By having a clear appreciation of our key values
At Hayesfield, our key values are:
- HG1 | Readiness and Respect
- HG2 | Moral Courage
- HG3 | Self-confidence
- HG4 | Resilience
- HG5 | Limitless Aspiration
A Hayesfield Girl is continuously developing these five values both inside and outside of the classroom in order to become the person she wants to be. The teacher, tutor and wider staff are all fully committed to helping her do this. We want students to be respectful, courageous, confident, resilient and aspirational people who are unerringly focused on achieving their potential. We frequently and positively reinforce these five HG (Hayesfield Girl) values in everything that we do; they actively underpin both the behaviour system and the tutorial programme.
By understanding the ‘Character Development Journey’
A Hayesfield Girl learns a lot about herself throughout her school years. She learns how to express herself properly, how to make the right decisions, how to live in a diverse and challenging world, and many other things.
Clearly a typical Year 11 student is likely to possess a level of maturity and balanced character that a Year 7 student may not yet possess. Students therefore need to be aware of the processes and developments that they will go through in order to be the best person that they can be. They should be able to evaluate their own character and articulate what they need to do in order to emulate their Year 11 / societal role models.
The tutorial programme is designed to help students do this. Every two terms, students will be exploring an overarching character development theme. For example, in Year 7 terms 3 & 4, the twelve weekly character development tutorials will all be under the umbrella of ‘expressing myself effectively as a Hayesfield Girl’.
By having weekly tutorials on Character Development
Every week students will follow the ‘HG (Hayesfield Girl) Character Development Programme’.This Year 7-11 programme is designed to develop the five key Hayesfield Girl values in every student as they progress on their character development journey. The values are developed by exploring concepts such as ‘What are harmful actions?’, ‘Why are words so powerful?’ and ‘How to cope with change’. Tutors and students will explore a different concept each week with a view to developing well-rounded individuals who have a secure understanding of their own character development. Students will also have a firm understanding of British values and they will have a keen desire to succeed in wider society.
By regularly self-evaluating Character Development
Once a term, students evaluate their own character development. Crucially, they are given a chance to tangibly prove their good character and to be recognised / rewarded for this. They prove their good character by filling out their ‘Character Development Portfolio’ at the end of every term. Here they evaluate themselves in relation to the five HG values.
By integrating the five HG values throughout the whole Tutorial / PSHE / Assembly programme
Key values / themes inter-relate with each other with an explicit purpose of developing character
For example, see our Year 7 programme below:
Note the following specific example:
12th November is anti-bullying week, so:
- The HG character development tutorial explores the theme of ‘what are organised acts of kindness?’
- The Topical tutorial session focuses on the national anti-bullying campaign
- The Reading tutorial session focuses on the importance of positive role models in fiction
- The Student Leadership tutorial session focuses on using our student Anti-Bullying Ambassadors to deliver key messages gained from their training with the DIANA Award
- The Director of Achievement Assembly slot is led by a tutor group who focus on the impact of bullying
- The SLT Assembly explicitly focuses on value HG2 – developing Moral Courage
- The timetabled PSHE lesson focuses directly on anti-bullying techniques
As such, the key HG value that is being developed at this point is HG2 – Moral Courage. The focus is clearly on developing the right type of characters who not only eschew bullying, but actively stand against it.