P4C for website - Weeke Primary School!

Philosophy for Children
We are a thinking school here at Weeke! The children have regular Philosophy for Children
(P4C) sessions where they learn, practise and develop skilful thinking and questioning. The
P4C programme follows the four C’s of thinking; Caring Thinking, Collaborative Thinking,
Creative Thinking and Critical Thinking.
What is P4C?
P4C was developed by Professor Matthew Lipman and its main aim is to encourage young
people to be more reasonable - that is, to be ready to reason and be reasoned with,
promoting rational thinking in a calm reflective environment.
“The aim of a thinking skills program such as P4C is not to turn children into philosophers or
decision-makers, but to help them become more thoughtful, more reflective, more
considerate and more reasonable individuals.” Matthew Lipman
Why use P4C at school?
The skills the children learn through P4C are life skills that have a positive impact across all
areas of the curriculum as well as personally and socially. P4C promotes high expectations;
children are encouraged to give reasons and explanations for their answers. No answer is
wrong, so children have the confidence to share their opinions. Children learn to listen to and
be respectful of others’ views; they understand that everyone is allowed their own opinion.
Discussing, listening and responding to a range of thoughts allows children to see that a
problem or idea has a range of views and beliefs. This helps them to make sense of their own
ideas; either confirming their original thoughts or changing their views based on reasons
given by others. P4C promotes the fact that children have the right to speak, be heard and
have a viewpoint. An education that emphasises community, communication and independent
thinking helps to prepare children for an ever changing world.
“I like that I got to choose to
be the Gruffalo”
“I like the P4C assemblies and that
people share their ideas in them. It
Joe, Year R
helps you improve yours.”
Isaac and Wilson Yr 2
“P4C helps me to have the confidence to
answer questions and have my own
opinions. You can hear each other’s
thoughts and ideas and agree or
“I really enjoyed our P4C lesson
in Literacy and how we used a
book that also linked with our
History”
disagree”
Charlie K Yr 3
Yousuf Year 3
What does P4C look like at Weeke?
All year groups participate in P4C sessions at different levels, from Year R to Year 6.
P4C looks at the key concepts or big ideas that are encountered in life, for example;
friendship, growing up, love, money, choices, differences, courage, good, power and many
more. We have been trying to embed P4C into our new curriculum so children see it as a way
of learning rather than a stand-alone subject; from Literacy and History to PSHE and RE.
The children usually start off with a warm up, working on a particular skill, then they are
presented with a stimulus. Enquiry stimuli can be anything from videos and books to
artefacts, music or art. Anything that is concept rich and will get the children thinking!
Then, depending on the age of the children, they will discuss and share their thoughts, ask
questions, and formulate their own philosophical questions. If they have come up with their
own questions, the children vote for the one they’d most like to discuss for their enquiry.
Enquiries are child led and the teacher acts as the facilitator, guiding the children through
their thinking, without influencing ideas or opinions.
The children also participate in termly, whole school P4C assemblies which are focused on a
concept, usually the school values, and a stimulus shown. They then discuss this back in class.
It is great to see the range of thoughts, questions and ideas produced by all ages in the
school, from one stimulus.
We have seen some fantastic questioning and thinking going on and are often blown away by
how insightful the children can be when given the confidence and opportunity to share. P4C
has also impacted on children’s work; verbal skills developed during P4C sessions, such as
discussion, reasoning and explanation have impacted positively on a range of curriculum areas
such as writing, science, RE and history. Here are some examples from our P4C sessions…
Was it ok that Jack stole
the egg from the giant?
“It was ok because
the giant
was naughty”
“No as stealing is not nice”
“They should be sharing it”
Is it right to remove
the country
artefacts from
where they were
discovered?
Discussion Time!
Why don’t you try discussing some of these questions (all posed by children) at home. Don’t
forget to give reasons for your opinions!
Would you rather…..
Be a cat or a dog?
Be a monkey in a cage or a goldfish in a bowl?
Live 200 years in the past or 200 years in the future?
Swim like a fish or fly like a bird?
Have the power to talk to animals or read people’s minds?
Are friends
more important
than family?
Do we have to be sad
sometimes to be
happy at other times?
Is it possible to
hold a fair
race?
If you had a
different name
would you be a
different person?
Is it ever ok to
steal?
Below is a book list of texts that are good for discussion with children of any age. Try
reading some at home and hearing your child’s thoughts.
Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne
The Fish Who Could Wish by John Bush & Paul Korky
A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson
Tusk Tusk by David McKee
The Last Noo Noo by Jill Murphy
Angry Arthur by Satoshi Kitamura
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan
The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer
Frog is a Hero by Max Velthuijs
What do our staff think?
“Through our P4C activities we have noticed our children developing a more empathetic and
mature approach to working and playing together. They have become better at taking
responsibility for their actions.” Mrs Cummins
“P4C has influenced my teaching because it has provided the opportunities to discuss some
challenging topics in a structured format with very young children.” Mrs Crosland
“P4C has opened up our children’s minds and enabled them to see and understand other
people’s points of view.” Mr Bunch
“It provides a great opportunity for children to be exposed to, and listen to each other’s
views and opinions. It’s a great ‘light bulb’ moment to see when a child realises there’s
another way of looking at something that has never occurred to them before, and it came
from their peers and not their teacher. Their eyes have been opened a little wider to the
world.” Miss Garbo
“In curriculum terms, the impact of P4C is wide-ranging; From children’s writing, to
comprehension of texts and understanding of the reasons behind historical events, P4C has a
positive influence on learning across so many areas. Some of the reasons I have listened to
children give in response to the questions posed by Miss Garbo in her P4C assemblies have
been incredible.” Mrs Goodchild
Gill Garbo