On Tuesday afternoon the whole school worked together on a project based on a project developing children's ability to give critique and feedback on work. This project is known to many in education as 'Austin's Butterfly'. 

Before we came together as a school, each class was asked to try and draw their own butterfly. They were also shown a picture and asked to recreate it as best as they could. For class 1 this was an owl; for class 2, a wolf; and for class 3, some flowers. 

We then met together as a school and watched and talked through the clip of 'Austin's Butterfly' which follows how a child in an American school was encouraged to develop and improve his pictures of a butterfly. We talked about which butterfly was closest to what we had drawn ourselves, and which one we would have been 'happy' with. We also talked about the critique and feedback that Austin was given as he drew each draft, and how this helped him. We also had a real focus on progress - part of our EPIC learning - and how we could see the progress that Austin had made over each draft as he looked and reviewed alongside his friends. 

Then it was time to go back to the classrooms, reflect on our own first drafts, and see what we could do. This was not as easy as we thought it would be! We needed to focus on our own resilience and perseverance, making sure that we didn't give up when things got tricky. We also had to work on not being satisfied with 'good enough' and keep persevering to be even better. Persuading the children that this was not about creating a fantastic end product, but was about being able to see the journey through learning was easier said than done! However, it was a good opportunity for the children to reflect on their own and others work and to see what real progress could look like when we don't settle for average. 

Below are some photos of the children hard at work. Pictures of some of the progress made will follow shortly.