Growth Mindset Day’. Today there was a focus on demonstrating one or more of our learning powers through a series of challenging activities. Children showed their ability to learn from their mistakes, ask questions, help their partner, leap back up when they fall, let their imagination go and succeed through effort.

The morning began with the children in the Foundation Stage and KS1 gathering in assembly where they were updated on the challenges set by some of the staff at the beginning of the year. Mrs Critoph talked about how she had practised her hula-hooping and that, despite making lots of mistakes, she had aimed to get better each time she had tried. Mr Geach also wowed the audience by talking about his ability to leap back up when he fell whilst developing his ability to cartwheel! What inspirational members of the team!

In Year Four the children were focusing on the book called ‘The Most Magnificent Thing’ focusing on the Learning Powers of resilience and perseverance. They were challenged to build a self supporting ramp, on which a car could roll down. The success was to be balanced between whether their structure worked and if they managed to keep to the budget they were set. They worked in pairs and had to help each other to be resilient when their first attempt failed.

In Year Three the children were inspired by the book’The Dot’. the children used paint in the style of Jackson Pollock – rolling marbles in trays, then dripping and splattering on large paper outdoors showing their ability to let their imaginations go.

In Year One the children were exploring making things after an initial mistake based on the book ‘A Beautiful Oops’.  They made models and pictures from torn or folded paper and pictures from an initial scribble made by a friend.  The children worked together as a team to make a newspaper tower.  They also made pictures by blowing paint and turning it into something else.

In the Foundation Stage the children read ‘Giraffe’s Can’t Dance’ and then tried new dance moves to music, made new animal masks and tried new fruits including passion fruit, papaya and mango.

Down the corridor, in Year Two, the children also used the book ‘A beautiful Oops’ and were making blown paint to be turned into pictures later, and they chose a learning power to make a poster of.

Throughout the day the children were joined by a group of our governors who, after taking part in a meeting of the curriculum committee, met with groups of children from across the year groups in order to talk to them about their learning, areas of the curriculum which they enjoy and the progress that they have made. Thanks to all of our governors for your time.