b'THE ELLESMERIAN84Ellesmere in the Newsbetter equipped to work in a team, whether that be within or outside the classroom; after all, hard work and agility are as important on the playing field as they are in the classroom. Alongside giving students the chance to have a more positive outlook, HPL also focuses on systematically developing skills that are central to academic success such as analysis, linking, meta-thinking, and creativity. When these skills - labelled by academic researchers as Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics - are taught explicitly across the College, then students can begin to see patterns in their learning and apply skills learnt in one area when confronted by a challenge in another. Thus, the approach to teaching encouraged by HPL helps students become better equipped to deal with lifes challenges.Being part of the Fellowship of World Class Schools requires self-reflection and the accreditation process served to highlight just how many opportunities were already in place to develop agility, hard-work, and empathy. The Duke of Edinburgh, CCF, English Speaking Board, Arts Award, the extensive sporting provision, and Model United Nations to name but a few, give Ellesmerians so many ways to develop a positive approach. Few students emerge from expos without a tale or two of thinking on their feet and overcoming adversity! What HPL has done, though, is place these opportunities in a framework to ensure that all students across the College have the chance to challenge and push themselves.HPL: Helping students become Life Ready Over the past two and a half years, a lot has changed in our classrooms Since 2019, the College has adopted an approach to teaching calledbut the HPL approach to teaching meant that the resilience and hard High Performance Learning (HPL) and in July 2021, after a rigorouswork that remote learning demands were already central to accreditation process, became a member of the Fellowship of Worlddepartments planning. With the return to in-person lessons, the impact Class Schools. of HPL can be seen across the campus. Displays remind students of the HPL terminology, lessons are tailored to develop analysis and foster This places Ellesmere at the heart of an international network ofcreativity, and weekly HPL prize-draws - as pioneered by the Economics ambitious and innovative schools and ensures that teachers can liaiseDepartment - are held to recognise specific examples of HPL success. with colleagues around the globe through a network of onlineCertificates are awarded in assemblies too and members of Common Teachmeets. Last summer, six of our students addressed the annualRoom meet in HPL Cluster Groups that see teachers from many HPL Conference at the University of Warwick and we have beendifferent departments coming together to share ideas and plan invited to this years conference as guest speakers once more. activities. In lessons, the creativity that HPL encourages manifests itself in all manner of ways with students often taking the chance to respond to HPL itself is a straightforward approach and is founded on the beliefseemingly dry academic content in wonderfully diverse ways. that all students can do better if they are given the chance to become more empathetic, hard-working, and mentally agile. If opportunities toAll told, HPL is a simple, sensible and powerful approach that will equip develop empathy, hard-work, and agility - known as Values, Attributes,our students for success so that when they leave Ellesmere for their and Attitudes - are offered in a systematic, coherent manner frombright futures they are Life Ready.Lower School to the Sixth Form, then all students will benefit as they become more resilient, better suited to thinking on their feet, and'