Character Education

Character is a set of personal traits that produce specific moral emotions, inform motivation and guide conduct.

Our aim at Church Stretton School is to enable pupils to flourish in all areas of their lives, by supporting their development into well-rounded, empathetic young adults who are able to contribute and shape society and the wider world, whilst respecting and supporting those who live in it, though the teaching and modelling of good character.

Character is a set of personal traits or dispositions that produce specific moral emotions, inform motivation, and guide conduct. Character education includes all explicit and implicit educational activities that help young people to develop positive personal strengths called virtues.

Character can be both explicitly taught but also caught in building a positive ethos in school. Caught approaches to character education place importance on the quality relationships between pupils and staff within all school activities and emphasises the importance of teachers acting as positive role models for their pupils. Finally, character can be sought through chosen experiences that occur within and outside of the formal curriculum.  This includes ENRICHMENT: Experiences during and outside the school day that broaden pupils’ passions and interests and SOCIAL ACTION AND VOLUNTEERING: Community-based experiences which encourage civic engagement in school and beyond.

We are excited to be starting our formal journey into character education through use of the Association of Character Education approaches.