Personal Development
Character Education at the King John School
Education of character is about enabling children to consider right and wrong, to make informed decisions, to exercise empathy and to reflect on their thoughts and actions. Using these skills, children will be able to decide how they belong to a community and how they wish to contribute to society as they get older.
At The King John School, we cherish the development of each child’s individuality and encourage them to be the best they can be. The school understands the importance of helping each child to develop their character and personality so that they may have a positive outlook and have a successful journey through their educational experiences and on to the next steps of their chosen pathway.
In order to facilitate the transition from primary school to secondary school and in order to motivate our students to be the “best version of themselves”, Year 7 and 8 complete a “character development” programme as part of our pastoral work.
We know that our students enjoy being rewarded for adhering to our core values of Positivity, Resilience, Integrity, Dignity and Equality. With this in mind, and to entwine the school’s core values as an intrinsic part of our character education programme and the social, moral and spiritual work of the school, we have developed a series of challenges for our key stage 3 students to undertake. They are supported with these challenges in tutor sessions and are encouraged to be independent in the fulfilment of the challenges. They are then rewarded for the completion of the challenge. Each half term, the students work towards achieving a different objective.
The Core Values and Character Development Challenges
|
Badge |
Criteria –SMSC Link |
|
P- Positivity |
Show you know how to greet someone correctly – shake hands, smile, introduce yourself (social- social skills) Contribute to tutor discussions for TFTW (spiritual-explore beliefs and experiences) Choose a new club to join and go for at least half a term (social- participate in a community) Lead a student voice discussion in your tutor group and report findings to Mrs Mellor (cultural-democracy) Keep a gratitude diary for half a term- each day name 3 things you are grateful for (social- enjoy learning about yourself) |
|
R –Resilience |
Choose a subject you find difficult and show progress / improved ATL (spiritual-reflect) In books, demonstrate responses to next steps (spiritual-reflect) Write a thank you letter to someone who helped you when things were difficult (social- learning about others) Keep a gratitude diary- each day name 3 things you are grateful for, including things you have learnt from difficult situations (spiritual-reflect) Research a famous person who has had to show determination. Write about their experience (social- understand, accept) |
|
I – Integrity |
Only receive achievement points (moral- understand consequences) Contribute positively to tutor discussions (social- appreciate diverse viewpoints) Become a student curriculum reviewer (social-volunteer) Lead a discussion on a news items (moral- right and wrong; reasoned views) Keep a compassion jar- put in a note every time you showed forgiveness, tolerance, understanding towards someone else- what was the situation (social- understanding others, conflict resolution) |
|
D – Dignity |
Lead a charity event (social- local community) Demonstrate kindness through making new friends or helping someone (social- respect) Present in tutor group on how kindness improves a community Keep a kindness jar for half a term- put in it a note every time someone is kind to you (spiritual- creativity and acceptance) Write a thank you letter to a teacher who helped you – your tutor will deliver the letter (cultural- understanding and respect) |
|
E - Equality |
Attend the My Allies group each fortnight (moral- reasoned views; spiritual-learning about others) Lead a tutor discussion on another culture/faith/religion (spiritual, social- respect, tolerance, the surrounding world) Achieve 10 points for Equality on achievement point system (cultural- understand and celebrate diversity) Keep a diary for half a term and write down things you learn about other people and their views (cultural- celebrate diversity) Write 10 quotes from famous people from different backgrounds which inspire you. Explain why they inspire you (moral- investigate) |
