Whinhill is a dialogic school. We use Talking and Listening as the foundation of all learning.  Talk is fundamental to the development of literacy skills when creating an ethos that promotes a community of enquiry. It is proven to raise attainment in writing, reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

During discussion, we use certain rules which are really important to our learning. These are usually co-created with the children at the start of the year but they are based around these rules:

1. Sit so that everyone feels included.
2. Good body language.
3. Hand signals to take turns.
4. Don’t take attention away from the person speaking.
5. Respect people’s feelings; never laugh at anyone’s ideas or opinions.
6. It’s ok to disagree but do it politely.
7. Give thinking time but be ready to ‘chip in’ with super hero scaffolding if someone wants us to.
8. Don’t repeat, build on ideas.
9. Ask interesting questions and give strong answers to make our brains grow.
10.Know your learning intention and success criteria so that we can discuss whether we got better at the end and make new targets.