Building character is a corner-stone to our core purpose of helping our students develop into happy, confident, successful individuals who will contribute positively to the world around them.
We believe that if we invest in developing the character of our young people now, they will reap the rewards throughout the rest of their lives.
What is Character Education?
You might have heard the term ‘Character Education’ and this is used to refer to activities in schools that help students develop positive personal traits called virtues or values. These traits are proven to help students succeed not just through their school life but also in their adult, personal and professional life.
The building blocks of character fit into four key areas:
Intellectual Virtues - these are traits that help us seek understanding and knowledge such as curiosity, critical thinking and judgement.
Moral Virtues - these are traits such as compassion, gratitude and honesty that allow us to act ethically and responsibly in different situations.
Civic Virtues - community awareness and neighbourliness are among the civic virtue traits that can help us to be responsible citizens and contribute positively to society.
Performance Virtues - these traits include determination, resilience and confidence and enable us to fulfill our potential.
HOW DO WE TEACH Character Education?
Teaching the virtues and values to help students succeed in life can be through planned activities but also through less structured methods - such as making these ideals part of our everyday culture and ethos at Ryburn.
Character can be caught, taught and sought! It is caught through positive role models who provide everyday examples of positive virtues. It is taught through educational experiences in and out of the classroom that give students the language and skills to develop their character. Finally, it is sought by providing opportunities for students to seek out and pursue their own character development. Put those three pieces of the jigsaw together and you have an approach that will deliver a lasting impact.
How is Ryburn leading on Character Education?
Ryburn already holds the Character Kitemark Plus - one of only a small number of schools to do so - and the development of character and confidence is at the heart of our curriculum and extra-curricular provision.
We’re also currently part of leading research on the subject, collaborating with ‘The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues’ at Birmingham University on a project to evaluate the impact of character education on student outcomes.
A School of Character
Ryburn’s success in character education was featured in an article in Sec Ed magazine.
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