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Living our values
27th November 2023
Aspirational, resilient, responsible, caring, curious and confident – these are our Tillingbourne school values. But school values should be just that, SCHOOL values. They are not just key aspirations we have for our children but for every member of our school community. This led me to reflect on how these are promoted more widely – from children to teachers; parents to governors.
We are excellent at being aspirational for our young people. We support them to take risks, try new things and achieve more than they thought possible every day. But what does this look like for our staff? I believe it's through the excellent CPD that schools offer. Giving staff the opportunities to learn new skills, take risks in their practice in the pursuit of innovation and progress in their carers as they grow and develop.
Arguably one of the most important elements of effective learning is to be resilient. We know that great learning occurs when we are at the edge of what’s comfortable, where we are taking risks and there is a greater likelihood of failure. In those moments it’s the resilience to try again and move forward that enables effective learning in our young people. This is certainly true of our staff too. When we encourage our teachers and teaching assistants to try new things and push the boundaries of their classroom practice there will indeed be times where things don’t go according to plan. It is the reflective nature of teachers and the resilience that we foster that allows them to adapt, try again and been successful next time.
When we thought about ways to promote school values more widely at Tillingbourne, caring was the easiest value to action first. Staff were quick to set up more regular social events, a mental health champion, well-being break times (where staff have extended break together hosted by a different year team each month) and a well being shelf full of treats, book swaps, puzzle swaps, pamper bits etc. Staff at Tillingbourne are extremely caring and that filters down to the children through their interactions, and to the parents in the same way. This is true of all the schools in our trust. My teachers have provided the same feedback after attending many network events; they feel supported and welcomed by a group of caring and like-minded schools.
What are your school values and how are they promoted through your school community? Are some better represented than others? And how could you better bring them to life within your own school community?
Aspirational, resilient, responsible, caring, curious and confident – these are our Tillingbourne school values. But school values should be just that, SCHOOL values. They are not just key aspirations we have for our children but for every member of our school community. This led me to reflect on how these are promoted more widely – from children to teachers; parents to governors.
We are excellent at being aspirational for our young people. We support them to take risks, try new things and achieve more than they thought possible every day. But what does this look like for our staff? I believe it's through the excellent CPD that schools offer. Giving staff the opportunities to learn new skills, take risks in their practice in the pursuit of innovation and progress in their carers as they grow and develop.
Arguably one of the most important elements of effective learning is to be resilient. We know that great learning occurs when we are at the edge of what’s comfortable, where we are taking risks and there is a greater likelihood of failure. In those moments it’s the resilience to try again and move forward that enables effective learning in our young people. This is certainly true of our staff too. When we encourage our teachers and teaching assistants to try new things and push the boundaries of their classroom practice there will indeed be times where things don’t go according to plan. It is the reflective nature of teachers and the resilience that we foster that allows them to adapt, try again and been successful next time.
When we thought about ways to promote school values more widely at Tillingbourne, caring was the easiest value to action first. Staff were quick to set up more regular social events, a mental health champion, well-being break times (where staff have extended break together hosted by a different year team each month) and a well being shelf full of treats, book swaps, puzzle swaps, pamper bits etc. Staff at Tillingbourne are extremely caring and that filters down to the children through their interactions, and to the parents in the same way. This is true of all the schools in our trust. My teachers have provided the same feedback after attending many network events; they feel supported and welcomed by a group of caring and like-minded schools.
What are your school values and how are they promoted through your school community? Are some better represented than others? And how could you better bring them to life within your own school community?
