Barbara Langford, Deputy Head - Academic, ran an information session for parents on High Performance Learning, the structured and whole school teaching and learning framework adopted by Westbourne House School in September 2019.
It was very informative, challenged the concept of ‘talent’ and explained the reasons why Westbourne House is championing this cutting-edge approach.
Key messages parents took home included:
- The school’s belief that absolutely every pupil has the potential to succeed. For some the journey takes longer, but we know that with the right opportunities, support, motivation and practice all our children can reach the required standard. Think “driving test” - Are the drivers who took longer to pass their test any worse than the drivers who passed first time?
- What does that success look like at Westbourne? The answer: the ability of an individual to thrive in the next stage of life (whatever that is) - both socially and academically; whether that be science, music, horticulture, art, music, sport or the corporate world. Success for Westbourne is well-adjusted, confident pupils that have all the mental strategies needed to thrive including creativity, growth mindset, social skills, problem solving, intellectual curiosity and confidence.
- HPL with its systematic teaching of certain traits, characteristics and learning styles empowers pupils to think independently, creatively and be emotionally intelligent.
- Recent research has shown that past assumptions about people’s abilities and talents through gender, genetics or race are not valid. As K.Anders Ericsson, Swedish psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University says “Talent is grotesquely overrated. Deliberate practice is the secret to excellence.”
- We place children in sets based on their current performance not ‘ability’. We know that all pupils have the ability to change their current performance.
- Parents can support their children by modelling HPL at home. Mrs Langford gave the example of putting up a shelf at home. If the shelf is wonky, instead of saying ‘I’m rubbish at DIY’ you could reflecting out loud that ‘perhaps I should have spent more time measuring before drilling the holes. I’ll will do that next time.’
Mr Barker, Headmaster, and Mrs Langford, recommended reading Great Minds and how to Grow Them by Dr Deborah Eyre.
You can download the presentation below and watch the videos played in the session.
Download and Information