Achieving success and happiness through positive mental health and wellbeing
Our school ethos rests on this order of things: positive mental health and wellbeing come first, and success and happiness follow from them. It is why we are a non-selective, inclusive school, and why every child in the Kingsley Family is nurtured to cope with setbacks and flourish on their own terms.
This has deep roots. Charles Kingsley, the North Devon author and philanthropist whose name the school carries, believed that all you need to be happy is something to be passionate about. That conviction still shapes the school today, where academic success is understood as an outcome of a happy, well-supported child rather than the sole aim of their education.
We hold to a clear view of what wellbeing asks of a school. In the words of our own approach, mental health is best improved by better preparing young people to cope with life’s setbacks and to live healthy lives.
Appreciate, be active, connect, give, learn
The values are not a poster. They are what a Kingsley week actually contains, from the classroom to the sports field to the work pupils do in the wider community through the Earth Centre.
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What wellbeing asks of all of us
To develop positive mental health and wellbeing, we encourage every student and every member of staff to live by five core values.
Their environment, the people around them, and what they already have.
From gentle exercise to elite sport.
With friends, family, and the wider local and international community.
Generously of their time, thoughts, and energy to other people and other causes.
New skills and interests, inside and outside the classroom.
Character, founded on selfish altruism
Good character here has always meant taking on hard challenges together and making the most of what we have. ASPIRE is founded on the duty we all share to better ourselves for the betterment of others.
Aiming beyond what feels comfortable.
Achieving more together than alone.
Staying with something difficult.
Doing the right thing unwatched.
Making the most of what we have.
Understanding how it is for someone else.
The measure we care about most
Running underneath everything is our mantra, Better Me, Better World. A child who learns to value themselves and the people around them goes on to have a positive impact in the world. We want pupils to leave Kingsley understanding what it really means and carrying it with them long after they go.
Kingsley’s commitment to wellbeing is recognised by the Wellbeing Award for Schools and supported by a bespoke Wellbeing Centre on site. [confirm the Centre is open and in use]
“The quality of the students’ achievements in academic and co-curricular areas is exceptional.
ISI inspection report
Frequently asked questions
What are Kingsley’s values?
Kingsley holds five core values that support wellbeing: Appreciate, Be active, Connect, Give, and Learn. Alongside these, the ASPIRE values shape character: Ambition, Synergy, Perseverance, Integrity, Resourcefulness, and Empathy.
What does Better Me, Better World mean?
It is the school’s mantra, and it describes the order we work in. A child who learns to value themselves and the people around them becomes a better version of themselves, and goes on to have a positive impact on the world around them. We want pupils to leave Kingsley understanding what it means and carrying it with them long after they go.
What is ASPIRE?
ASPIRE is the set of character values that sits alongside the five core values: Ambition, Synergy, Perseverance, Integrity, Resourcefulness and Empathy. It is founded on the duty we all share to better ourselves for the betterment of others, which is why we describe it as selfish altruism.
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