On Friday 29th November, Maria Coyle and Paula Critchley attended the ACE (Association for Character Education) Conference. It was an enlightening day, hosted by Ryburn Valley High School, whose journey from a failing school to pioneering leader in the field of character education, was the perfect backdrop. Maria Coyle led a workshop about our own Stella Maris Leadership Award, which attracted interest due to its unique combination of acts of service, opportunities for self-development and initiative, and self-reflection on development of the virtues. There were many inspiring speakers from right across the key stages, whose stories and experiences will now motivate us to further expand the potential and reach of character education at Notre Dame.
Paula, who attended the conference said 'I got so much out of the conference, from networking with other schools ot considering aspects such as Aristotle's golden mean. I was really proud to talk to people about our Stella Maris Leadership Award following Maria's workshop and I have certainly deepened my own understanding of the virtues and how powerful the focus on character can be. We're excited to begin thinking about our next steps'.
Following Notre Dame achieving the Association for Character Education Quality Kitemark Award in September 2023 (and being the first sixth form college in the country to do so), it was fantastic to explore other providers' work in character education.
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