Think Tank is a new initiative at St. Mary’s.  It is a new timetabled lesson which is used to promote children’s thinking skills, spending time looking at the way we learn, how we can improve our thought processes and become better and more independent learners.  In the lesson staff work with children so that they understand their own learning styles and each others.  They think of the different thought processes they use in different lessons and also which areas they need to focus on.  If they feel that their memory could be improved then there are activities that the children can use to help them improve these skills.  Lateral thinking problems are used to make the children think outside the box and make the lessons fun.

This new lesson is not being taught in isolation, we want to be more focussed on being a ‘Thinking School’ not just the children but each and every one of us, including parents, children, staff and governors. 

A few lateral problems to get those brain cells whirring:

1. I am on Earth, but I am not in a time zone, nor am I between two time zones.  Where am I?

2. What can explode slowly, with no smoke or flame?

3. EGG, FISH, TABLE, FOUNTAIN, BET.  Which is the odd one out and why?