Education with Character

Parkside Community College has an Education with Character programme which sets out the co-curricular experiences which we believe should be every pupil’s right. Education with Character is an additional layer of our Personal Development programme focusing on student character.

What do we mean by ‘character’?

We have a broad view of ‘character’ and fully recognise that our character is developed in everything we do, not just in co-curricular activities. In school, the culture, climate, values, relationships, messages from curriculum and teaching, and the behaviours of adults and children are all significant in developing character. ‘Character’ has several different senses and all of them are important:

Being ‘of good character’: someone is ‘of good character’ if they have the integrity to do the right thing above pursuing their self-interest, giving in to social pressure or making attractive but poor choices.  A person of good character ‘does the right thing even when no-one is looking’.   

‘Having character’: someone ‘has character’ or ‘shows character’ when they dig deep, show grit, resilience and resourcefulness, persist in the face of adversity and do their best even when it looks like they won’t succeed. They help others to do the same, lead, encourage and bring out the best in others. A sports team which collapses and falls apart when losing may be said to ‘lack character’ in this sense. 

Being ‘characterful’: a person who is full of character has interests, is interested and curious, knows who they are, what matters to them, what they stand for and can express those things and themselves. They will have done enough, tried enough and experienced enough to have found their passions and interests.

If young people leave our schools with all of these, they are well set up to live a good and successful life full of interests, contributing to their community and our society. In developing the character curriculum, we have taken the following key elements of each of those senses of character:

Full of character	Having character	Good character
Interests and Passions	Resilience	Integrity
Oracy	Leadership	Positive Relationships
Being busy	Teamwork	Service

We set high expectations, model them every day, and create an environment where integrity, respect, and kindness are the norm. Our core values of Community, Excellence and responsibility, guide every decision and keep our words and actions aligned. Through consistent routines and high standards, students build habits that shape their character: self-discipline, resilience, organisation, and perseverance to become confident, resilient and thoughtful young people ready to take on the opportunities and challenges of the future.

How do we develop Education with Character?

Character is not solely developed through co-curricular activities. Parkside’s Character Curriculum is also taught through a series of lessons in the timetabled curriculum during student from time. These lessons link with our Future Focus Friday talks and our taught career’s curriculum as well as through PSHE and academic subjects.

Click on these links to access the form time programme for 2026-27 which connects all the different areas of Personal Development such as PSHE, Careers, Character and Enrichment.

Character is also developed through two other programmes:

Broadening Horizons and the Pupil Passport: This is an awards system which offers students a range of character-building opportunities that enhance their learning and development. The Pupil Passport criteria has at its core our key values of responsibility, excellence and community. To gain the full passport, students are be expected to complete bronze, silver and gold level in the six following areas:

The Character Ticket

Students can also be awarded a Character ticket every half term. These awards are limited in number and are given to those students who have shown exceptional character through their actions outside of the classroom.