A Visible Learning environment for all
At Cardross Primary School, we strive to ensure that all our students become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, as well as active and informed citizens. Our school program is driven by the high-impact Visible Learning research of Professor John Hattie and supported by the implementation strategies of world renowned edu-cators, including Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey and Lyn Sharratt. Our goal is to make learning visible to every student, creating assessment-capable leaners who:
- can articulate what they are learning and why, discussing strategies they are using to learn and be successful;
- display tenacity and resilience in their learning; seeking out challenges;
- see errors as opportunities to learn and are comfortable saying they don’t know and / or need help;
- positively support peers’ learning;
- actively seek feedback from teachers and peers;
- have a strong sense of connectedness to their school community and local environment;
- are able to learn with and from others;
- develop Respectful Relations with all members of our school community;
- are empowered to be active agents of their own learning journey.
To help achieve these goals, we have a clearly defined whole school instructional model based on the Gradual Release of Responsibility. This instructional model provides a systematic approach for shifting the cognitive responsibility from the teacher to the learner, utilising specific instructional strategies to develop the learner’s knowledge and understanding.
To deepen the learning process we utilise Deep Learning Competencies as part of our daily instruction. These competencies help to drive deep learning experiences for all students. Content knowledge alone is no longer enough. For our students to experience ‘deep learning’ they must master these competencies to become students who are self-driven, with an ability to transfer these skills across schooling and into life situations beyond the school walls. In our Junior grades our Learning Superhero Squad introduces our youngest students to these learning dispositions.