A new part of Wollaton + is our Pledges programme, where students have the opportunity to become the best version of themselves, by getting involved in a range of activities/opportunities and growing in confidence and experience.
What are the pledges?
Our pledges are chosen to reflect our school values of ‘Faith’, ‘Hope’ and Love. You can see these pledges below.
Why these pledges?
Each of the nine pledges sits under one of our three core values, and has been chosen to embody the behaviours and characteristics that we want to amplify in Bluecoat Wollaton students.
We want students to have faith in themselves, their community and their culture; to stand as beacons of hope for those in our school (and beyond), and for their own future and capabilities; and to showcase a love for life, for others and for our world.
Fundamentally, we want to help them to make the most of the opportunities they have at Bluecoat Wollaton, and to help build them into young people who know their own character and represent themselves to the fullest.
We believe that the pursuit of these pledges will unlock the intent of our Personal Development Curriculum.
Around the school visitors will be able to spot our display boards, showing a pledge and the actions which could contribute to achieving this pledge.
Around the school visitors will be able to spot our display boards, showing a pledge and the actions which could contribute to achieving this pledge.
When do Students work towards the pledges?
We work towards our pledges from the start of our journey in Year 7, and aim to have completed each of our pledges at a ‘participate’ level by the end of Year 8. (Some of our amazing students may complete them sooner.) Once all pledges are complete at this level, students then build on each by engaging at a more committed level over the remaining academic years; becoming a contributor, organiser or leader in any (or all!) of the pledges.
Every student can choose how they want to work towards, or achieve their pledges – the journey they take will be lead by their interests and choices.
What do students do to achieve a pledge?
At BWA we have unapologetically high aspirations for our students, so to develop our students to the fullest of their potential, the pledge system is designed to allow students to achieve pledges at different levels of engagement:
Some students will commit one or two hours of their time and achieve a pledge at a ‘participate’ level, where other students will dedicate far more of their time and thought, and obtain a pledge recognition at ‘contribute’, ‘organise’ or even ‘leader’ level.
Our aim is to build the breadth AND depth of students’ potential, through our pledges framework.
Our system is designed to expose students to a range of opportunities and encourage them to fully realise their own potential for excellence though identifying their own interests, strengths, and areas to improve to make choices to focus their journey. Our intention is to reflect and prepare students for the wider world, where in order to succeed in careers or further study, they must show leadership skills such as critical consciousness, ingenuity, resilience, ethical reflection and strong interpersonal relationships. Our framework outlines, for all students, the level of engagement and commitment required to become strong and competent leaders.
Guidance & Resources
Students are provided with either a ‘participate’ level guidance booklet, or a comprehensive booklet which outlines actions that can contribute towards their pledges.
Guidance within these booklets outlines the number of actions to be taken at each level of the framework, and therefore the depth of commitment.
Pledges are typically based on engaging in academy life at Bluecoat Wollaton. However, for those students that engage in amazing activities or clubs in evenings or weekends, there are still ways of capturing these actions through our online tool on unifrog.
Pledge Achievement
Students work towards pledges over their time at BWA through engaging with a range of activities and opportunities. Such as attending clubs, organising activities for their peers, contributing to a charity activity etc. These actions are then accumulated and logged by students into our online software called ‘unifrog’. (A step-by-step guide on how to log these actions is included within the guidance documents.)
Students log each action they have taken. As part of this process, they reflect on the action they have taken and what attributes and skills they have helped to develop in themselves. These are reviewed periodically to award recognition certificates, and graduation ceremonies.
The development of character and students’ engagement in Wollaton+ opportunities, tracked with their pledges, is just as important to us as their academic achievement. So, at every Progress Review Event, Parents/Carers will also get a report to outline Pledge contributions/actions to date alongside academic subject reports.
By the time students reach Year 11, they will have collated an amazing CV, using each of their logged actions; packed with incredible activities, challenges, adventures and skills to showcase the full spectrum of themselves.
