All at Eldon Grove Academy work consciously and conscientiously to make it a place where children acquire the character virtues that lead to success in school and university, in work and life beyond. Essential to this is our understanding of what constitutes Character Education.

Character Education can be defined as the active development of character strengths or virtues in young people. The practice of character education is based on the view that these strengths are not merely given but can be developed through instruction and practice.

Our work in this area is premised upon two ideas. First, that character is both ‘taught’ and ‘caught’. Taught because pupils need to learn directly about character strengths and virtues, and to be given opportunities to practise them. Caught because pupils need to be exposed to the concepts and language of character throughout their experience of school. This is best delivered through the ethos of the school, by teachers and other adults in school acting as role models, by empowering children to be role models and recognising them publicly as such, and by engineering enrichment activity so that it emphasises character development.

The second idea is that there are four core dimensions to character: intellectual, performance, moral and civic. These are demonstrated in the diagram below. A complete character education seeks to develop pupils along all four dimensions, and in this broad conception character encompasses academic achievement as a route to the development of intellectual character strength.

As such, our curriculum is infused with opportunities for children to develop their character strengths and virtues. These are complimented by weekly assemblies and PSHE lessons, which constitute discrete weekly character education lessons teaching the children explicitly about the character virtues. Together, discrete and embedded learning gives the children the knowledge, language and moral exemplars to help them continue strengthening the virtues in their own lives.

Across Eldon Grove Academy, we promote our Learning Behaviours in lessons, outside of the classroom and celebrate achievements through our Learning Behaviours in our assemblies.

Understanding our Area

Understanding and appreciating our Heritage at Eldon Grove is crucial, weaving a rich tapestry of our identity. It resonates in our curriculum, enhancing academic and sporting pursuits, fostering a deep sense of community pride.