WE ARE PURPLE LEARNERS!
At Nunney First School we are striving to become ‘Purple Learners’! We recognise that to help pupils become successful and effective learners, we must equip them with the skills and attitudes to do this.
We have used the work of Diane Pardoe to inform our knowledge and understanding of what it means for children to become successful learners. She uses the idea of the purple challenge zone – the place where we do the most effective learning. We want children to be able to go into the challenge zone, achieve and apply this approach to learning across the curriculum and beyond the school.
We want our children to develop a growth mindset, rather than a fixed mindset and to realise our brains are elastic – we can train them! For every child, their development of becoming a purple learner will look different. For some, it may be finding what motivates them, for some it may be learning to bounce back after a mistake.
We have worked together to create a series of statements to help describe what a purple learner looks like. The children are being introduced to these in an age appropriate way, one step at a time. We have started by introducing the challenge zone and then each of our purple kites. These are:
- ‘I am ready’
- ‘I am resilient’,
- ‘I am resourceful’
- ‘I am reflective’
Through assemblies and class activities, children are learning why these statements are important and how we apply them. We are discussing ‘movers’ – things that are helpful to us learning and ‘blockers’ – things that stop us from learning.
Most importantly, we hope by developing these skills and attitudes to learning now, our pupils will become resilient, confident and successful citizens.
