Gem Power

A major focus at Churchdown Parton Manor Schools’ Federation is on empowering our pupils to become effective learners.

We do this through our Gems project; children acquire a range of attributes which are represented by a selection of gems and collectively referred to as ‘Gem Power’. There is a strong link between the characteristics represented by the gems and our school values of self-belief, challenge and respect.

This table shows what the gems are and how they improve our ability to learn.

Gem	Characteristics	How do you earn it?
Diamond	Independence Self-reliance Resourcefulness	Try to solve your own problem rather than immediately relying on an adult Try to think for yourself when you are stuck with your work Ask good questions to help you to achieve some new learning
Ruby	Kindness Tolerance Respect	Show kindness to others Try to understand how others feel about their learning Make someone else feel good about their learning and success
Sapphire	Concentration	Continue to engage in your learning even when there are distractions around you
Emerald	Courage Risk Perseverance Resilience	‘Have a go’ even though you know you might make a mistake Understand that mistakes help you to learn ‘Bounce back’ from any mistakes you make Stay calm when you are upset or angry
Amethyst	Collaboration and turn-taking with a partner	Use your speaking and listening skills to share ideas with a partner Work collaboratively by taking turns to listen and share Learning from your partner by adding new ideas to your old ones
Topaz	Collaboration and turn-taking in a group	Use your speaking and listening skills to share ideas with a group Work collaboratively by taking turns to listen and share Ask good questions to make sure everyone in the group understands your idea

We have a number of ways of promoting the development of Gem Power, as follows:

Gem reminders:

Classes may have a gem display so that pupils are reminded on a daily basis what the characteristics of each gem are and what gem they are working on each week. Sometimes teachers will set a personal target relating to the acquisition of a particular characteristic.

Gem Stickers

Anyone who earns a team point/ gem sticker is awarded a small coloured sticker to represent the appropriate gem. This may be given out by any staff member.

Assembly focus

Our assembly themes are planned to support the development of each gem throughout the year, with a different focus for each term.

In our Celebration Assemblies we celebrate people who have demonstrated the use of one or more gems in their learning and behaviour. One person from each class is nominated for an award; they all receive a gem sticker/ certificate and a winner is chosen to take a gem trophy back to his / her class for the week.

Junior school – ‘Keepers of the Gems’

The responsibility for developing and maintaining Diamond Power lies with everyone as it is the basis for all the other ‘powers’. Each house team is the ‘keeper’ of one of the remaining gems, responsible for monitoring how well it is developing throughout the school:

Chosen (purple) – amethyst
Crickley (blue) – sapphire
Birdlip (yellow) – topaz
Robinswood (red) – ruby
Coopers (green) – emerald