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‘Student Takeover’ – Character Education

Yesterday, Monday 27^th September, saw the Barney community embrace a Student Takeover morning, centred around personalised Goal Setting for each pupil, and the development of Character Education in a 21^st century school setting.

Head Girl, Anna, and Head Boy, Will, started this exciting day by leading our Chapel Service for the whole school, reflecting firstly on the weekend’s numerous school events, announcing this year’s recently elected School Council, and then by offering their reflections on Goal Setting for both academic and personal growth.

Following Chapel, every Senior School pupil was given a scheduled one-to-one appointment time with their tutor to discuss their self-determined goals for the year ahead. Pupils were then tasked with making a written record of their meeting that will be revisited throughout the year.

Deputy Head (i/c Sixth Form) Fe Beadnell commented: “We want every pupil to have ownership of their journey through Barney. There was a real buzz about the school this morning; pupils engaged whole-heartedly with their goal setting, showing self-awareness and taking ownership of their learning paths. For every pupil to have a one-to-one meeting with their tutor and personalise their Barney journey is incredibly powerful.”

While tutors held their individual meetings, pupils were divided into groups of different ages and genders and took part in a project-based morning under the theme of Character Education. After an initial discussion in which they were able to articulate what this meant to them, pupils split into pairs to undertake a variety of different creative tasks that addressed aspects of Diversity and Inclusion.

Deputy Head (Pastoral) Peter Lavery explained: “The project work produced through the morning has been outstanding and our pupils’ desire to promote messages around Diversity and Inclusion is inspiring. Seeing older pupils leading and mentoring younger pupils throughout the morning, as well as girls and boys working together across different age groups, was everything we want to see from our young people.” 

At the end of the morning, individuals and groups presented their work to their peers. We look forward to highlighting much of the work produced this morning throughout the course of the year.