Our Character Traits

Our Character Traits

The ASPIRE Values

At King’s character development is both taught and caught through lessons and the constant modelling of our ‘Seven Pillars of Character’. These pillars are bound together through the constant use of our acronym ASPIRE.

Aspiration & Achievement

Through the development of these character traits we want our students to develop not only the highest of aspirations but also the drive and determination to achieve those aspirations

Self-awareness

By becoming more self-aware our students will gradually develop a greater understanding of themselves as a person as well as their strengths and, perhaps more importantly, the areas in which they need to develop.

Professionalism

by taking a ‘professional’ approach to life in King’s we encourage our students to develop ‘self-pride’ in all that they undertake. This includes being punctual, attending daily, dressing well, presenting their work to the highest professional standards, and adopting a professional approach to their behaviour.

Integrity

We help our students understand that integrity is not just about telling the truth. It is about being true to their beliefs and upholding them; it is about having pride in all that they do, always working to their true ability and behaving correctly to other people at all times.

Endeavour

By endeavour we mean working hard to achieve success; being focussed on the task in hand; tackling it concientiously and diligently; having the perseverance, resilience, tenacity and grit to keep going when others start to give up.

Respect

We help our students understand that respect is not simply about being polite, courteous and good mannered. It is about respecting your own ability and working hard to achieve well. It is about valuing the differences in others and looking after our planet and its limited resources.

Each new school year starts with two days of re-orientation as the seven pillars are revisited through character education programmes specifically written for each of the year groups and based on the work of Stephen Covey’s ‘seven habits of successful people’ and Carol Dweck’s concept of the ‘growth mind-set’. Each of the programmes encourages students to think critically about the academy’s pillars; reflect on how they may have changed as a person over the last twelve months and set themselves personal targets for their ‘aspirational flight path’ over the next twelve months.

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