The Laureate School Character Program

The Laureate School Character Program is designed to fulfill the mission of the school “to educate students to become stewards, leaders, and citizens of the twenty first century global world.” Our comprehensive program takes place at the school-wide level through assemblies and community service projects as well as in the classroom with class activities, character planners, and integration into the school curriculum.

The GWS character program is based on the belief that we need ethical education in schools that is supporting the education to excellence in private schools. Three pillars each comprised of three character traits constitute the framework of the program:

I believe our children’s schools should model tomorrow’s world:

Stewardship (Caring, Responsibility, Sustainability)
Goal: To support the becoming of stewards for earth, your greater and smaller environment

I believe our children should be educated to become cosmopolitan leaders:

Leadership (Self-awareness, Vision, Communication)
Goal: To support developing student excellence by increasing awareness of each individual’s strengths, vision and communication skills

I believe our children should learn to give:

Citizenship (Integrity, Respect, Cooperation)
Goal: To foster individual and group involvement in their local or communities at large

Program Structure: The school year is divided into three trimesters and we will focus on one pillar per trimester. Each trimester is divided into three months (with the exception of June) and we focus on one character trait during each month. The pillars and traits are as follows:

December-Caring
January-Vision
February- Integrity

March-Communication
April-Sustainability
May-Responsibility

Each character trait is announced on the first Friday of the month at the Character and Awards Assembly. The headmaster, teachers and students read a story about the featured trait and engage the students in a discussion about how students can exhibit the trait in their lives. In addition, teachers issue awards to those students whose behavior has demonstrated the previous month’s character trait. The month’s community service project is then introduced. In 2008-2009 our teachers collaborate in ways that they will allow for either the teacher handling a complete month of character education or even a student or students or Green Groups can handle it.

Teachers reinforce this introduction in their classrooms throughout the month with stories, journals, and special projects. Each character trait is paired with weekly inspirational quotes for the students to ponder as well as a story or activity that helps them relate the trait to their own life. The classroom teachers integrate the character trait into the curriculum whenever possible. Some months will have individual activities for the students to participate in and it is strongly encouraged that each student become actively involved in his/her personal growth.

At the end of the month, the students come together again in “Green Groups,” which are multi-age groups led by the Middle School students. Our middle school “group leaders” will lead a wrap-up activity with the younger students.

At the conclusion of each trimester, elementary students receive academic grades as well as a “character grade,” which is named after the pillar associated with that trimester.

Community Service: To promote school community and help develop student’s social development, we organize a community service project each month for Laureate families. Different school staff coordinate and attend a project throughout the year and all students and families are encouraged to attend.

Parents must accompany all children to the project site. Service projects vary from month to month but may include beach or creek clean-ups, food drives, tree planting, painting, and sorting food. Projects are generally held on Saturdays and vary from month to month. See the school calendar for specific dates and keep an eye out for announcements in the Wednesday Folders/Emails.