ASPIRE – Our Learning Traits

At Hemel Hempstead School, we want the very best for our students. We aim to equip them with the skills they’ll need to achieve outstanding results. We want them to become independent learners and to understand the value of hard work and effort.  We want them to strive for goals that they might previously have thought unattainable and never to give up in the face of adversity.

We have taken our lead from pedagogy such as Growth Mindset, Thinking Skills, Building Learning Power and Assessment for Learning and, in so doing we have identified six key Learning Traits  that we believe will lead or students to academic excellence. These are:  Ambition, Self-belief, Perseverance, Independence, Reflection and Effort.

From these key terms arises the acronym ASPIRE. We expect that, in using the language of ASPIRE on a daily basis and in developing these six traits within our students, the aspirations of our students will rise inexorably and achievement will soar.

These traits will be promoted through teaching and learning in the classroom, through school activities such as assemblies and PACE sessions, through the rewards and consequences system and via the displays we use around the school.

All student books will be labelled with the ASPIRE logo as we feel that this will act as an aide-mémoire for the students, reminding them of the traits that we believe will lead them to success.

We also believe that parents have a key role to play in encouraging their children to aspire to great things and to strive for excellence. We know that, when parents, teachers and students work together with the same goal in mind, the sky really can be the limit.