At Gade Valley, we want all our children to be GADE VALLEY LEARNING CHAMPs.

CHAMP is an acronym that was created by the whole school community to reflect the behaviours that we felt were most important in developing children as learners. It stands for: confident, helpful, attentive, motivated and perseverant.

   C – Confident. This includes having positive self-esteem, taking risks and being creative. 

   H – Helpful. This includes good team-work, communicating effectively, cooperating with others and

    being considerate to others.

   A – Attentive. This includes being reflective, listening and concentrating well and being focused on

    detail.

   M – Motivated. This includes working hard, working independently, taking responsibility and being

    organised and well resourced.

   P – Perseverant. This includes being persistent, showing resilience and having a growth mind-set.

We feel that if we can help our pupils to acquire and improve these skills we will be helping them to learn better at school and develop habits which they will use for the rest of their lives. This is achieved each week by placing a great emphasis on promoting and developing these skills and behaviours.

Each week, we have a CHAMP focus, which is reflected in school displays, assemblies and lessons. At the end of the day a pupil in each class is chosen, by the teacher, to be CHAMP of the day. Furthermore, at the end of the week in Friday’s sharing assembly, one pupil per class will be awarded the much coveted CHAMP of the week certificate where it will be proudly displayed in the entrance area.

CHAMP is at the core of our school ethos. It has an extremely high profile and is interwoven in all aspects of school life. It has been cohesively built in to lessons, assemblies, displays, communication with parents, daily rewards, physical areas – the list is endless.

CHAMP for Life

CHAMP 4 LIFE is our newest initiative (launched 2023) to further develop CHAMP skills and personal development by providing further opportunities through a real-life skills context. Throughout this academic year pupils in Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 will have the opportunity to take part in activities led by a teacher. These being: confidence, woodwork, fire-building, problem solving, storytelling, astrology, camping, animal care and healthy living.