News

Recently accredited Thinking School, Moira Primary in County Down, NI share their inspired event ‘A Forest of Thinking’ art exhibition.  The exhibition profiles Habits of Mind which the school has now embedded as a core metacognitive strategy along with other tools such as questioning strategies, Thinking Frames and Visible Thinking

According to the University of Exeter’s latest May 2026 Thinking School accreditation report, it’s the shift from a “teaching approach to a pedagogical culture.” We want to congratulate our long-standing partner school, Amnuay Silpa School in Bangkok, Thailand, on their exceptional Level 1, ‘Thinking School’ Re-Accreditation. As the original Thinking

The latest online Thinking School Network Drive Team Meeting looked at how to use Metacognitive Visual Tools to develop Phonics & Spelling.  This shortened video shows some of what was discussed.  The full video gives ideas on: Using trays to ‘define’ and collect objects that start with the sound ….

We were thrilled to take part in the Education Insights event earlier this term focusing on Metacognition. What a great opportunity to share experience and knowledge on empowering learners to understand and manage their own cognitive processes – with some fantastic take aways to help our learners thrive. Loved seeing

We recently caught up with Gail Henderson, a history teacher and member of Killicomaine Junior High School’s (KJHS) Drive Team in Portadown, Northern Ireland – who kindly shared with us the most inspiring way in which the school launched Habits of Mind.  Read this article to learn how the day

Stay Informed with the Thinking Matters Newsletter … Thinking Matters publishes a regular newsletter to keep you up-to-date on everything happening in the Thinking Schools Network and the world of metacognition and self-regulated learning. Each issue is packed with valuable insights and information, including success stories, professional development opportunities, cutting

Following up on our recent Lethal Retrieval Practice Mutations – the excellent Scientists in the Making (Ms.Sam) has offered up some practical considerations from a teacher’s perspective that we thought were worth sharing. There’s an interesting insight on ‘Diminishing Cues’ Retrieval Practice (DCRP) – a sort of scaffolded retrieval technique

The insightful Carl Hendrick has produced another interesting read looking at potential lethal mutations of retrieval practice.  Sparked by some new research that shows limited benefits when using retrieval practice with highly complex materials, he flags that we need to be careful not to inadvertently mutate what we know works.

Congratulations to Thinking School Network Hub, Danescourt Primary, who have just had their Estyn report published. It’s so encouraging to see their “Spotlight” (area of identified innovative practice) recorded as “embedding a culture of reflection and challenge in learning …..  This highly effective approach enables most pupils to think deeply

There’s an interesting new paper that explores how the use of learning strategies, particularly ineffective ones like highlighting and rereading, can be understood through the lens of habit formation, rather than solely through deliberate, rational choice.  Of particular interest was the suggested behaviour-change techniques for actually improving learning strategy. These

If you aren’t a user of mini whiteboard (MWB) then this is worth a read to see what you might be missing out on spoiler – efficiently identify individuals and by default the class’s understanding of a topic to then enable you to shape what you teach next). Specifically we

Despite all the evidence showing spaced retrieval and revision is better for long term learning than cramming. Students, even if they know this to be true, typically ignore it, particularly low prior performing students. That clearly irks (rightly so!) research types, who look to have been in turbo mode attempting