Junior School

Thinking, Reflecting and Growing: Our Self-Regulated Learning  Journey 

Article by Priti Vadher, Head of Learning and Mathematics - Junior School

Across the Junior School, teaching teams are bringing the new Instructional Playbook to life in their classrooms. At the heart of this work is self-regulated learning (SRL), teaching students to take an increasingly active role in their own learning. 

Self-regulated learners plan how they will approach a task, monitor their understanding and progress and evaluate their work so they can decide what to do next. These skills do not develop by chance. They are built gradually through consistent routines, explicit teacher modelling, purposeful feedback, reflection and regular opportunities for students to make adjustments. 

The Playbook brings together the shared principles and classroom practices that support this development. As students move through each year level, teachers work to strengthen the students’ knowledge and skills while also teaching them how to prepare for learning, think through challenges, respond to feedback, recognise progress and take greater responsibility for the next steps. 

Prep: Making the Invisible Process Visible 

Our Prep Team are showing our youngest learners that successful learning is not only about the finished product, but also about the thinking that happens along the way. A completed sentence, a solved mathematical problem or polished piece of work may appear simple from the outside. For young learners, however, the questions, choices and strategies behind that finished work are not always easy to see. 

To make this thinking visible, Prep teachers are using the Invisible Process, a simple five-step approach: 

1. Decode the question – What am I being asked to do? 

2. Sort the knowns and unknowns – What do I already know, and what do I still need to find out? 

3. Plan a route – What will I do first, next and after that? 

4. Try strategies and show the process – Which strategy will I use, and is it helping? 

5. Check, explain and refine – Does my answer make sense, and can I improve it? 

As they work through learning experiences, Prep teachers are thinking aloud so students can hear the questions they ask themselves, the reasons behind their decisions and what they do when a strategy is not working.  Students are learning that effective learners plan, check their progress and make adjustments along the way. By hearing this thinking modelled each day, they are working towards developing the language and confidence to begin to use these processes for themselves. 

Year 1: Building Readiness and Learning Routines 

The Year 1 Team are supporting students to understand that being ready to learn is something they can actively manage.  Building on their established morning routine, Year 1 teachers use consistent routines during transitions such as after recess and lunch, when moving between classrooms and entering different learning spaces. Students are being explicitly taught how to prepare themselves for learning, settle quickly, manage distractions, persist when something feels challenging and make choices that support both their own learning and the learning of others. Just as importantly, Year 1 teachers are building students’ understanding of why these behaviours matter. Clear entry tasks have enabled students to organise themselves, reconnect with their learning and begin purposeful work with increasing independence. Through these everyday routines, students are learning to manage transitions, sustain their effort and take greater responsibility for how they approach learning. 

Year 2: Turning Feedback into Action 

The Year 2 Team are teaching students that feedback is not simply something they receive, it is something they can use to strengthen their learning and improve their work.  This term, the focus in Year 2 is to support  students to use feedback in Writing. Through Think Pink, Go Green, teachers are highlighting strengths in green and areas for development in pink. Students then receive a dedicated DIRT (Directed Improvement and Reflection Time) to revisit their work, respond to feedback and make meaningful improvements. This process has enabled Year 2 learners to recognise what they are doing well, understand what they need to work on and see how their writing develops when they act on feedback.  In doing so, they are becoming more confident, reflective learners. 

Year 3: Monitoring Learning 

The Year 3 Team are guiding students to see the end of a lesson as an important opportunity to demonstrate understanding and consider what needs to happen next. Year 3 teachers are using Exit Tickets, a short, carefully chosen question or task completed at the end of a lesson to gain a clear picture of what students understand. The Exit Ticket may ask students to solve a problem, explain an idea, justify an answer or demonstrate an important part of the success criteria. Teachers are reviewing the responses to identify where students are with their learning and whether they require further practice or additional challenge.  At the same time, Exit Tickets are encouraging our learners to reflect on their own understanding, what they know, where they need support and what their next step might be. This strengthens both responsive teaching and students’ growing awareness of themselves as learners. 

Year 4: Reflecting, Adjusting and Taking Ownership 

The Year 4 Team are bringing many of these learning processes together and encouraging students to take increasing ownership of their learning. Our learners are continuing to use Think Pink, Go Green and dedicated DIRT time to revisit their work, respond to feedback and make purposeful improvements. They are also deepening their understanding of the Invisible Process, the thinking, decisions and adjustments that happen behind the scenes when we learn. Year 4 teachers are prompting students to look beyond simply finishing a task. Our learners are talking about how they interpret a question, what they already know, why they choose a particular strategy, whether they need to adjust their approach and how they judge the quality of their final response.  Therefore, learners are taking a more active role in explaining their thinking, recognising their strengths and identifying what they need to do next. By reflecting on their choices, acting on feedback and adjusting their approach, Year 4 learners are developing greater confidence, independence and ownership. 

A Deliberate Journey Towards Independence 

Across the Junior School, these practices form a connected and deliberate approach to developing self-regulated learners. Prep teachers are making the thinking behind learning visible. The Year 1 Team is establishing the routines and behaviours that support readiness for learning, while the Year 2 teachers are showing students how feedback can be turned into action. The Year 3 Team are using Exit Tickets to monitor understanding and guide next steps as the Year 4 teachers are bringing these processes together as students take greater ownership of their learning. 

Each practice strengthens an important part of the SRL process. The Invisible Process teaches students how to plan their approach. Learning routines help them prepare themselves and sustain their effort. Exit tickets support them to monitortheir understanding. Think Pink, Go Green and DIRT give them opportunities to respond to feedback, improve their work and evaluate their progress. 

Together, these practices are developing students who do more than complete the work placed in front of them. Our learners are becoming increasingly able to plan their approach, monitor their understanding and progress, and evaluate what they need to do next. This is the heart of self-regulated learning: developing students who understand themselves as learners, respond constructively to challenge and take increasing responsibility for their own growth.