What is P4C at NBS Muraikh? Why do our children love it so much?
P4C (Philosophy for Children) is taught across all year groups from Foundation Stage 1 to Year 8 at NBS Muraikh. During the lessons, children are taught techniques to improve their thinking skills. These thinking skills are split into the 4 Cs – Caring thinking, Creative thinking, Critical thinking and Collaborative thinking. P4C invites children (and adults alike, if you look for the Talk Homework sent out weekly) to think critically and challenge preconceived notions about the world we live in. The aim is to give children the ability to start to question and think critically not only in P4C lessons but in other parts of the curriculum. Children are taught to bring the skills of P4C into break time discussions, during English and mathematic lessons as well as history and geographical concepts. Pupils at NBS Muraikh absolutely love our P4C enquiries as it gives them time to reflect on prior learning as well as challenges them to contemplate carefully about a given topic.
We use P4C widely at our school to develop our children’s English skills, particularly their oracy and written skills. P4C is mainly a spoken enquiry-led teaching method. Children are the key driving force of any P4C lesson and the questions and discussions they want to have form the basis of our enquiries. This in turn helps them to discuss topics that matter to them in a safe environment and can further deepen their understanding of different opinions and ideas to their own. As a result, children, through speaking about a topic with their peers, can often develop their written ideas in a more comprehensive way. Furthermore, this teaching method allows children to practice fundamental skills that they will need in their educational journey here at NBS Muraikh, such as: listening carefully, thinking before speaking, negotiating different opinions, showing empathy to others and collaborating with peers.
We hope that you will practice the skills taught in P4C at home with your children and ask your children to share their understanding and thoughts about their P4C topics.
Charlotte Furness
P4C Coordinator (NBS Muraikh).
