At Ladycross Infant School, we know that pupils who have a positive attitude towards their learning will make good progress and be successful – pupils who have a ‘growth mindset’ will do this.  Growth mindset is part of our school ethos.

The research

'Growth Mindset' is based around the research of Professor Carol Dweck who talks about the power of our mindset or our beliefs (especially around challenge).  We can either have a Fixed Mindset where we let failure (or even success) define who we are, or a Growth Mindset where we see setbacks as opportunities to grow and improve ourselves. 

She says, "In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that's that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb. In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. They don't necessarily think everyone's the same or anyone can be Einstein, but they believe everyone can get smarter if they work at it.”

The following video explains this concept in more detail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUWn_TJTrnU

Key aspects of growth mindset at Ladycross:

• we celebrate mistakes and learn from them
• we never give up – perseverance is key
• we learn from feedback
• we relish challenge and take risks
• we take inspiration from others
• we continually try to improve our own learning

Team effort

As a team of parents and staff, we can encourage our children to become confident and resilient learners by modelling a growth mindset ourselves.  The way in which we encourage children to learn and explore is crucial to their success, at home, as well as at school.  Together, we can celebrate the key aspects to develop a growth mindset in our children and ultimately, help them with their learning.

For further information about how to promote and develop a growth mindset at home, have a look at the links below:

https://www.mindsetworks.com/parents/growth-mindset-parenting

https://www.oxfordlearning.com/growth-mindset-tips-for-parents/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/help-your-child-try-new-things

Growth mindset is embedded within our practice at Ladycross.  It is part of our daily classroom teaching and learning – in classroom talk, activities and displays.  We also reinforce the approach by sharing stories related to growth mindset on a half-termly basis.  We all know that we can learn anything if we want it enough.  With a growth mindset, we have a love for learning and know that it is an exciting journey. 

A case study on Growth Mindset in out school featured in the Emotional and Mental Health: A Resource for Schools.

Please click on this link and read more on page 65.