We have adopted High Performance Learning (HPL) an approach to teaching and learning at Calday Grange Grammar School.

HPL is a learning philosophy based on 30 years of research and practical experience by educators led by Professor Deborah Eyre.

We follow these key principles:

  • High academic performance is an attainable target for everyone
  • We can systematically teach students how to be ‘intelligent’ and how to succeed in school
  • World-class schools produce students that are both intellectually and socially confident, who are college-ready, workplace-ready and life-ready with a global outlook and a concern for others
  • There are 20 generic characteristics which students need to develop if they are to be high performers in cognitive domains (ACPs) and 10 values, attitudes and attributes (VAAs) that develop the wider learner dispositions needed for cognitive and lifetime success

As well as an underpinning philosophy, High Performance Learning provides a practical framework that school leaders can use to transform learning – actively involving students and their parents.

ACPs

The ACPs are 20 ways of thinking (grouped into 5 categories) associated with high performance. These categories are:

  • Meta-thinking
  • Linking
  • Analysing
  • Creating
  • Realising

 

Meta-Thinking is thinking about thinking. To be successful academically you need to acquire a repertoire of ways of thinking that enable you to make sense of information, create new thoughts and know how to approach and unscramble complex ideas. This ACP contains the following elements: 

Meta-cognition: The ability to knowingly use a wide range of thinking approaches and to transfer knowledge from one circumstance to other. 

Self-regulation: The ability to monitor, evaluate and self-correct 

Strategy-planning: The ability to approach new learning experiences by actively attempting to connect it to existing knowledge or concepts and hence determine an appropriate way to think about the work 

Intellectual confidence: The ability to articulate personal views based on evidence

To be successful academically you need to acquire a repertoire of ways of thinking that enable you to make sense of information, create new thoughts and know-how to approach and unscramble complex ideas. 

The linking ACP is broken down into the following elements: 

Generalisation: The ability to see how what is happening in this instance could be extrapolated to other similar situations

Connection finding: The ability to use connections from past experiences to seek possible generalisations

Big picture thinking: The ability to work with big ideas and holistic concepts

Abstraction: The ability to move from concrete to abstract very quickly.

Imagination: The ability to represent the problem and its categorisation in relation to more extensive and interconnected prior knowledge

Seeing alternative perspectives: The ability to take on the views of others and deal with complexity and ambiguity

A key skill in advanced learning is the ability to analyse information in order to position it in your learning schema. You need to master your understanding of it before you can manipulate it. Analysing is made up of these elements: 

Critical or logical thinking: The ability to deduct, hypothesise, reason, seek supporting evidence

Precision: The ability to work effectively within the rules of a domain

Complex and multi-step problem solving: The ability to break down a task, decide on a suitable approach, and then act

A key skill in advanced learning is the ability to be creative in your thinking. There is no single definition of what it means to be creative but we all have a general sense of what it means. Creativity is not just about having wacky, ‘off the wall’ ideas, it is more often about seeing a slightly different possibility from the usual one. This ACP is made up of the following elements: 

Intellectual playfulness: The ability to recognise rules and bend them to create valid but new forms

Flexible Thinking: The ability to abandon one idea for a superior one or generate multiple solutions

Fluent thinking: The ability to generate ideas

Originality: The ability to conceive something entirely new

Evolutionary and revolutionary thinking: The ability to create new ideas through building on existing ideas or diverting from them

To be successful academically you need to acquire a repertoire of ways of thinking that enable you to make sense of information, create new thoughts and know-how to approach and unscramble complex ideas. But if you want to be truly successful academically you need to learn how to use those thinking skills to optimal advantage. Realising is made up of the following elements: 

Automaticity: The ability to use some skills with such ease as they no longer require active thinking

Speed and accuracy: The ability to work at speed and with accuracy

The 10 VAAs, how we behave are grouped into 3 categories:

  • Empathetic
  • Agile
  • Hardworking 

The HPL student profile focuses on creating enterprising learners who exhibit leadership attributes in addition to being able to perform highly in school assessments and exams. This VAA consists of the following elements: 

 

The HPL student profile focuses on creating enterprising learners who exhibit leadership attributes in addition to being able to perform highly in school assessments and exams. This VAA consists of the following elements: 

Collaborative

The ability to seek out opportunities to receive responses to your work; present your own views and ideas clearly and concisely; listen to the views of others; be willing and able to work in teams; take a variety of roles and be able to evaluate your own ideas and contributions.

Concerned for society

The ability to know the contribution you can make to society for the benefit of those less fortunate; demonstrate citizenship and a sense of community ethos and recognise differences as well as similarities between people and peoples; be aware of your own and others’ cultural heritage and sensitive to the ethical and moral issues raised by their studies.

Confident

The ability to develop a belief in your knowledge, understanding and action; recognise when you need to change your beliefs based upon additional information or the arguments of others; deal with new challenges and situations, including when this places them under stress.

The ability to be agile or nimble in learning is crucial to using and applying knowledge effectively. This VAA is made up of the following:

Enquiring
The ability to be curious; be willing to work alone; be proactive; keen to learn; show enterprise; think independently; challenge assumptions and require evidence for assertions; actively control your own learning; move on from the absorption of knowledge and procedures to develop your own views and solutions.

Creative and enterprising
The ability to be open-minded and flexible in your thought processes; demonstrate a willingness to innovate and invent new and multiple solutions to a problem or situation; adapt your approach according to need; surprise and show originality in your work, developing a personal style; be resourceful when presented with challenging tasks and problems, using your initiative to find solutions.

Open-minded
The ability to take an objective view of different ideas and beliefs; become more receptive to other ideas and beliefs based on the arguments of others; change ideas should there be compelling evidence to do so.

Risk-taking
The ability to demonstrate confidence; experiment with novel ideas and effects; speculate willingly; work in unfamiliar contexts; avoid coming to premature conclusions; tolerate uncertainty.

The role of hard work in creating success has always been understood but we are now clear that it is a truly essential component in optimising life chances in education. No matter how easily you learn you will not be successful in the long run if you cannot, or do not, work hard. Hardworking is made up of the following elements:

Practice

The ability to train and prepare through repetition of the same processes in order to become more proficient.

Perseverance

The ability to keep going and not give up; face obstacles and difficulties but never give up; persist in effort; work diligently and work systematically; not be satisfied until high quality, appropriate precision and the desired outcome are achieved.

Resilience

The ability to overcome setbacks; remain confident, focused, flexible and optimistic; help others to move forward in the face of adversity.

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