P4C (Philosophy for Children)

Philosophy was introduced as new subject in 2015 at Michael Drayton Junior School and we are now the proud holders of the P4C Silver Award. P4C sessions are carried out weekly, with all students contributing and partaking in these sessions.  Where relevant, the theme of these sessions supports the wider curriculum and topics being studied.  Additionally, P4C is included as an element on event days, such as Parliament and Diversity day.

What is P4C?

P4C is a teaching and learning approach which contributes to the thinking skills of our young people.  It allows students to respond to a stimulus; form questions based on this, then debate these questions in a safe and respectful manner with the class teacher acting as a facilitator. Encouraged to be diverse in their thinking, the process allows children to develop opinions with supporting reasons, analyse significant concepts and generally apply the best reasoning and judgement they can to explore the question they have chosen.

What are the benefits of P4C?

P4C allows opportunities for;

• the development of critical and independent thinking skills
• the exploration of different perspectives and values
• the promotion of open-mindedness and the questioning of assumptions
• respectful and meaningful dialogue amongst students whilst acknowledging difference
• The development of clarity and confidence when communicating
• Building a greater awareness of local and global issues and making connections with them

If you have any questions or wish to know more, then please feel free to speak to Mrs Banks

P4C CONCEPT VOTING

Over the past two weeks, year 6 have taken part in a vote in response to the question:

Would you rather live without your TV or bed?

The results are as follows:

Some student responses:

• A TV, because bed is comfortable and that's where you spend most of your time in bed
• You could get a sofa and just use that as a bed. Although, you could just watch TV on an iPad, laptop or computer.
• A TV, because if you have another device you can just watch it on that and you need a nice comfortable bed to sleep in whereas you can live without TV
• A TV, because I have just got a new light up bed and I really appreciate that, so I don't want to lose it
• A TV, because if you just had your TV you would survive, but if you had your bed you would feel a lot better
• A TV - I  would rather get a better sleep than have a TV.  I'd keep my bed rather than having a source of entertainment but horrible back pains
• TV because I can keep sanity via sleep. TV doesn't keep the brain alive, so I'll forfeit the films
• A TV - because you can use other devices to do the same thing as the TV (e.g. iPad, phone, computer
• A bed, because I will just sleep on the sofa
• I don't need that much sleep and I can sleep on the floor