Message from the Head of Secondary: Character Building

As my team-mates and I trudged off the rugby pitch after yet another Cup Final defeat all those years ago when my junior team famously lost three county cup finals in a row, our coach would always utter the same words: "Character building lads, character building…" 

I began to wonder if these consecutive defeats might bring about some kind of ‘character overload’ in me and I wondered how much character I would really need in the future. The coach was right though. Winning is a lovely feeling but defeat forces a period of reflection on what you, individually or collectively, did wrong, which small margins did you fail to account for, what might you do differently the next time around?

Self-reflection is a crucial element of growth in character. Thinking about what we have done, why we did it well, or badly, how we might change our approach next time around, is an essential life skill, one that our students here learn from a very early age as they begin to engage with the BISAD Diploma. The Diploma is a way in which students can celebrate the things that they achieve, inside and outside the classroom, but crucially it also encourages self-reflection. In writing a few notes about the achievement, students are encouraged to think about how the experience has changed them, what have they learnt from the process, how has the achievement helped to build their character…?

As student reach the senior school years begin their International Baccalaureate studies, the Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) element of the course requires students to develop those skills of self-reflection even further and helps enormously to prepare students for the rigours of university entrance when they will be forced to ask themselves the question, ‘who exactly am I?’.  All our students are encouraged to reflect on that question throughout their time in our school because the world demands character and so a character must be pieced together, shaped, considered. It is our role to give the students the tools to build that character as they progress towards the senior school and the wider world. Every experience, defeat, victory, success, and failure should be character building.

Chris Lowe