Thought leadership in character education
The Centre for Character Education develops curriculum for primary schools in which moral development runs through speaking, reading and writing, from Year 1 to Year 6.
For your school
Saves teachers time. Raises the bar. Shows the progress.
A whole-school curriculum that removes planning, adapts to every pupil and turns assessment into insight, with character at its heart.
Give teachers back their PPA time
Every lesson is planned, resourced and ready to teach from the board, so planning, preparation and assessment time goes back to teaching.
Inclusive: adapt for SEND and interventions in a click
Inclusion for every school, across all phases. Switch any lesson to an adapted version for a class, an intervention group or an individual pupil, including SEND, at the click of a button.
Co-developed by teachers across the country
Our curriculum is shaped with practising teachers, and approved adaptations from classrooms become a shared library for every school.
English, completely refreshed
A complete English curriculum, refreshed in line with the government’s ambition for the new National Curriculum.
Moral development, built in
A moral development framework runs through every term and every lesson. No other curriculum does this at this scale.
Assessment and curriculum, combined
Oracy skills and English objectives are assessed against curriculum outcomes, giving schools data insights and showing each pupil’s progression across terms and years.
One curriculum, assessed as one
Oracy and English, underpinned by character
Oracy and English are taught and assessed together, underpinned by a moral development framework that strengthens academic attainment.
Oracy skills
Speaking and listening taught explicitly, from structure and reasoning to confidence and turn-taking.
English objectives
Reading and writing objectives across the National Curriculum, taught through rich stories.
The foundation
The Heroic Formula: a moral development framework
Humility, honesty and kindness, running through every term and lesson to strengthen attainment across the curriculum.
Also includes the government’s citizenship objectives.
Our curriculum
Two products built on one pedagogy: character through story, carried by language. Schools begin with oracy and can grow into the full English curriculum.
Assessment and data insight
Progress, mapped across the whole primary phase
Assessment is built into the curriculum, not bolted on. Every term’s outcomes are assessed, so each pupil’s progression is visible across terms and years, from Year 1 to Year 6.
- Assessment combined with curriculum outcomes
- Data insights for leaders, by class and by pupil
- Progression tracked across terms and years
- Reports ready for governors
Our approach
Every school is expected to develop character. Very few are given a structure to do it.
Read about our framework01
Language is the carrier
Moral development is carried through language. When children speak, read and write about honesty or kindness, character becomes something they can articulate, not a poster on the wall.
02
Inside, not alongside
Character should not compete for curriculum time. Our curriculum sits within English and oracy, the time schools already have, rather than adding another programme.
03
Inner before outer
Every virtue has an inner form, a disposition toward oneself, and an outer form, a behaviour toward others. We teach both, because behaviour without understanding does not last.
04
Recognise participation, not volume
A points tally rewards the loudest. We measure how many children are seen showing a value, not how many times. A curriculum built on honesty should be honest about what it counts.
The moral development framework
The Heroic Formula
Three virtues, each with an inner and an outer form. Every term takes a moral theme, every lesson opens with it, and moral development is assessed alongside oracy and writing.
Humility
01Inner humility
“I know I am not perfect. I understand that I have things to learn, I make mistakes, and there are areas where I need help.”
Honesty
02Inner honesty
“I tell the truth to myself, even when it is difficult to accept. I try to understand my feelings, actions, and choices honestly.”
Kindness
03Inner kindness
“I am kind to myself. I know that I am more than my weaknesses, and I use them to fuel my desire to learn and become better than before.”
How the curriculum fits together
Foundation
The Heroic Formula
Humility, honesty and kindness, in inner and outer forms.
Tier 1
Oracy Hero
Character through oracy. The entry point for schools.
Tier 2
English Hero
The full English curriculum, including Oracy Hero lessons.
Both products are school-wide: when a school joins, every child has access.
For headteachers and trust leaders
See a lesson as your pupils would, and talk to us about bringing character into the heart of your curriculum.