Nurturing courage, curiosity and cooperation—equipping children for learning that lasts a lifetime.
Saints Academy, as part of St Philip’s Christian Education, has a focus on ‘Whole of Life Learning’. We see learning as ongoing, continuous and something that happens throughout a lifetime. Our ‘Learning for Life’ Framework takes the acquisition of knowledge and skills outside of the classroom.
Our framework is designed to support the holistic development of every child, cultivating essential character traits that will serve them both inside and outside the classroom for the rest of their life.
Grounded in educational research, particularly Guy Claxton’s work on learning powers and dispositions, our Saints Academy approach centres on three foundational character traits: Courage, Curiosity, and Cooperation. Each character trait is sustained by actions that can be practiced, noticed and celebrated in each child.
COURAGE - Courage is the foundation for taking measured, healthy risks; resilience and persisting through challenges. When children develop courage, they have improved self-efficacy, having the belief that they can tackle the challenges of life. At Saints Academy, we encourage children to see mistakes as part of the learning process and to build resilience through thoughtful risk-taking.
CURIOSITY - Curiosity fuels learning. By encouraging deep thinking, imaginative exploration and the asking of meaningful questions, we help children remain engaged and intrinsically motivated. Curiosity helps build higher order thinking and critical thinking skills. Students are prompted at Saints Academy to think deeply about why they do what they do, to extend their thinking and take ownership of their learning.
COOPERATION - Learning is best done in community, where ideas can be challenged, conflict can be resolved and bonds formed. Cooperation is all about the inter-personal skills students can develop to be active contributors to their community. At Saints Academy students get the opportunity to grow in ‘peace-making’ and collaboratively solving conflict, developing empathy and a sense of shared responsibility.
To help embed this learning framework at Saint Academy, we have developed a suite of additional resources that we use to help recognise and celebrate when students demonstrate these character traits. These include stickers, termly awards and posters displayed within our spaces to refer to. We regularly use the language of our Learning for Life framework with the children embedding these ideas beyond their time at Saints Academy.
We encourage our families to engage with the children, in championing the development of these key character traits. Together we can draw out the incredible potential; the gold, that is within each child to benefit them for the whole of life!