P4C (Philosophy for Children)

I agree with….. because…… I disagree with….. because……

I would like to ask ….. a question about … I would like to build on what …. has just said 

Are all sentence starters that you would hear if you joined one of our Philosophy For Children (P4C) Learning Communities. P4C is used as a tool to deepen our thinking across the whole curriculum.

To do this the teacher ensures that a learning environment is created that develops the 4 C’s:

Caring Thinking

Collaborative Thinking

Critical Thinking

Creative Thinking

The teacher, as facilitator, is concerned with developing the children’s thinking skills in a way of allowing the children to welcome diversity of one another’s view points and to use these as a starting point that allows the children to: question assumptions; develop their own opinions and ideas, as a consequence of what they have seen or heard; analyse significant concepts and apply the best reasoning and judgement that they are capable of.

Children generate their own philosophical questions, managed through a voting system. Recent questions that have been discussed in school are:

Is giving more important than receiving? (Following watching the John Lewis Christmas penguin advert)

Is it good to fully focus on one area, or should I be developing in lots of areas? (After watching a clip about Usain Bolt’s childhood)

Is having servants a good thing? (During work on the Tudors)    

P4C News: