As many of you will know, I am a passionate advocate for teaching our girls how to be the very best versions of themselves. One of the ways we do this is by actively championing them to develop all of the different elements within themselves that define their characters. I strongly believe that this will stand them in good stead for the future and prepare them for life beyond school. Following my Welcome Evening talk, I have been delighted with all of your positive feedback regarding our Channing Characters (these have been added to Firefly and will be added to SchoolBase for reference at home). Many of you have described the positive impact it has had on your daughter’s mindset and shared fantastic examples of how you reinforce what we do, during the school day, at home. Here are a couple of examples (please keep them coming):

“This evening I read ‘The Lion Inside’ to P before bed. When it finished, she said, “Do you know the mouse was very brave? He was like the Bravery Mole!” Clearly the Channing Characters are really embedding and resonating with the girls.”

“I really appreciate the Character Education Programme. I am super impressed by how far the whole school gets behind it. We regularly refer to Bravery Mole, Resilience Robin and Perseverance Squirrel at home to help give R more confidence to try to overcome mental obstacles and take on new challenges.”

In this morning’s assembly, I honed in on one of our characters: Responsibility Badger. We explored the meaning of the word responsibility: 

A responsibility is something you are expected to do.
When you DO something you are responsible for, there is a result.
When you DON’T do something you are responsible for, there is a consequence. 

The girls suggested examples of tasks that they may be expected to do, such as doing their homework, looking after property, as well as examples of ways that they are expected to act, such as following the Channing Promise.

Over the last week or so, the teachers have been closely observing all of the girls from Reception to Year 6 to see who has been displaying skills that would help them to be successful if they were to take on roles of responsibility in the school community. Additionally, the girls in Key Stage 2 have been enthusiastically applying to take on roles in order to put their skills in action.

All of the girls were incredibly excited to hear who had been appointed as: 

Form Captains (Reception – Year 5)

School Council (Reception – Year 6)

Sustainability Officers (Reception – Year 6)

Reading Champions (Year 3 & Year 4)

Digital Leaders (Year 5 & Year 6)

Library Leaders (Year 5 & Year 6)

Sports Leaders (Year 6)

House Captains (Year 6); and

New for this year: Channing Character Champions (Reception – Year 6). 

The girls, who were selected or nominated by teachers, proudly received their badges and it was touching to see how all of the girls celebrated their peers’ achievement.

Taking on a role of responsibility is an excellent way for the girls to engage with the school experience. It gives them the opportunity to learn invaluable leadership skills and take pride in all aspects of their school community working with the staff to make things even better. As a staff team we greatly value pupil voice and those in charge of the different teams/groups are looking forward to their first weekly meeting with the girls. I have already started meeting the new Head Girls, Helena S (6D) and Ruby S (6B) every Friday breaktime which I am thoroughly enjoying. This Thursday, I look forward to talking to the newly-appointed Channing Characters Champions in Reception – Year 6. 

Click here to listen to an episode of our award winning podcast, Chatting with Channing, where Miss Hamalis talks more about Character Education at the Junior School.