In March, Mrs Holmes and I were delighted to be able to attend a Round Square Heroes of Discovery Conference in Oxford. This was a particularly special experience for me, as we stayed in the beautiful Queen’s College; a place where my father studied and worked for 60 years, where my parents were married, and where my husband and I celebrated our own wedding in 2000.
Our fellow workshop participants were educators from 35 schools around the world, travelling from Brazil, Canada, Kenya, the USA, Pakistan, Rwanda, Bermuda, UAE, Australia, India, Armenia, Togo, Romania and around the UK.
Two busy days of presentations and workshops followed, where we made connections, shared best practice and learned all about the Round Square Heroes of Discovery. The RS Heroes are a team of colourful and child-friendly cartoon superheroes who bring the twelve attributes of the RS Discovery Framework to life for children of primary school age. We heard all about Compassionate Carlos, Problem Solving Papri, Self-Aware Simba, Courageous Collette, and Teamwork Tama. We found the RS Discovery of “Commitment to Sustainability” embodied in Sustainability Suki, and “Appreciation for Diversity” brought to life by Diversity Dani. We spent time with Inquisitive Indu, Tenacious Tino, Responsible Rami, Communication Cara and Inventive Idris.
On our return to school, we shared our experiences with the Prep staff team, who, with their usual energy and enthusiasm, couldn’t wait to begin work on weaving the RS Heroes through the curriculum and building their values into wider school ethos. Discussions and brainstorming in staff meetings led to a plan where the RS Heroes would be at the heart of our reward system and celebration assemblies, provide a clear focus in academic and extra-curricular lessons, and become an age-appropriate driver towards the whole school emphasis on Positive Education. We agreed to launch the RS Heroes to the children in an assembly, and then the staff would provide further sessions to allow the children to become more familiar with the individual characters and their attributes.
Primary school teachers never need much of an excuse to dress up, and it did not take too much persuasion to encourage Mr Bucknell (our own senior school Round Square Hero) and Headteacher, Dr Howling to put on a cape and get involved too.
The result was a very colourful and joyful event for the community, with much laughter and fun. The children cannot wait to learn more about the RS Heroes and how they can develop the attributes to become heroes in their own right.
Article Written by Jennie Phillips, Head of Kingsley Preparatory School.