Our Year 6 students get the opportunity to participate in Torbay & Devon Civic Award.

The Civic Award does a great deal to develop children's character. It encourages them to be compassionate and to take responsibility for positive change. It also supports them in leading purposeful and full lives and is great preparation for both secondary school and the workplace.

The award grows every year and this year over 1000 children will be taking part from over 40 different primary schools in Devon.

To achieve the award, pupils have to prove their participation in six main areas. These are:

• Active Citizenship in their school community. This could be Peer Mediation, Reading Buddies. School Council or other positions of trust and responsibility in school.
• Active Citizenship in their home communities. In the past, pupils have taken part in beach cleans, bulb planting, helping at Brownies /Cubs/sports clubs and looking after people in the community. Pupils may also work with others to organise events in school to support local charities.
• A physical hobby(ies) and A non-physical hobby(ies) Children should spend about 30 minutes on average a week on their hobbies and one of them needs to be new to the child from the September of their Year 6.
• Residential experience and adventure training. This entails sleeping away from home and family and taking part in outdoor challenges. This section can be back-dated to Year 5.
• Children also need to adopt a cause or charity which they feel strongly about. They need to research it and find ways of supporting it.
• Children need to make a pledge to the planet during the time they are undertaking the award. Children will need to research ways to help save the environment and take action on at least one issue.

The children must also pass a rigorous assessment when they have to present all this evidence to an external assessor.

Pupils will need to keep evidence for this in a portfolio or file. Evidence may include photographs, certificates, letters of recommendation, press cuttings, personal reflections etc.

Philosophy behind the Torbay Civic Award

• It brings about community cohesion through linking school and community.
• It empowers children to become global citizens – developing their awareness of the works of charities.
• It develops empathy and the desire to strive for a fairer future. It encourages them to be compassionate and to take responsibility for positive change.
• It enables children to achieve economic well-being through the management of money.
• It encourages children to be safe – action planning with risk assessments is an important part of the award.
• It develops character education and skills of self-esteem, confidence, resilience and assurance.
• It develops a team working ethos and promotes related skills of collaboration and independence.
• It supports children in leading purposeful and full lives and is great preparation for both secondary school and the workplace.
• The scheme develops Pupil Voice and Citizenship.
• It encourages acquisition of important values (respect contribution compassion etc) and allows children to see them in practice.
• It is about what we all believe in: moral purpose and integrity – developing and nurturing the whole child for life and placing education in a broader and more worthy context.