Opening Minds

Opening Minds is a modern initiative developed by the RSA  (Royal Society of Arts) to be implemented in forward thinking secondary schools across the UK.

The purpose of Opening Minds is to allow Year 7 pupils, those that are new to secondary school, the opportunity to acclimatise them to the sometimes scary and definitely larger world than what they are used to at primary school. Opening Minds lessons take place 6 times a week in place of single subjects like History, Geography, ICT and DT so they are able to build positive relationships with their classmates and opening minds teacher and the prospect of seeing a familiar face and classroom is akin to their experiences at primary school whilst working with skills that will prepare them for their studies in all subjects in year 8 and beyond.

Opening Minds also allows the opportunity for pupils to explore their emotional and spiritual selves and give them the opportunity to learn to learn in a way that single subject lesson may not be able to due to time constraints and structured curriculums whilst still introducing the qualities needed to study specific subjects in the future.

The Opening Minds scheme is so broad in its content, that we at Wolverley, hope to prepare our students not only for the rest of their time at secondary school, by providing them with advanced learning and interpersonal skills, but for the rest of their lives by focusing on what makes a good citizen, acceptance of others, teamwork and communication skills.

For more information please e-mail: chris.barth@wolverley.worcs.sch.uk