“At Dormers Wells High School character education is foundational to all we do and is centralised through our character values of Determination, Wisdom, Honesty and Service. We incorporate character within our pastoral character, through weekly “My Character” pastoral sessions and all assemblies and thoughts for the week are linked to our character values. Our broad extra-curricular offer and the taught curriculum support the approach to character education, especially in CPSHE, citizenship and religious education. Our work with feeder primary schools, on the Strong Starts programme allows students to begin preparing for High School and the character values they will need to succeed, from primary school.”

We have found the Quality Mark process extremely useful. It enabled us to reflect on where we are and centralise the work we have done ready for the assessment day. The next steps provided have given us a clear platform and targets for us to keep improving our character provision for the benefit of all our students.

“It is clear that Dormers Wells High School is a community-focused school and that there is a strong emphasis on pastoral support, pupil welfare and personal development alongside an unwavering commitment to securing the best academic outcomes. The school’s values of Determination, Wisdom, Honesty and Service are placed at the core of all activities and by aligning these with the core components of character development such as the ‘My character’ programme, the school has demonstrated the capacity to ensure that pupils and staff benefit from an authentic and ambitious commitment to character education which is built in rather than ‘bolted on’.”