Alexandra Park School's Values
Download a PDF of the Values
School is about more than exam results; we educate the whole student.
When we say goodbye to students at the end of their time with us we hope that they are well-rounded individuals, confident about their futures, with the skills to achieve on their chosen paths. To ensure this, we actively teach values and characteristics that we believe will help them during their time at school and later in life.
Resilience is the ability to deal with setbacks and the capacity to push on through difficulties to complete tasks. At school and beyond, this characteristic can be the difference between success and failure. It can be encouraged and must be practised. Those who throw themselves into tasks, without the fear of failure, often gain the most from them. By doing and succeeding, we build our confidence. Sometimes we need to be fearless in order to start a task, particularly something that is new to us: we must have a sense of adventure and the desire to try something challenging.
One of the goals of education is to give students independence so that they can flourish on their own. The first step on this road is to take responsibility for your own learning and, rather than waiting to be shown something, take the initiative and find out for yourself. The best learners show drive; they are independent and motivated, with high ambitions for their work. Longer-term ambitions usually begin with the spark of interest in something. Finding this spark is part of the school experience.
Being organised is more than just remembering what you need to bring to school, planning your time and completing tasks by the due date. It is about having systems of thought that will allow you to structure essay responses and see your way through a task.
We are using the word creativity to mean more than the conventional definition of artistic endeavour. Creativity in finding new ways to accomplish tasks and innovation in finding solutions to difficult problems can differentiate us from our peers. These skills can be developed in all subjects. After the uniformity of the school experience, life is likely to be varied and changing. Being ready and willing to adapt to new situations is a valuable skill.
Whilst learning is a goal in itself we are judged by what we produce. The care, patience, diligence and desire to perfect a piece of work are summed up in a sense of craftsmanship.
Learning new things requires an interest in the world outside of your immediate life. A sense of inquisitiveness and curiosity makes this easier. Whilst some people are naturally curious, others must make an effort. However, it is its own reward. Learning new things opens up new worlds and our curiosity grows.
Whilst being happy may not be as simple as making a decision to be happy, we can find ways to be positive, work out what makes us happy and practise other characteristics that will help us be happy: gratitude, kindness and open-mindedness. Positivity is also about enthusiasm and willingness; a recognition that whilst there may be other things that you would rather be doing right now, you will get the most out of something if you commit to it whole-heartedly. Hard work is much more rewarding if you are enthusiastic about your subject!
Empathy and consideration, the ability to understand the feelings of others and modify our responses with those feelings in mind, are qualities that may not help earn academic grades or get us to university but will be essential to our success in every other aspect of life.
A sample Values report is shown below. All teaching staff contribute to the values report based on observation of each value during class activities and interactions. Individual staff contributions are averaged to create the report you receive.
