P4C Training

Eager to embed P4C at your school?

You might have tried implementing P4C in the past, but traditional one-hour stand-alone sessions won’t fit your timetable. Teaching staff, already under pressure, are wary of taking on “yet another thing” and aren’t sure if they’re “doing it right”.

So how can P4C training support colleagues to make it work with your existing curriculum?

Philosophy Circles Workshops and In-School Training

Now there is an easier way to make the most of P4C in your school, without having to change your timetable. Why not begin our training pathway - designed to embed P4C into your existing curriculum and across your school.

We partner schools through INSET days and in-school demonstration workshops, with twilight INSET on top. Everything is built around the three principles of Philosophy Circles and how to easily put them into action. It includes mini-books for all staff and topic-based session plans and other resources that will allow your school to embed philosophy across all year groups.

Everything is tailored for your school and there's something for every budget.

The difficulty was getting the message across to my colleagues. I hosted a short staff meeting on P4C, but unfortunately most seemed to have been quickly forgotten.

Having Tom to host the sessions in class absolutely solved this problem. The INSET for all staff was a fantastic way of showing the power and importance of P4C in the class room and with all age groups.

Everyone in the school thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and the INSET. All the staff came away with a huge array of practical and fun ways to enhance teaching and learning. They were all very enthusiastic and excited about putting some of the ideas into practice. The girls will definitely enjoy more practical lessons incorporating aspects of P4C and my PRS lessons will also be enhanced as a result of the new skills I learned.

The two days were amazing. The visit far exceeded my expectations. Tom was amazing. He kept the girls and staff thoroughly engaged throughout the whole time he was with us. We all learnt a great deal from his time with us. He matched the skills and ability of all the classes he worked with, from Reception to Year 6.

Angela George

Surbiton High Girls School

Outside the UK?

We work with schools across the world - visit our dedicated page for international schools.

Learn more

Help children find their voices

More and more children arrive in reception scarcely talking at all.

Parents distracted by social media speak less to their children, and the impact is growing. In one school with many younger parents, children joining reception completely nonverbal rose from five, to half to the class.

You'll learn how to overcome the different obstacles children have to speaking, and get (almost) every child talking, including strategies like:

Playground Confident, Classroom Shy - how to empower children who clam up in the classroom
Unwrongification - how to free children from the fear of getting it wrong
Small Talk Big Talk - how to keep them talking while raising the stakes

Looking for a course just for you?

We run open courses for individual teachers - find out when the next one is!

Learn more

Before the training, I didn't have any knowledge to the depths P4C could go with children's thinking.

Before the training, I wasn't familiar with the concept of the sessions and what each session could help the children achieve. I didn't have any knowledge to the depths P4C could go with children's thinking.

The training was brilliant. I really enjoyed taking part in the activities, as they gave you a good insight in the potential outcomes and focuses throughout a session. The training provided and explained a variety of stimuli and games, which fed into discussing the structure of a P4C session. The training allowed the adult to step into a child's shoes when taking part in an activity and this enabled us to gain a clear understanding and experience of how a child might feel and what they might be thinking in certain situations, especially if they are unfamiliar to inquiries.

Our school have allocated slots during teacher's planning time, where we carry out P4C across the school (EY's-KS2). We use many of the resources that were provided on the training and resources sent via email to assist our teaching. We have generated displays and scrap books to display the children's work, discussions, stimuli and photos of the sessions.

The continuous support through email is brilliant and is helping massively.

Karla Fogarty

Holy Cross CEVA Primary School

"Never have I been on a whole day's training in which the hours actually fly by too quickly. I cannot recommend this p4c training highly enough!"

I really liked the fact that it was so interactive with constant practical examples - actually doing things and feeling what the activities feel like and what they bring out in terms of thinking. It was great fun too and very inspiring. In fact I couldn't believe how quickly the whole day went - it flew by because it was so interesting, fun and inspiring. I am a huge fan of P4C and I think your Philosophy Circles approach is not only beautifully simple but beautifully effective too.

