BLP (Building Learning Power)


At Queenborough School and Nursery, we believe fully in developing life-long learners and empowering the children to consider HOW they learn as well as WHAT they learn. Therefore, in the academic year of 2013-14, we fully embedded Guy Claxton’s BUILDING LEARNING POWER into our curriculum.

Building Learning Power revolves around four ‘learning muscles’, which are: RESILIENCE, RECIPROCICITY, REFLECTIVENESS and RESOURCEFULNESS. Each of these learning muscles can be broken down further into strands. This diagram of the BLP brain shows these strands.

Every lesson that the children are taught at Queenborough will aim to develop one of these strands of learning as well as developing their knowledge, skills and understanding of whatever curriculum area is being studied. Children are frequently asked which learning muscles they are using and these words remain high profile through colourful displays in each classroom and around the school.

Each term the school celebrates a BLP day at the start of the term to kick-start the learning for the term and re-immerse the children in the vocabulary needed to express their learning. This is followed by weekly assemblies in which the children are nominated for displaying these learning dispositions.

Here are some statements that the children have made about how Building Learning Power helps their learning:

  • ‘Sometimes I used to get distracted but now I can use resilience and manage my distractions.’
  • ‘When I am totally absorbed in my learning, I don’t even notice when someone says my name.’
  • ‘When you are doing something really difficult, like in Maths, you might want to give up, but actually if you remember about perseverance, then you will keep going.’
  • ‘Imitation is good because if you are reading something and you like the word that a writer has used, you can use it in your own work.’
  • ‘Interdependence means that sometimes you will work on your own but other times you can use someone else’s skills to help you with what you are doing’.
  • ‘I’ve got better at noticing. Like when I am reading, I really try to look for clues.’