"Critical Skills is a way to make learning more fun and effective. It teaches children important life skills and encourages them to think out of the box."

"We have home groups which we do most challenges in and we change our home groups every four weeks or so, so we can work with other people and get the best out of learning."

"We also fill in a rubric once we have finished to see how we are getting on. We self-assess after challenges as well; this is a big part of Critical Skills. I find that self-assessing is a good way to learn how to improve on things and also how to be honest with yourself. We also de-brief after every challenge and this is where you say if you enjoyed yourself and say how you think you and your group got on."

"To get the best out of our learning we have to focus on learning and not get distracted... One of the first things we did was thought up and signed a Full Value Contract on our interactive whiteboard, so whenever we forget it the teacher can put it up to remind us what we signed for... We also have 'quality audience' and 'quality worker' to get the best out of our work. I think our school is a school that lets you take charge of your own learning."

Year 7 pupils, Gullane Primary School, East Lothian