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About Consilium

Consilium Academies is a multi-academy Trust working across the North of England. It has nine academy schools located in Yorkshire, the North West, and the North East. Consilium is dedicated to enriching lives and inspiring ambitions for both students and colleagues.

British Values

Armthorpe Academy is committed to equipping students with the skills need to be active citizens of the 21st Century. Therefore, we promote and reinforce British Values to all our students through our curriculum and the wider aspects of student life.

The promotion and teaching of British Values reinforces the academy’s own values:

  • Respect
  • Responsibility
  • Resilience
  • Pride
  • Ambition

It is though these values that we have established the academy’s individual ethos which both supports and complements British Values.

Individual Liberty

Students are encouraged to be creative thinkers, intellectual risk-takers, and choice-makers who understand the rights and responsibilities that encompass their time in our safe and supportive environment.

Our Personal Development Curriculum underpins the development of 21st century citizens within our Academy, and the curriculum and wider enrichment programme we offer provides students with the freedom to make choices that allows them to develop and flourish under our care and guidance.

Democracy

Student leadership, and the right to a voice, form a key part of the development of our Academy. Both our Academy values and rewards system were developed through our student voice process, and student voice forms a key role in the development of each faculty, as well as the quality of teaching and learning. Aspects of democracy also appear throughout the curriculum and our assembly programme, highlighting the value of a voice within society and the responsibility that comes with that right. Student Ambassadors help to develop key aspects of the academy through the democratic process and debate that prompts collaboration and collective responsibility.

Mutual Respect

As one of our key values, ‘Respect’ is part of the DNA of life at Armthorpe Academy, it builds into everything we do, whether it’s the welcome at the gate, the behaviour policy, the day-to-day interactions that promote role models within the Academy, or the interactions we have with the community we serve.

Our assemblies and curriculum show how discrimination and unfairness have a corrosive impact that diminishes us all and through modelling respect we support and elevate each other to achieve.

The principle ‘other people matter’ is a regularly occurring strand of the assembly programme, and is recognised and celebrated through Governors Commendation Awards.

The Rule of Law

The nature of the governance of communities, in the Academy and beyond, in terms of how it protects us and what it expects of us, is an important part of life at the Academy. Our ‘choices and consequences’ system, and the reinforcement of the values that it upholds, help to develop an understanding of the rights and responsibilities that we should not take for granted.

The Personal Development Curriculum includes a range of content that reinforces the rule of law, whether it relates to sexual and emotional development, drugs education, or the political framework of Great Britain.

Tolerance

Opportunities to share and discuss the myriad aspects of British diversity form a key part of our curriculum. We develop an understanding of our cultural heritage through our History and Geography curriculum, we use literature that reinforces the value of diversity in our English curriculum and the Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Cultural development of our students is the bedrock of our Personal Development Curriculum and assembly programme.

Personal Development

The Personal Development (PD) tutor plays a key role as the only guaranteed point of daily contact with students.  It is imperative a good relationship is built as the PD tutor has multiple responsibilities in:  

  • Disseminating and setting expectations to ensure the highest standards of behaviour for learning.  

  • Ensuring our school values are modelled, understood and lived. 

  • Helping students develop socially, emotionally and academically to thrive at Armthorpe and beyond. 

The value of effective pastoral care should never be under-estimated.  Young people learn well at school when they are happy and content in their environment.  Young people, although they might not admit it, like routine and consistency.  Our routine and consistency start with the PD tutor setting boundaries and expectations and speaking to students using the Armthorpe language. 

PD tutors will see PD groups twice a day: 

  • 20 minute value session or assembly each morning  

  • A 30 minute reading period each afternoon, or carefully tailored intervention session bespoke to individual need. 

These sessions should be treated in the same way as a ‘normal’ lesson.  They are a key part of our personal development curriculum and the timetable has been deliberately adjusted this year to enable more consistency so effective relationships can be built and purposeful work and learning can be conducted. 

Our PD curriculum has been built around our school values, the British Values and the Gatsby Benchmarks to ensure key topics are covered to help our students grow.  The values curriculum supplements the PSCHRE curriculum but also gives the opportunity for student voice and for us to celebrate and monitor behaviour for learning.  As a daily point of contact, it gives staff the opportunity to build relationships and informally monitor mental and physical health, formally monitor attendance and be a key driver in the holistic development of their PD group. 

Armthorpe Academy Values

Our values support the spiritual development of our students to enable them to develop their:

  • ability to reflect on their own beliefs, religious or otherwise, that shapes their perspective on life and their interest in and respect for different people’s faith, feelings, and values;
  • sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others, and the world around them;
  • use of imagination and creativity in their learning and a willingness to reflect on their experiences

Our values support the moral development of our students to enable them to develop their:

  • ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong, and to apply understanding to their own lives and, in doing so, respect the civil and criminal law of England;
  • understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions;
  • understanding of the viewpoints of others and the moral and ethical influences that formulate those points of view.

Our values support the social development of students to enable them to develop their:

  • use of a range of social skills in different contexts, including working and socialising with students from different religions, ethnicity, and socio-economic backgrounds;
  • willingness to participate in a variety of communities and social settings, cooperating well with others, and being able to resolve conflicts effectively;
  • acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

Our values support the cultural development of our students to enable them to develop their:

  • understanding and appreciation of the wide cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others;
  • understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures within the Academy and further afield as an essential element in their preparation for life in 21st century Britain;
  • knowledge of Britain’s democratic parliamentary system and its central role in shaping our history and values, and in continuing to develop Britain;
  • willingness to participate in and respond positively to artistic, sporting, and cultural opportunities;
  • interest in exploring, improving understanding of and showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity;
  • tolerance towards different religious, ethnic, and socio-economic groups in the local, national, and global communities.

The goal of Armthorpe Academy, through the development of these skills and attitudes, is to develop individuals who have the foundation, purpose, and willingness to participate in and drive forward 21st century Great Britain.