Effective Learning

 The Curriculum that your son or daughter is following at Bishop Walsh Catholic School is knowledge based. It is vital that as well as the vast array of knowledge and skills they are to gain, our learners are aware of how to learn. The act of learning is a skill that cannot be underestimated.  

Through our form time SAINT Curriculum delivered to Years 7 through to 13, we have planned a sequence of sessions called ‘Investing in me’ in which students embark upon a series of seminars which engage them in ‘learning to learn’. These sessions aim to equip our learners with the necessary skills required to enable them to learn and revise effectively.

Some of our strategies include:

·       Retrieval

·       Self-quizzing

·       Chunking

·       Look, say, cover and write

·       How to use a knowledge organiser

·       Cornell notes

·       Dual coding

·       Mind maps

·       Spaced practice

·       Interleaving

These strategies are even more successful when combined with hard work and good attendance.

As well as identifying what we do know, knowing what doesn’t work is just as important. Learning is hard and often the easiest strategies to do prove to be the most ineffective. The following have all been proven by research to have little or no impact on learning:

·       Re-reading your notes

·       Highlighting your notes

·       Making summaries of your notes

You can support your son/daughter by talking to them about both the strategies that work and those that don’t and by helping them to put them into practice when completing home learning and revising for quizzes or tests.