Jean Macleod of the school said for moree than 30 years the school had recognised the importance of teaching its pupils to think rather than simply memorising facts.
Of late, the school’s programme has become more focused and has expanded to include ‘thinking maps’. Macleod explained that St Peter’s had since become a leader in the implementation of the ‘thinking maps’ and has been the first school to offer training to other South African schools in this method.
According to Macleod, ‘thinking maps’ is a concept taught to children to assist their thought processes in learning. The maps encourage children to use a visual language that represents the eight cognitive processes which are: defining in context, sequencing, describing, comparing and contrasting, classifying, breaking a whole into parts, understanding cause and effect, and seeing analogies.
The success of the entire thinking programme has resulted in St Peter’s receiving accreditation as a ‘Thinking School’ from the University of Exeter. St Peter’s shares the distinction of being one of the first South African schools to achieve the accreditation with Kingsmead Junior School in Melrose.
