Upon its introduction to the College in September 2015, the Shiplake Seven has made a great impact on pupils and staff. The Shiplake Seven is a teaching and learning framework designed to foster and develop key interpersonal qualities in our young people. The seven qualities not only provide a solid foundation for pupils to achieve success throughout their education, but also equip our leavers with the skills they need to enter the next stage of their lives as confident, personable and talented young adults.
The framework encourages Shiplake pupils to be curious, open-minded, motivated, reflective, determined, creative and independent in their learning. The framework has been integrated across the academic and co curriculum. Assistant Head (Academic Studies) Mr Paul Jones has recently taken on encouraging the use of the Shiplake Seven both within the classroom and outside it. Mr Jones describes how he will encourage implementing the framework at College: 'as pupils and staff become familiar with each of the Shiplake Seven, it's important that pupils understand what they actually mean so that the Seven may be used to inform learning. We have created posters for classrooms and houses, containing descriptors that will enable pupils and staff to deconstruct each of the Shiplake Seven, so that pupils recognise when they are displaying these characteristics and show how they might practise these important skills. This is intended as a starting point, and teachers will provide many more opportunities to practise using the Seven in their own subject areas.'
In order to help make the seven qualities more memorable, Mr Jones has put together the following short video.
He comments: ‘the pupils in Welsh House are very curious, and the pupils in Burr House are very open-minded. We then meet a pupil showing great motivation by practising his guitar in the Music Department. The pupils in Everett House are very reflective, and we then meet one of many Skipwith pupils determined to do well. Our tour then takes us to Orchard House, where we meet a creative Art Scholar. Finally, we meet an independent Lower School sportsman, who is proactive with his personal cricket practise. I created the short video to help pupils remember the Shiplake Seven characteristics. By taking a journey though the College, including each of the Houses, it is meant to emphasise how this is a school-wide initiative. We meet different pupils who each represent one of the characteristics.'
If you would like to read more about the Shiplake Seven, please click here. The article on the introduction of the Shiplake Seven can be seen here.