Character Education

Character is a set of personal traits or dispositions that produce emotions, inform motivation and guide how we behave. Character education includes all educational activities that help young people develop positive personal strengths called virtues. Children are encouraged to decide wisely the kind of person they wish to become and to learn to make positive choices about their behaviour. Our ultimate aim of character education is the development of good sense; knowing how to choose the right course of action in different and often tricky situations, something we are sure you will also be doing all the time at home.

What does this look like at WPPA?

Our approach at WPPA is based on the program designed by the University of Birmingham and the Jubilee Centre (https://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/432/character-education). We will be teaching character education both in class and through whole school assemblies. Each month we will learn about a new virtue and children will be encouraged to think about how they can make positive choices linked to each virtue. Children will be rewarded when they demonstrate each virtue. We would you to support us by talking to your children about the monthly virtue and thinking about why it is important. We will support you by sharing resources and activities with you, mainly via Seesaw. You can find out more by visiting the website and clicking on the Curriculum tab - http://wardenparkpa.sites.schooljotter2.com/curriculum/character-education.

Month	Value	EY	Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6
September	Courage	Trying new things	Coming to School	Saying Hello to new people	Learning from mistakes	Sports and competition	Facing our Fears	The Knightly Virtues
October	Respect	Showing Respect in the classroom	How does the Ugly Duck Feel?	Classroom Rules that help us show respect	Showing respect at home	Powerful Respect	Similarities and Differences	Human Rights
November	Cooperation	Working together to help Little Red Hen	Working together to achieve a challenging task	Encouraging one another	Bury the hatchet!	Team building skills: the human knot	Understanding Aesop’s Tale: The Bundle of Sticks	Coaching younger children: hula-hoop help
December	Fairness	It’s not fair/fair shares	Fair shares for others	Fair shares for others	Two sides to every story	School rules	Seeing another point of view	Justice
January	Self-discipline	Speaking and listening	Controlling our feelings	Active listening	A bubbly challenge!	Can you wait?	Knowing the limits	e-safety: being SMART online!
February	Determination	The strength of a superhero!	Reach for the stars	Aim high	If at first you don’t succeed/ I’m a believer	Never give up!	People who inspire us	Achieve your potential
March	Forgiveness	Saying sorry	Help me to forgive	Mending a friendship	Why should I forgive?	Feelings of forgiveness	Positive role models	Solving conflicts fairly
April	Honesty	Telling the truth	Not stealing	Telling the whole truth	Scenarios	Being honest with yourself	Being tactful	The Knightly Virtues: El Cid
May	Patience	Patience in my class	The pencil of patience	Busy adults	Patient hands	A patient survivor	Patient snowflakes	Let me teach you!
June	Gratitude	Picture journals	Thank you cards: writing	A visit from a school staff member Writing a class thank you letter	A visit from a school staff member Writing a class thank you letter	A visit from the school cook Writing a class thank you letter	Where did that come from?	Reflecting on gratitude
July	Reflection	Virtue shields	Virtue shields	Virtue shields	Aristotle’s bottles	Aristotle’s bottles	Aristotle’s bottles	Aristotle’s bottles

Respect

Respect is:

An attitude of caring for others with dignity and kindness.
Acting with the needs, feelings and rights of others in mind.
Speaking with politeness and acting with courtesy.
Honouring the rules of our family or school.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

EARLY YEARS

For children to associate the word ‘respect’ with ‘being kind’. Children will be able to list things that demonstrate ‘being kind’ to people in their class.

KEY STAGE 1

Children understand what it means to show respect in the classroom and can describe the school’s classroom rules to encourage this. Children can describe why this is important.

KEY STAGE 2

Children will understand that they can show respect to lots of different people in different ways. Children will be able to describe the different ways that they can show respect based on their needs.

Children will consider their reactions and answers to a number of challenging questions that get to the heart of showing respect for people, even if they are different from you.

Courage

Courage is:

Trying new things even if we feel afraid of doing them.
Being able to face our fears.
Having the inner strength to be the best that we can be.
Being brave.
Standing up for something that you believe to be right.

Without courage:
People would miss out on trying new things.
We would not challenge or bring about change.
We would not reach our full potential.
Society would never change.

Resources

Click below for resources to help your child understand about courage:

Reading

Courage means having the strength and will to know what you should do even though you may be afraid. Below is a collection of books that contain characters that have shown courage as well as stories which acknowledge how difficult it can be to show courage when something scares or frightens you. The books are grouped by 4 different age ranges but these are only a rough guide, your child may enjoy the books from a younger or older age group.

Writing

The Courage Shield gives children an opportunity to think about what courage is and the ways in which courage can be shown.

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