We have been awarded the prestigious High Performance Learning (HPL) World Class School Award, which recognises the very best schools across the globe. We are delighted to be recognised as a school at the forefront of educational thinking that has met the demanding standards of the HPL Award and fully embraced the HPL philosophy.
At its most basic level HPL is about teaching pupils how to learn. More broadly, it is a whole school belief that every child can succeed if given the right opportunities, encouragement, self-motivation and practice.
“Your school's culture is one of open to change and committed to continuous improvement. Open and robust collaboration between teachers is widespread and clearly leads to excellent student outcomes.”
Simon O’Grady, CEO of High Performance Learning
The HPL philosophy has not changed what we teach or our holistic approach to education, but it has changed how we teach; by systematically and consistently showing pupils how to become good learners through everything they do at school from academic lessons to pastoral and co-curriculum initiatives.
We teach students the cognitive skills and the values, attitudes and attributes needed to become good learners and this powerful combination of emotional and cerebral characteristics helps draw the best from every pupil.
It has given the pupils more autonomy for their learning, enabling them to take intellectual risks confidently, talk about and question their learning, be more creative in their thinking. Pupils now realise that hard work not only involves deliberate practice but also perseverance and resilience, all while working with empathy to help others and develop a concern for society and the part they play in it.
These skills are not only good for passing today’s exams but also for succeeding in the future, whatever that holds. We look forward to continuing to develop these skills to empower our children’s learning further.
If you would like to speak to someone about the excellent academic foundations at Westbourne House School, please call Admissions - 01243 782739 or fill out our contact form and we'll be in touch.
“Despite a lack of physical contact for the past year, parents have an excellent understanding of the principles of HPL and are committed to supporting its implementation in partnership with school. They feel HPL prepares their children for life and not just for the classroom."
HPL Assessor, Kate Latham (2021)
The key thinking skills we highlight are:
Meta-thinking: the ability to think about your thinking and self-regulate
because thinking about how you think helps you to be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses and develops intellectual confidence and helps with strategy planning.
Analysing: making sense of information, thinking logically, finding the right approach
because being able to break down complex and multi-step problems and working with precision helps to deepen understanding.
Linking: using the things we already know to understand new ideas and listen to the views of others to see the big picture
because academic success comes when individuals are able to construct understanding and meaning by linking and seeing the connections to generalise and make predictions.
Realising: using skills accurately and automatically
because the more you practise skills the more natural they become and you can deploy them quickly and automatically, leaving your brain free to work on more complex thinking.
The key values, attributes and attitudes we highlight are:
Agile: being open-minded and thinking around a problem to explore different paths
because it is important to develop an enquiring approach to learning, developing children’s natural curiosity letting them ask questions about their learning and seeking their own ways to find answers.
Hardworking: deliberate practice and working to reach targets, even when it is hard
because no matter how easily you learn you will not be successful in the long run if you don’t practice and have perseverance and resilience to overcome the difficult times.
Empathy: listening and looking out for others as part of a team
because when you work collaboratively you develop leadership attributes, a concern for society and the confidence to change your beliefs when given additional information.
If you have any questions about High Performance Learning, please feel free to email Mrs Langford, Deputy Head - Academic, at blangford@westbournehouse.org