About High Performance Learning:
One of the many aspects of HPL that I love is the way in which you are providing robust, informed guidance that allows us to drive up standards. This is not driven by fear but by a collective determination to do what is best for our students.
This year [2019] Pate's students achieved the best A level results in the history of the school and our achievement at GCSE was also the highest for a number of years. Our journey with HPL has supported staff and students alike to really believe that all pupils can achieve. The careful development of HPL skills, attributes and behaviours resulted in happy students, better placed than ever before to succeed and achieve.
As the first accredited HPL school, we are now looking back at the best public examination results ever achieved at the College for the third year running, not to mention the immensely positive impact on the culture of the school, the relationships among and between students, staff and parents. Now that the intrinsic features of the philosophy have pervaded all areas of the school, we are confident that generations of Doha College students will benefit in the years to come.
Staff really start examining how they teach, not just what they teach.
I have been particularly impressed by the way the youngest students (in KS1) are able to reflect about how they are thinking.
HPL is a whole school vehicle to improve the quality of learning and teaching in all subjects for all teachers and every student. It is this that makes it remarkable. HPL is not prescriptive, but is nevertheless sufficiently guiding to enable school leaders to place pedagogy at the heart of a self-improving school - which is the only place that it belongs. HPL is not a quick fix - nor should it be. It is, however, a game changer. HPL manages to be both containing and liberating and offers a shared language for all to use. It is value and concept driven as well as rich in theoretical understanding. In the mid to longer term, HPL will transform your school with the result that the vast majority of students will be supported to perform highly and secure high outcomes, reliably, year on year. Students will also have become independent freethinkers, able to face any intellectual challenge and play with abstract ideas. They will be ready for the next stage and fully equipped with the skills so hungrily sought by universities and potential employers. I recommend HPL to you without hesitation.
High Performance Learning gives us a framework that allows a common pedagogy to flow throughout the school. It also gives our students a common language that is used from 3 to 18 years old.
In terms of measurable student outcomes, student numbers, examination results, university and college destinations and parent and student satisfaction all showed year-on-year improvement.
High Performance Learning offers schools a vision that is inclusive, embracive and ambitious. It includes all learners, it embraces a broad paradigm of education and it represents an ambitious, improvement-focused framework for superb schools. Taking together, High Performance Learning is what outstanding schools are all about.
High Performance Learning is the key to unlocking potential for greatness within each child and equipping them with competencies that would enable them to become smarter at thinking and behaving.
We have welcomed HPL's flexibility in being able to define it in terms specific to our school.
This approach has made us ‘lift the lid on learning’ as we have woven it into the fabric of Doha College. HPL has led to the redesigning of the way in which we teach, assess and plan. Our students are at the centre of everything we do, and through HPL they have become independent learners who analyse their thinking as well as challenge themselves to take risks. At Doha College, we are creating learners for the 21st century.
HPL jumpstarted my development as a leader, both in the classroom and outside of it; acquiring valuable skills (e.g. independent thinking and the ability to synthesize, apply and challenge knowledge) helped me gain the confidence I needed to succeed, as well as providing me with the necessary tools to achieve my goals. I truly believe that High Performance Learning is key to creating smart, successful and driven students. When I was first introduced to HPL as a philosophy, as developed by Professor Eyre, my first thought went towards the generations of students who will benefit from the learning approach. HPL is not only about embracing the idea of limitless capacity, it teaches students how to break these boundaries and reach for more.
Thinking about the ACPs I want to address in a lesson has reinvigorated my teaching in every aspect, while at the same time deepening my students’ understanding of the most complex areas in Science.
There is no doubt that making the ACPs explicit empowered students and transformed the way students approach literary analysis. Teachers planned for opportunities to explore the connotations of and the skills associated with advanced cognitive performance, and, in doing so, students felt supported and motivated by their quest for an enriched appreciation of literature.
HPL ensures that students do learn the skills needed to be successful at their respective AP, A-level, IGCSE or IB exams. Students are thus not only well prepared for the challenges of the given curriculum, but they have also broadened their mathematical potential and improved their creative skills in mathematics.
About the books:
Deborah Eyre’s book makes a powerful and concise case for putting the quality of teaching and learning at the heart not just of school improvement but also system reform.
Everything in your book is true, insightful, persuasively argued and elegantly written. As an inspirational yet practical guide for schools to move toward high-performance learning, it's at least as good as anything I've seen.
About our CPD:
Sincere thanks again for today. It was the best possible start to HPL year 2 for us; it has really inspired our staff.
Many thanks for an excellent session and I was delighted to see how inspired my staff were!
That was the best INSET we have had in decades.
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