Altrincham College Character Education
Our school vision is to ‘nurture well rounded citizens of the future who are knowledgeable, happy and resilient so that they make a valuable contribution to which the world they live and are empowered to make informed and positive life choices’.
What is character education?
Character Education refers to explicit and implicit efforts to develop virtues and ethical values in our students. The underlying principle in character education is to develop a set of positive personal traits, dispositions and virtues that informs students’ motivation and guides their conduct so that they reflect wisely, learn eagerly, behave with integrity and cooperate consistently well with others. This gives pupils the qualities they need to flourish in our society.
Why is character education important?
The choices an individual makes determines their future, and the purpose of developing good character is the ability to make good choices. Character allows us to flourish as individuals, and as a wider society.
How will we achieve this?
Character Education lies at the heart of everything we do at Altrincham College. The 3 Rs (Ready, Respectful, Responsible) outlines our core behaviour values for students, whilst the additional range of experience students have whilst attending the school, prepares them for a life as happy, successful and well-rounded adults.
- Meta-cognitive strategies enables students to become independent learners, respond to feedback and develop resilience.
- Learning strategies such as ‘No hands rule’ and ‘think-pair-share’ enables students to become competent speakers.
- We have high expectations however; students are allowed to make mistakes. This enables students to learn, reflect and evaluate.
- Countless leadership opportunities for students enables students to take on responsibility, encourages community work and develops mentoring and skills in empathy. These opportunities include the following; Charity Leaders, Peer Mentoring, Senior Student Leaders, Trust Ambassadors and an active Student Council.
- A diverse range of extra-curricular programs empowers students to develop respect for others.
- Celebration events celebrate students doing the right thing and enables students to develop social skills.
- The PSHE curriculum empowers students to be open minded, train students how to share thoughts respectfully and develop their understanding of equality. The PSHE curriculum empowers students to debate, enhances their public speaking skills and develops their confidence.
- Achievement points are awarded. This celebrates values and recognises student behaviour and doing the right thing.
- School trips and developing cultural capital empowers students to develop their understanding of the community, the world and have experiences out of their comfort zone.
- Students evaluate their interim grades regularly, this develops their ability to reflect on how to improve and become independent learners.
- All subjects enable students to develop their character. For example, Year 9 students in English explore toxic masculinity when they read ‘Boys Don’t Cry’.
- The PSHE curriculum teaches students how to be role models, this helps them to learn how to have polite interactions with their community, develops their interpersonal connections and improves their social skills.
- Youth parliament and awareness days educates students in world and political affairs.
- School Behaviour policy encourages students to be honest and kind and teaches students to understand the norms and expectations for society.
