CSIA awarded Character Education Kitemark
In May 2022, we were incredibly proud to be awarded the Character Education Kitemark from the Association of Character Education. During their evaluation visit, the assessors met with a number of students, staff and governors, and toured the school with members of our student leadership teams. We are continuing on our journey to achieve the Character Education Kitemark Plus. At the heart of this is supporting our students in their academic and personal development.
Highlights of the report include:
This award clearly recognises the quality of learning and values-driven personal development programme enjoyed by all members of your school community…the school has developed a co-ordinated and carefully planned Character Programme which is designed to impact all aspects of academic and pastoral growth. It is always reassuring to visit a school where values and a genuine commitment to character education is at the core of all activities and is threaded through the “DNA” of the school and its stated aims. The progress the school has made in the evolution and development of its Character Programme over the past 3 years is very impressive and indicates that a values-led approach is central to the Academy’s obvious success.
Meetings with both students and staff indicated that all members of the community feel that they have a real voice in determining the direction of the Academy’s character journey.”
Students are actively encouraged to develop their character skills both in and outside of school and the Academy’s recently designed and developed “on line app” enabling students and staff to work together in measuring and developing character experiences, must be considered an example of “excellent practice”.
The assessors were delighted that both behaviour management policies and reward structures were directly informed by the school’s character programme and virtues focus. Both students and teachers valued the reward system and its focus on positive reinforcement and its varied but consistent application must be considered a real success. Similarly, a more reflective approach to managing behaviour has also resulted in increasingly positive relationships which are based on good communication and mutual respect.
“The assessors were delighted to visit a school where character education was placed at the core of ALL activities and provision and this is certainly an example for other schools to witness that such an in-depth approach to character education rather than an additional “bolt on” style can have a significant impact on both academic and personal development standards.
