Aspiration
We want our pupils to achieve more than they ever believed possible. Through strong pastoral care and providing a wealth of opportunities to learn new skills, we aim to equip our pupils with the vision and leadership skills to be successful in life beyond school.
Following his impressive audition for the school production of “The Producers”, Charlie in Year 10 was allocated one of the lead roles, Leo Bloom. The part involved several challenging solo singing performances and long dialogues, spoken with a strong American accent. Prior to taking the role, Charlie had not taken singing lessons and had never acted with an accent. He worked tirelessly to deliver an outstanding performance of Leo Bloom, a truly aspirational and tenacious performance!
With an incredible passion for writing and a desire to share this with others, two Year 8 pupils created their own writers’ circle. The determined pair took the opportunity to share their idea with fellow pupils one morning during assembly. To launch their new initiative, the duo asked pupils to write their own 100-word creative stories to enter in a competition, with prizes awarded for the best entries. The school now benefits from their thriving writing club thanks to the aspiration of these two pupils.
Pupils are regularly given opportunities to present their ideas to others or to take the lead during lessons. During their weekly games lessons for example, pupils are encouraged to lead a warm up session, giving the opportunity to build their confidence and enhance their leadership skills.
Providing pupils with opportunities to experience new things allows them to grow in confidence and flourish. Each year, our Year 7 pupils take part in the Young Voices Concert at the O2 in London. Pupils join school choirs from across the country to sing in front of an audience of thousands at the 20,000- capacity arena. The concert aims to inspire a love of music but also provides children with a once in a lifetime opportunity of performing in an amazing venue to such a large audience. Adrenaline levels are high for days after the event!
Dunottar’s U15 boys cricket team made it all the way to the county indoor cricket final, narrowly losing to their opponents. The team’s “never give up attitude” saw them valiantly defeat schools which were almost four times larger in pupil numbers than Dunottar. At different stages of the competition, all the boys displayed aspiration, tenacity and collaboration. As the first cohort of boys to join Dunottar as Year 7s, this group of boys have learnt the value of aspirational vision and tenacity, when often results did not go their way in the early years, they have always remained motivated and positive in their mindset as a collaborative unit – which is now seeing them reap the rewards from this Warrior Learner approach.
