Growth mind-set
- Miss Wygnanska on the school's teaching and learning 'growth mind-set'
"Women in time will come to do much" Mary Ward C. 1600
The foundress of St Mary’s School, Cambridge Mary Ward’s legacy is an integral part of our school, and despite living over 400 years ago many of her sayings are still very relevant for today. That “women in time will come to do much” is particularly applicable to the teaching and learning approach of our school. As teachers, our role is to inspire girls so that they believe that they can achieve anything that they choose, and to provide a high quality education in order that they be equipped to do so.
Although education for girls has come a long way in the last 400 years, there are still areas of concern in terms of gender inequality for women in the workplace. A presentation by Dr Ruth Sealy stated that, in 2016, women make up only 9 per cent of FTSE 100 executive board members . This is despite there being more female graduates in the jobs market, and girls consistently outperforming boys in examination results.
Why is this happening? Dr Sealy believes this is a result of how society sees leaders, and leadership skills. She also pointed out that women need to see women in leadership roles in order for them to believe that they too can lead; the identity fit model. Dr Sealy spoke about the ‘natural talents myth’; that boys perform better in certain subjects and are natural leaders.
At St Mary’s Junior School, Cambridge, we know this to be wrong. Our girls are talented in all subjects, have leadership opportunities at every level, and enjoy the freedom to choose whichever subjects they want, free of any prevailing gender stereotyping about which subjects are ‘boys’’ or which are ‘girls’’. Girls need to access role models who are just one or two steps ahead of where they are now, so that they realise what is achievable as a young woman. Girls should have the freedom to do what they want at every stage of their lives and we believe that we are giving them the very best education on freedom of choice, at what is the start of their lives.
With this in mind, the school as a whole is currently focusing on promoting a growth mind-set – for students of all ages and staff members alike. All girls are being encouraged to think about possibilities, not limitations, learning opportunities, not mistakes, and the importance of perseverance when challenged. We have seen this work right through the year groups from tackling a new concept in a Mathematics lesson, to improving skills on the netball court. Our aim is that every girl will feel that she can achieve anything that she wants, and be whoever she wants and, by encouraging this positive attitude, we can live out the aspirations of Mary Ward – nurturing a new generation of women who will indeed come to do much in this world.
Reception pupils had a fantastic time at the Fitzwilliam Museum on Tuesday, learning about the different cups, plates and teapots in the galleries. The girls listened to the story The Tiger Who Came to Tea, explored the museum and made their own tea-cups. At first it was quite tricky to make the cup and handle from a lump of clay, but everyone persevered and the girls were very proud of their decorated tea-cups.
Learning how to weave is a big challenge for small fingers. Year 1 pupils have found it difficult to remember whether the wool goes over or under in their weaving exercises, and this results in lots of undoing and starting again. The girls know that with perseverance, the result will be worth the effort.
The girls in Year 2 are becoming familiar with the term growth mind-set. They often tell Mrs Owens that they are keeping their minds open and trying new things. When they begin to say ‘I can’t do it’ they are quick to follow it with ‘YET!’. Pictured, the girls are working out different coin values to make £1 and £2, in their Mathematics lesson, and learning different strategies from each other as they work to improve their ball skills, in games lessons. The girls understand that making improvements takes time and practice and, of course, positivity.
The girls in Year 3 were struggling with the concept of long multiplication at the beginning of the week but, through perseverance and continuous practice, everyone achieved a page full of ticks against their work, and should now feel really confident about tackling long multiplication. As Rosie said, “I persevered and now I can do it”.
Year 4 pupils took on the challenge of negative numbers in this week’s Mathematics lessons. The girls also spent time planning out their Tudor stories, and used a painting of a Tudor market scene to help stimulate some story ideas.
The girls in Year 5 have been focusing on what they can say to themselves to turn a negative into a positive and have created posters featuring some of the helpful language that can be used when thinking about how to overcome challenges, such as ‘I'm on the right track’, ‘I'll use some of the strategies we've learned’, ‘This may take some time and effort’, ‘I can always improve so I will keep on trying’, ‘I'm going to train my brain’, or ‘Mistakes help me improve’.
In Science lessons the Year 6 girls were challenged to illustrate a T-shirt with the organs of the body. Fantastic anatomical T-shirts were created, and inspired budding scientists, doctors and surgeons!
