Awesome Learners

Believe in better, be more AWESOME - for anything is possible with God

Our school mantra is at the very heart of everything we do here at St Mary’s. Whether chorused passionately by a group of our school sports competitors during a match or whispered solemnly by an individual during some quiet reflection time, 'believe in better…be more awesome’ echoes around every corner of the school. 

The children and staff alike have taken ownership of the mantra since its inception in Autumn 2014. Our mantra underpins our ethos and values here at St Mary’s as we believe in the potential of each and every child and our mantra reminds us all that everyone has the potential to improve. During our weekly Awesome Learners presentation children are nominated to receive an Awesome Learners award when they have demonstrated the learning behaviours required to move their learning forward. An example of this can be when a child shows dedication, determination and resilience to overcome a challenge or to understand a tricky concept.

The adults at St Mary’s are determined that their actions will lead to prosperous relationships where not only do the ‘teachers believe in the children’ but where the children believe that the teachers believe in the children. Teachers at St Mary’s have adopted their own ‘Teacher’s Pledge’ to ensure that we can support each other to continually offer a ‘better’ service for our children and their families.

Inspired by the findings of Professor John Hattie and the research of Carol Dweck, the leadership team at St Mary’s are passionate about all children developing the optimum attitude to life and their learning journey.

'Meaningful learning tasks give students a clear sense of progress leading to mastery. This means that students can see themselves doing tasks they couldn't do before and understanding concepts they couldn't understand before. Work that gives students a sense of improvement as a result of effort gives teachers an opportunity to praise students for their process. That is, teachers can point out that the students' efforts were what led to the progress and improvement over time.' (Dweck 2010)