Creating Excellent Learners (CEL)
A Guide for Parents and Carers
CEL (Creating Excellent Learners) is an approach to helping children to become better learners, both in and out of Abbey View.
It is about creating a culture in classrooms that cultivates learning habits and attitudes that enable children to face difficulty and uncertainty, calmly, confidently and creatively. They work alongside our Academy values and are not an approach that is additional to teaching; it is an integral part of it, embedded in everything we do at Abbey View Primary Academy.
Pupils who are more confident in their own learning ability learn faster and learn better. They concentrate more, think harder and find learning more enjoyable. CEL is about educating children not just for academic success but for lifelong learning, for a future which has not yet been determined.
We want our children to be sufficiently confident to take risks, understand and acknowledge both their strengths and weaknesses and welcome challenge and complex learning. We want them to enjoy the struggle, seek those tasks which are stimulating and inspiring even if they are demanding. We also want our children to learn to work effectively in a team and alone.
What are the 5 Rs?
Not giving up. Learners can become absorbed in learning, manage distractions, persevere and think creatively to come up with solutions.
Keeping look for other ideas. Learners can question, investigate, make connections and visualise.
Thinking about how to improve. Learners can be curious, plan, reason, reflect and evaluate.
Working with others or alone. Learners recognise when to work independently or collaboratively. They work well as part of a team, empathise with others and learn from others around them.
Taking ownership. Learners are responsible for their actions and are accountable for their learning. They make decisions and can be trusted to come up with solutions when things don't go according to plan.
We explain that these are like a group of 'learning muscles'. Just as we can build our physical muscles with the right kind of exercise, learning muscles can also be developed and can grow in strength and stamina. Within each of the 5Rs are certain key “capacities” or skills, explained above, which we help the children develop.
