This term’s academic focus is on effort; Barbara Langford, Director of Studies, describes the steps we’ve taken to encourage our pupils to “be the best that you can be”, this term’s pastoral focus from the Westbourne Way.
This term we have been focusing on what effort is; what it looks like and what the benefits of working hard are. We want our children to value effort and to develop the skill of working hard.
The first step is to teach pupils what good effort looks like, praising hard work above short-term successes and rewards.
How can anyone judge how hard anyone else is working? The philosophy of ‘hard work’ is not necessarily straightforward. However, we have taken the attributes that we, as teachers, are looking for in our pupils and encapsulated it into the 4Ps:
Perseverance, Participation, Presentation and Punctuality.
To further explain the 4Ps to the children, we created an accessible matrix, with straightforward language and descriptions.
For example, ‘outstanding’ perseverance would be demonstrated if you “stick to it” and keep working confidently until the task is complete; ‘good’ perseverance may require some prompting and support, and ‘disappointing’ would be little persistence on tasks and giving up at the first sign of a struggle.
We are reinforcing the learning about the 4Ps in several different spheres of school life, and we can already see signs that the children are taking the ethos on board.
These 4P acronyms were created by Samuel Geall (year 6):
| Perseverance | Punctuality | Presentation | Participation |
|---|---|---|---|
|
P - Persistence |
P - Prompts |
P - Present R - Representation E - Entrance S - Shine E - Expression N - Neat T - Tasteful A - Appearance T - Tidy I - Impressions O - Original N - Notice |
P - Presence A - Attention R - Relationship T - Teamwork I - Inclusion C - Cooperation I - Influence P - Partnership A - Assistance T - Together I - Involved O - Ownership N - Network |
Each week in assembly, we are celebrating children who are showing that they are aiming to ‘be the best that you can be’. Promoting pupil’s endeavours from all areas of life so that other pupils can see that hard work is worthwhile and helping to raise pupil’s self-esteem. Some examples of children enjoying hard work include:
- Oscar T has been fundraising for the school charities in Chichester
- Seth O, a fossil fan, went to the Pre-Prep and inspired the Year 1 children with his knowledge and to go out to the beach to find their own fossils
- Jack B created a fantastic sailing poster
- Max B created instructions for solving the Rubik’s Cube
- Honor P gave an incredible presentation to her form on Africa
- Zahra S was outstanding on a recent Geography field trip
- Honor B wrote a letter to Teresa May about the problem of homelessness and shared the reply she received
- Fergus K created a poster on perseverance and golf
- Amber D’s photo appeared in The Week Junior magazine, featuring a scrapbook on all her favourite articles.
The 4Ps are now the core elements that make up effort grades on Prep school reports, and a copy of the 4Ps matrix will be sent home with the reports at the end of term. This will help you and your child to understand and discuss his or her effort grades.
By the very nature of being a prep school, we are preparing pupils for the future. The strong foundations built at Westbourne House are skills and attitudes that should last pupils their lifetime. Sometimes working hard and having fun are seen as opposite ends of a spectrum.
It is possible to do both at the same time and this is a lesson worth learning early.
