Useful Links

Useful Links

Mindfullness & Philosophy

Philosophy for Children - P4C at Olveston

Philosophy for Schools is all about encouraging young people to think, through the approach of Philosophy for Children (P4C).  But then, we’re all thinking all the time, surely? 

Just try this experiment. Find a really quiet place, make yourself comfortable, close your eyes, count to ten and try not to think for a whole minute.  Did you manage it?  Or did you find yourself thinking all kinds of things? 

So – is there ever a time when you’re not thinking? 

What about when you sleep – do you stop thinking then?  And if you do think you stop thinking when you’re asleep, then what are dreams?  Ah, I hear you say, you don’t dream all night, so maybe you’re not thinking in the in-between bits.  But our brain is still working, surely?  So does this ‘working’ that our brain does count as thinking?  Or is ‘thinking’ something different, and if so, in what way?

I guess, if you’ve got this far, that you’re thinking about thinking, which is just what Philosophy for Schools encourages children to do.  When we really think about something, we’re trying to make sense of it, and isn’t that really what education should be all about?  We have a big, wide world that’s changing faster than ever, so how can we possibly give our children all the knowledge they’ll need by the time they’ve left education?  What we can do, though, is give them the tools to think better when they’re faced with new and possibly challenging situations.

Thankfully, this has well-documented benefits across the whole curriculum.  Children who engage in regular philosophical enquiry, for example, often do better generally.  When it’s done within subject areas however, it becomes a very powerful way to promote understanding. 

We believe that empowering the children to think in a philosophical way will greatly enrich them as learners and as people, it will also help drive academic success. Mr Dunn are certified philosophy (P4C) teachers and helps to integrate the approach into the day to day curriculum.

Philosophy for children is introduced in reception and runs through to year 6.

 Building Learning Powers

“Our forward looking school aims to be challenging and inspiring, enabling children to develop the independence to guide them through life as citizens of the world. “

We are committed to building young people’s learning power; not just what they are learning, but more importantly considering how they are learning. A major development for our school has been the introduction of Professor Guy Claxton’s pioneering work BLPs (Building Learning Powers) which builds on the ELLI skills our children are already familiar with. BLPs help children become more effective learners, it suggests that there are four learning dispositions- Resilience, Resourcefulness, Reflectiveness and Reciprocity. We are all born with these dispositions and they are not fixed.

 Building Learning Power is an integral part of lessons, assemblies and all we do at Olveston CEVC School. Together we can grow the superheroes of the future!

To find out more about Olveston's learning Powers click the image below

 

 

 Have a go at home.

The clip below is from Cbeebies 'What's the big idea?' a great show to engage children with philosophy at an early age.

Watch the clip with your child and ask them what they think afterwards.