Falcons Gains Thinking School Accreditation

Peregrines Nursery and Falcons School for Girls are delighted to announce they have been awarded Thinking School accreditation by the Graduate School of Education at the University of Exeter.

When Headmistress Sara Williams-Ryan came into post in 2018, she noticed pupils were reliant on staff to help rather than using their own initiative to solve problems and seek answers. This sparked the start of Falcons Girls’ Thinking School journey with the goal to change how our pupils approached their learning. As Williams-Ryan elaborates: “This approach uses a range of tools such as Thinking Frames, the Habits of Mind, Growth Mindset and Bloom’s Taxonomy. These tools equip children with the ability demonstrate independent and co-operative learning skills, high levels of achievement and enjoyment in learning.”

The school steadily embedded the Thinking School approach across all areas of learning, led by Assistant Head James Kelly, who commented: “It has been a delight to see the whole school, from Early Years up to Year 6, develop a range of metacognitive strategies and thinking tools to help support their learning over the last two years. From independently solving pastoral issues by being more reflective in their thoughts and actions, to showing flexible thinking and persistence when overcoming challenging tasks in lessons, our boys and girls are growing into life-long learners and leaders, ready for the demands of the fast changing world outside.”

In the accreditation report by University of Exeter’s Dr Dave Walters, Peregrines and Falcons are praised for their “full commitment to developing and embedding cognitive education throughout the school.” He describes the school as “a fine example of educational creativity where cognitive tools, strategies and resources are adapted to meet the specific needs of the entire learning community.”

The staff and parents responded positively to this new way of teaching and learning and parents have welcomed strategies such as the Habits of Mind, Zones of Regulation and Thinking Routines to help consolidate their children’s learning habits, both at home and at school.