Learning Power Heroes

Raegan Delaney

I have been involved in primary education for twenty-two years in this country and overseas as a teacher, a school leader, a consultant partner and most recently a SIP. I am passionate about children’s learning and committed to sharing this with children, other teachers and school leaders.

I have been head teacher of Nayland County Primary School since September 1999. Nayland was a good school when I was appointed and the challenge of taking an already successful school to new heights has been a delicate process. A cultural change that embraces risk-taking for teachers as well as pupils has been a key feature of improvement. In September 2005 OFSTED considered Nayland an outstanding school, describing leadership as ‘outstanding … outward looking and eager to get involved with any new initiatives that have something important to offer the pupils.’

‘Building Learning Power’ has offered all of our children the opportunity to take charge of their own learning and to have fun developing the skills that will keep them learning for life. The balance between the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of learning has enabled every child, regardless of age or abilities, to feel empowered and grow in confidence, motivation, self-esteem and power!

Maryl Chambers

Maryl Chambers has spearheaded the development of TLO Limited’s Building Learning Power programme, helping bring Guy Claxton’s ground-breaking work to schools and teachers. Maryl is one of the founders of TLO, where she has applied her wide experience of designing learning-focused training to creating and developing the innovative programmes for which the company is renowned. She is co-author of many of TLO’s publications.

Leanne day

I began my teaching career in Liverpool where I taught for eleven years, spending eight years as Deputy Headteacher at St. John’s C of E Primary School in Sefton. In 2005 I joined Kent’s Advisory Service as a centrally based Advanced Skills Teacher. In this role I worked in partnership with teachers to develop creative approaches to teaching and learning; a major part of this being the implementation of Building Learning Power. I supported teachers, through modelling and coaching, in actively developing BLP in their classrooms. I went on to lead on the development of BLP, providing support to Advisory Service Teams, School Leadership Teams and teachers through the development of county-wide learning networks and a series of county conferences.

For me BLP has brought a new dimension to teaching and learning. Making learning to learn really explicit seems so obvious now and something I really couldn’t teach without. BLP enables children to find ways for themselves, it gives them confidence to have a go and increases independence. Seeing children take great strides in their learning and being able to explain clearly how they got there is extremely rewarding.