Learning Toolbox
The King’s Cross Academy Learning Toolbox
The Learning Toobox provides a structure for planning and assessment and encourages learning in all kinds of ways.
It is made up of six approaches to learning or ‘Toolsets’: Communication, Thinking, Creativity, Physical, Social/Emotional, and Learning about Learning.
At the Academy, we believe children should think about how they learn, the Learning Toolbox gives them a way to think about the different approaches to learning. We also believe that children should be more involved in planning their own learning. The Learning Toolbox gives a structure for this so that the teacher and children can plan learning together.
The curriculum at the Academy is arranged in Learning Questions. These have been designed to be interesting, challenging and relevant and to allow important learning to take place across the Toolsets and subjects.
The Learning Questions are based on four themes: People and Life; Places and the Environment; Change; and Food.
All children meet each of these themes every year.
Each Learning Question is treated as the starting point for a Learning Project. Learning Projects can take either a half term or up to a whole term depending on the scale of the Learning Question.
Up to a week is devoted to the ‘initial experience’ phase. This is when children start thinking and experiencing the theme of the Learning Question without addressing the question itself e.g. visiting the Museum of London, watching films from WWII, looking at artefacts, interviewing an expert (teacher in role or real expert) etc.
To get a flavour of the learning projects at the Academy, please have a look at examples of our curriculum maps which can be found at the bottom of the curriculum page.
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