“We embarked on our Character Education journey 5 years ago and realised that to ensure that it was fully integrated and embedded into all areas of our school life and curriculum it would take time and not be a quick process that could be rushed. We started by asking all members of our school community, from teaching staff, children, parents, governors and all non – teaching staff such as office staff and lunchtime staff, to choose which virtues out of a list of many we felt were the most important for our children at EHPS to develop over their time with us. This gave us a clear set of 5 core virtues: Respect, Responsibility, Perseverance, Honesty and Kindness. We thought about the different stages of embedding Character and this was reflected in our school’s strategic plan and over time our subject specific action plans. As a very reflective school, we have constantly reviewed and adapted our Character Education provisions, incorporating feedback from staff, parents and children to ensure we are fully meeting the needs and providing progression which is age and stage appropriate. Applying for the Quality Mark and meeting with the assessors allowed us to talk openly about the processes we have followed and our school ethos of which are all very proud of. Being part of the assessment process was rigorous but also very rewarding as it was a time to talk about what we have put into practice and the benefits we have seen in our school, staff and most importantly the impact on our children. It also provided reassurance of the direction we are heading in and how best our school can continuously develop its Character Education.”

“Assessors found that the pupils at Elvetham Heath Primary School spoke automatically and effortlessly about character and virtue.  The assessment highlighted a strong push within the school to support pupils to not only understand what the school’s values mean, but also how they could be applied to their own life. Leaders and teachers facilitate reflective conversations with pupils to enable character and virtue to go beyond an intellectual exercise and become a ‘way of being’ that shapes their behaviours, attitudes and conduct. Elvetham Heath Primary is an exceptional School of Character which has an explicit character programme that has matured over a number of years and offers exemplary practice. ”