positive education for the future
The school is grounded on five core values,
selected by the students and the whole
community: courage, integrity, kindness,
respect and responsibility. The five values are
regularly aired with students and adults to
ensure that they become living signposts.
We take role modelling immensely seriously.
Teachers must not shout, must display real
integrity, and show genuine respect for
students, as must the students themselves for
others across the community.
I have had to think deeply about the way
that I come across as the head, in my role
as ‘modeller in chief’. I have realised with
alarm how powerful the impact of heads are,
whether schools are day or boarding, as at
Wellington.
In 2006, I restarted meditating and yoga
twice a day. I have tried to ‘pause’ regularly,
and to be relentlessly optimistic and
appreciative. All students learn how to be
leaders, beginning with learning how to lead
themselves, acquiring skills of organisation,
self control and communication. Older pupils
are given considerable responsibility for
younger, as in Wellington of old, but they
must exercise their power with kindness,
not force. ‘Kindness’ awards for service to
others, are regularly made, nominated by
the community. All try to follow the model
of ‘undefended leadership’, as advocated by
Simon P Walker, where we all open ourselves
to constructive criticism, embrace it, and
try to learn from it. Staff and students are
taught coaching skills. Quiet listening is
fundamental. Periods of ‘stillness’ increasingly
punctuate the school day. I regularly ask all
1200 in school assembly to close their eyes
and be totally still. I begin each weekly staff
meeting on Monday break with a period
of silence which allows everyone to collect
themselves and let go of the baggage.
Mindfulness is key to all we do. Finally, comes
service. We have an extensive volunteering
programme. Service, we remind ourselves, is
not a week’s trip abroad to help in a village
school, but is a constant attitude of mind.
8
How effective is all this character work?
Wellington has seen its academic results
soar in the five years after 2006, from 65%
achieving As and Bs at A-level to 93%, with
students of the same academic quality.
Even if the emphasis on character resulted in
only some of the improvement in results, one
can certainly say that adopting a character
and wellbeing focus has not been at the
expense of academic results.
Smoking and drug use among our year 10
and 11 students are well below the national
average, according to the Exeter survey this
year. Again other factors will be responsible,
but the improvement in behaviour and
atmosphere of the school has been palpable.
The school has become much calmer,
kinder and more purposeful since this new
approach has been adopted. This is all very
well, you might say, for posh public schools,
but what about state schools? Is character
education transferable to the state sector?
Kings Science Academy
Kings Science Academy in Bradford, is an
inner city school with a very mixed ethnic
and social student population. It has become
a national champion with its emphasis on
character. Its motto is ‘Mores et Scientia’.
‘Mores’ or ‘character’ is deliberately placed
before ‘Scientia’, which is ‘knowledge’.
Students at Kings are told about the priority
of developing a good character above all
else, including their quest for knowledge.
It has a unique ‘Character Compass’, which
is ubiquitous around the school and which
exhorts both students and staff to focus
on developing ‘positive, balanced and
responsible character traits in all’.
The Character Compass has five points:
Leadership, embracing hard work and
resilience; Critical Minds, which includes
inquiry and possessing an open mind;
Spirituality, which includes humility, self
awareness and gratitude; Wisdom, which
encompasses responsibility and intelligence;