In building a learning culture that develops men and women of character, our Character Development program is a thread that weaves through every aspect of your child’s experience at Northholm. It involves a deliberate and systematic approach to fostering positive moral and ethical values to ensure our students grow into compassionate, responsible and resilient individuals. Beyond academic achievements, Character Education places a strong emphasis on cultivating virtues such as integrity, empathy and leadership skills.
In addition to our Pastoral Care Program, Co-Curricular Program, Leadership opportunities, Service Learning and our Chapel Program, we are proud of our extensive research and work into the creation of a vibrant and relevant Character Education Program for Years 7 to 11. The program aims to equip our students with the ethical, moral and social skills to not only survive a complex and ever-evolving world, but to thrive and lead with courage and strength within it.
The Program launched in 2023 with an eye on the current social context for our young students. At Northholm Grammar, we believe that Character Education, like all education, needs to be engaging, accessible, modern in delivery, promoting and advocating for student voice and should deliver tangible and relevant examples and experiences for all students.
Referring to its accessibility, we believe in the importance of the Tutor/Student relationship. As such, our Tutors are trained in the delivery of our Character Education Program so that they can build strong, open and trusting relationships with their Tutees around concerns and personal queries that naturally arise in the personal development journey of our young men and women.
We work hard to promote connection with external providers as specialists in the fields of relationships, respect, cyber-safety and positive communication, decision making, self-leadership and personal and mental health, amongst other themes, and align peer monitoring to student development across the year groups. We have endeavoured to align our Assembly and Chapel services to our quarterly themes to further embed our Character Education messaging. Furthermore, we have ensured that we promote student leadership of these key messages through our House meetings, House Chapels, House Assemblies and Inter-House competitions.
Read more about the Character Development Programs available at Northholm Grammar here
