Alfreton Nursery School.

Before we began with Thinking Moves

Thinking Moves was our first conscious step into the purposeful use of metacognition. We realised in time that many of our strategies had links with metacognitive frameworks, but Thinking Moves enabled us to fully understand the meaning and impact of metacognition.

The impact

Thinking Moves was initially introduced into our school curriculum in autumn 2019 and we now have it fully embedded into all tiers of school life.  The impact of metacognition in school has been profound.  Communication and thinking strategies are now delivered with conscious intent, and children aged 3 and 4 are using these moves to own and manipulate their learning.  Data analysis provided evidence by July 2021 that areas of the curriculum with a Thinking Moves foundation saw greater rates of progress.  This has led to the roll out of Thinking Moves across the whole curriculum.

Our learners are very young, but through consistent daily use, children are understanding at levels of much greater depth, how they are learning new information, how they are solving problems and how theuy are achieveing success in their many different adventures. Children can explain the metacognitive processes they have gone through to reach a goal and are beginning to understand the need to choose strategies for success.

Gradually it became clear that mathematical skills progression was being facilitated by the conscious application of metacognition.  As data below evidences, fewer children struggled to move beyond barriers to learning in maths than in other areas. 

The language of Thinking Moves has become part of discourse in school. There is daily discourse between staff and children, supporting learners to understand the process of thinking and learning. This is constant evidence of teacher development.  The subtle interplay between cognition and emotion has enabled staff to seamlessly manipulate metacognition into a tool to support emotional regulation and prosocial behaviour.  This means that metacognition is not seen simply as twenty-six petals to sprinkle throughout a lesson, but instead metacognition is seen as the roots that anchor all interactions.  The way we think, speak to each other, behave with each other, use materials, interact with the world . . . is rooted in metacognition.

Thinking Moves is accessible to all, transparent in it's pupose and open ended. It can be used creatively, whilst also providing a strong framework to support progression.

I’ve heard other staff say: “It makes perfect sense!” and “metacognition suddenly feels easy!”

Amanda Hubball
Deputy Head, Subject Lead and Metacognition Lead.