The importance of character education

Outdoor Learning Day saw students exploring LVS Ascot's 25-acre site

Rachael Cox, Head of Junior School at all ability all-through school LVS Ascot in Berkshire, discusses the importance of character education in developing students for the future...

During the primary phase of education, children develop a set of life long values and beliefs about the process of learning and about themselves as learners. Alongside this they begin to understand how they fit as part of a wider community, the importance of tolerance and acceptance, of humility and sportsmanship, of effort and resilience to name but a few. Developing these characteristics takes time, focus and skill.

As primary school practitioners we hold this immense responsibility in our hands and at LVS Ascot we are determined that every child will move up to our senior school with positive attitudes towards learning and be confident about the role they play in our community. Our mission is to create confident, caring citizens of the future and that is certainly what we strive towards from the first moment children enter our school. By building warm, caring relationships with pupils and knowing the individual strengths and character of each child, teachers are able to ensure that every lesson challenges and engages them.

Happiness and well-being are the cornerstones of academic success and it is important to give children the confidence to believe in themselves and follow their dreams. Providing space for our children to enjoy childhood whilst providing a forward-looking, nurturing and ambitious curriculum that includes outdoor learning, independent projects and character education can only be of benefit to their development.

Central to the curriculum at LVS Ascot are five pairs of Learning Values and Skills:

• Empathy and reflection
• Creativity and curiosity
• Independence and initiative
• Risk taking and resilience
• Collaboration and self-confidence

These develop the character of pupils so that they are equipped with the qualities they need to be successful in the ever-changing world they will enter as young adults. These Learning Values are intertwined through every aspect of school life, and children are able to use the language and attributes with confidence.

MP and former Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan visited LVS Ascot in January where she addressed parents on the importance of character education and praised the school for its development in this area. She said: “Character isn’t a one-size fits all concept, it is a combination of traits that sets people apart so they can achieve their dreams. I think LVS Ascot is probably much further along on this journey than other schools”.

Nicky, who has been MP for Loughborough since 2010, was invited to LVS Ascot’s theatre where she discussed with parents of pupils from the junior school up to sixth form the benefits developing positive character traits brings. She detailed the advantages this provides to students when applying for jobs and, having been Secretary of State for Education from 2014 to 2016, was perfectly placed to talk about key strengths that employers are looking for from students. She said employers are looking for candidates that they can train fully in a specific role, but who arrive with key personal skills that will help them to succeed within that training and career.

Nicky said: “The LVS Ascot learning values including self-confidence and collaboration, risk taking and resilience, creativity and curiosity are great values that we all want to see developed in our young people. The resilience, empathy and initiative traits will really help set the pupils apart in terms of making a success of life, and alongside persistence when things don’t go so well those are the things employers will say they want and they help in terms of high academic attainment too”.

In addition to the learning values and skills being woven into everyday life at LVS Ascot, specific engaging events have allowed the students to focus on the skills and their importance, such as during Outdoor Learning Day. All 160 students in the LVS Ascot Junior School enjoyed a captivating day of activities in October as Outdoor Learning Day took them from the classroom into the school’s 25 acre grounds to explore and discover new things, with some students making the trip to the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge in Wiltshire. The youngest pupils in Reception Class to Year 2 enjoyed a scavenger hunt around the school grounds to encourage them to use their imaginations to find items which met certain criteria including bugs and plants. The sessions were overseen by one of the school’s Outdoor Pursuit teachers, Mr Wyndham-Smith, who leads sixth formers on Duke of Edinburgh trips, demonstrating the benefit of being an all-through school with teaching expertise shared across age-groups. Year 4 pupils were given a session on trust and communication which involved a number of teamwork activities and problem solving tasks, whilst all pupils enjoyed an opportunity to read outdoors. Older students in Year 6 were taught map reading skills as part of an orienteering session which involved following a series of instructions to move from point to point within the leafy school grounds.

Pupils in Year 5 made the exciting trip to Stonehenge in Wiltshire where they discovered the history of the famous monument and learned how prehistoric man lived and how they managed to create the iconic ring of stones.

By having a day like Outdoor Learning Day outside the classroom, where every child is involved, they are able to work together across year groups and show collaboration and self-confidence, take risks and do things that they might not otherwise do. It was an inspiring day that really engaged them with learning and trying new things.

Increasing evidence suggests characteristics such as creativity, empathy and collaboration can be learnt. Acquiring such positive character traits is associated with a range of positive life outcomes, so it is essential we instil these values in our young people to give them the greatest chance of success in life.

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