St Andrew's Primary School
St Andrew’s is a Roman Catholic primary school in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. There are around 210 pupils plus children in the nursery school. The school is committed to cooperative learning and all the staff have been trained at a three-day residential academy run by Canadian trainers.
Tom Fleming, headteacher, discusses the whole-school programme
The problem solving programme at St Andrew’s Primary School originated about 10 years ago after an inspection identified problem solving as an area that could be improved. Staff had a year to develop a problem solving programme which catered for levels A to E and which was based around On the Track (written by two local headteachers) and QDS material from Strathclyde Region. Each class now does problem solving once a week as a whole-class activity.
All staff at St Andrew’s Primary School have now been trained in the cooperative learning approach. Problem solving lends itself particularly well to cooperative learning because collaboration in groups, discussion and reporting back are essential aspects of the approach.
Staff are now looking at ways of incorporating problem solving within other areas of the curriculum and as Tom goes round the school, he is seeing problem solving in action in PE, environmental studies and art and design. His view is that problem solving is about life skills in the real world and, in line with this, he observes that the biggest impact problem solving has had is on the pupils’ confidence. They are now able to stand up and talk to the whole class about what they have been learning.
| Tom Fleming discusses the whole-school programme | |
|---|---|
| Description | Tom Fleming talks about the background to the whole-school programme, the cooperative learning approach and the benefits to pupils of problem solving |
| Duration | 2 minutes 49 seconds |
| Windows version |  Windows Media video: Tom Fleming discusses the whole-school programme |
| Mac version |  QuickTime movie: Tom Fleming discusses the whole-school programme |
| Transcript | Tom Fleming discusses the whole-school programme |
Stages at St Andrew’s Primary School
- P5, St Andrew’s Primary School
A cooperative learning approach.
- P6, St Andrew’s Primary School
A problem solving lesson featuring a group-building exercise.
- P7, St Andrew’s Primary School
A cooperative learning approach to problem solving in P7.