Jason and Tom deliver a totally wonderful day's experience of Philosophy Circles and I say 'experience' because the course is packed full of practical activities - inspiring ideas which are shared and experimented with in an atmosphere of co-creative fun. Never have I been on a whole day's training in which the hours actually fly by too quickly - I am greedy for more! The Philosophy Circles approach makes the inclusion of a philosophical dimension into everyday teaching easy, flexible and totally possible without being a burden in terms of preparation, planning or time management of the curriculum. It can be incorporated into virtually any topic or subject, can be slotted in, take main stage or sit there waiting in the wings for those impromptu moments. Learning how to apply the Philosophy Circles approach is key. Mind-expanding and so much fun - Jason and Tom will give you the tools to put Philosophy Circles into action immediately. I cannot recommend this p4c training highly enough.

Rachel Hutchings

Teacher, Kent

Practical for Teachers

Learn how planning less and letting the questions do the work fosters greater independence and faster progress.

During the course, teachers can see how easy it is to embed P4C, and immediately give it a go themselves.

Dozens of ready-to-use activities your staff can can adapt for any context
Simple, memorable principles that connect with your teachers' values
Tailored resources designed for the EYFS so all teachers buy into the approach

"When I first started my teaching I attended courses based on Philosophy for Children but after our recent training day with Tom, I feel many of the ideas and discussions really provoked new ideas for teaching and learning in my classroom."

As a New Head planning CPD for my staff my first thought was P4C. I have had experience of the training on previous occassions and had always left with a wealth of ideas and topics that I couldn't wait to explore in the classroom. I wanted to inspire my whole staff to challenge the children and empower them to take the lead in learning. I feel that education is not always about getting the right answer but the answer that is right for you. Children need the opportunity to hear different opinions and perspectives and understand where they come from, this is how we create our citizens of the future.

"During the course of the training it was fabulous to watch my staff grow in confidence to allow the concept of a learning journey through a topic to develop. When in the classroom I never wanted to do the same thing twice, through P4C its very apparent that the same idea can go in very different directions if we listen to the children and their opinions of our world."

Lindsay Phelps

Headteacher, St. Gabriel's School

Ready-to-use resources

Lots of ideas from INSET sound great on the day but never see the light of day. New initiatives often get buried under the hectic pace of day to day teaching.

To avoid that...

Philosophy Circles and Thinkers' Games minibooks
Session-plans covering the curriculum - so P4C can be embedded within teachers' existing lessons
100 Spot and Stripe videos, assessment tools, how-to guides and a wealth of other supporting materials

"Watching Tom's workshop I was amazed at how it hit EVERY box about oracy..."

The day before the demonstration workshop I attended a IAPS course on oracy, so felt I had a very good understanding of the theory behind unlocking children's voices. Watching Tom's workshop the next day I was amazed at how it hit EVERY box that I'd just learnt about. It was brilliant to see practical strategies to help every child find their voice.

Abby Brookes

Year 6 Teacher, Kimbolton Prep School

Fancy a chat about it?

No obligation - just a chat about what might be possible!

What are our options?

How much will training cost?

Everything we do is bespoke for each school. For the deepest impact, most schools choose a day of P4C training plus at least one workshop day where teachers observe us with their classes. All prices are +VAT and reasonable expenses.

Half days begin at £700+VAT, and full days begin at £1000+VAT.

There's lots of ways to do something within your budget. MATs and clusters often join together for a day to reduce costs and promote collaboration between schools.

Interested in training?

01245 830123

office@thephilosophyman.com

Book a call with us!

Feedback from our recent P4C training:

"I cannot describe the buzz and vibe from the staff, all down to you."

"You really did create a huge buzz in school, which is a difficult shout on the first day back! You covered everything we wanted out of the training and gave us mountains of material to use in class. I loved the fact you gave each phase some planning time to discuss ideas and plan sessions and then trial them out of colleagues. You have definitely given us some inspiration and I am very excited to see what happens next."

"There was a buzz during the staff meeting, which for any member of staff attending a staff meeting knows this is a rare thing! All the staff said how enthused and excited they felt to get back into their classrooms and try out the methods they had been shown."

"The questions raised interested everyone and there was a real buzz in the room. Our training was full of practical activities and games, with the just the right amount of discussion about teaching techniques interspersed. What an inspiring day!"

"It is us who would like to thank you. It was such an inspirational INSET and the staff were truly excited. The enthusiasm is palpable!"

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