Growth Mindset at Llanedeyrn Primary School

At Llanedeyrn Primary School we want children to develop a Growth Mindset to enable success in their learning. Children that rise to challenges and are motivated learners.

Parents can help their children develop a growth mindset by offering more encouragement than praise and focusing more on the effort than the result. By encouraging children to love learning and enjoy the process of learning, children are more likely to develop a growth mindset. In turn, they will more likely be resilient to taking on challenges and not to view themselves or tasks in terms of pass or fail.

A child’s belief about intelligence is an important factor in whether they become an effective learner. We all hold beliefs about concepts such as ‘intelligence’, ‘ability’ and ‘personality’, with roughly half of us holding a ‘fixed’ mindset and the other half a ‘growth’ mindset.

Fixed Mindset

Those of us with a Fixed Mindset believe that natural ability or talent decides our level of success, even if we have succeeded with very little effort. We avoid challenges that might question our ability and view setbacks as evidence that something is wrong.

Growth Mindset

Those of us with a Growth Mindset believe that factors such as effort, application and study skills will more accurately determine our level of success. We also enjoy success, but only really if we’ve had to work for what we perceive to be meaningful success. Setbacks simply give us a new goal to target especially if we get good feedback on how to achieve that goal.

In our School we have been following Mojo’s Growth Mindset journey. Watch the videos below and discover a secret of the brain which will change the way you look at the world forever!

Chapter 1: A Secret about the Brain

Chapter 2: The Magic of Mistakes

Chapter 3: The Power of “Yet”

Chapter 4: The World of Neurons

Chapter 5: Mojo puts it all together

Ask your child these questions

Questions for Chapter 1

A Secret about the Brain

1. What was the biggest challenge you faced today?
(Ask your child, and then have them ask the question back!)

2. How can you and I think about these challenges in a new way?

3. What can we do differently tomorrow if we face similar challenges?

Questions for Chapter 2

The Magic of Mistakes

1. When I make a mistake I feel _____ because _____. How does it feel when you make a mistake?

2. What do you do about those feelings so that you don’t get discouraged?

3. How can we support one another when facing challenges that result in many trials?

Questions for Chapter 3

The Power of “Yet”

1. Name a time you were afraid to ask for help. Why were you afraid? (Both parent and student should pick a moment to share)

2. How can you improve the phrase “I can’t do this?”

3. Think of a time where you just didn’t get “it.” What could you do in that situation?

Questions for Chapter 4

The World of Neurons

1. What part of the brain did you learn about today?

2. What did you do today to make connections between your neurons?

3. What is one big challenge you’ve faced that has helped grow your brain?
What’s a new challenge you want to tackle now?

Questions for Chapter 5

Mojo Puts It All Together

1. Sometimes when we are working on a challenging task, we may think, “just try harder.” Is there a way to change this phrase?

2. What are some strategies we can use when facing a big challenge, so that we don’t burn out?

3. Brainstorm phrases we can use to keep us going when facing a challenge (e.g., “Nice effort trying to solving that math problem!”).