British Values

How we promote British Values at St George’s CE Primary School 

The DfE have reinforced the need: “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”

At St George’s CE Primary School these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:

Democracy:

The principle of democracy is embedded at the school.  Pupils are always listened to by adults and are taught to listen carefully and with concern to each other, respecting the right of every individual to have their opinions and voices heard.

Pupils also have the opportunity to air their opinions and ideas through our many elected groups - Ethos group, Junior Leadership Team, Eco committee and News Team. The elections of these group members are based on pupil votes (following nominations and presentations), reflecting our British electoral system and demonstrating democracy in action.

The Rule of Law:

The importance of Laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout the school days, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through school assemblies and circle time.

Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind law enforcement, that they govern and protect us, and the responsibilities that these involve and the consequences that can occur when laws and rules are broken.

Visits from authorities such as the Police and Fire Service; etc. help to reinforce this message. In Y6 pupils visit annually the police education programme (Crucial Crew), where such values are reinforced and explained.

Individual Liberty:

Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and empowering education.

Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms. They are both specifically and discretely taught about all the rights, in both lessons and assemblies and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our E-Safety and PSHE lessons.

Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, whether through choice of challenge in lessons, how they record their work, or their individual participation in our many extra-curricular clubs and opportunities.

Mutual Respect:

Assemblies and Collective Worship regularly promote ‘respect’, and pupils are part of discussions related to what this means and how it is shown. Respect for others is reiterated through our classroom and learning rules, as well as our behaviour policy.

Children’s achievements/ attitudes/efforts are celebrated in our weekly ‘Let your Light shine’ assemblies, to which parents and family are invited.  Our school ethos revolves around values, including respect, and pupils take part in discussions, reflections and assemblies related to what this means and how it is shown.

Additional support is given through our learning mentor to individual children to help develop self – esteem and the concept of self-respect and respect for others.

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs:

This is achieved through enhancing pupils’ understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and through opportunities to experience such diversity within school and through the provision of enhancements to the curriculum. We have daily Collective worship, including weekly visits to St George’s church.  Children also regularly visit other places of worship such as the mosque, as part of their RE work.

Our curriculum is designed to provide opportunities to develop better global knowledge and understanding. We value first hand experiences and as a result we seek to build tolerance and respect of different faiths and beliefs through the study of a variety of faiths including Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism.

Themed days are used to include and celebrate occasions such as Eid, Divali, Chinese New Year, where we invite visitors in to school to teach the children about different cultures, beliefs and traditions and provide first hand experiences such as dance, cookery and music.

We use assemblies, Values and RE lessons to explore and understand the similarities between religions. RE topics include learning about and, most importantly, from other faiths, and misconceptions about religions are addressed as well as prejudices that have been expressed by the community.

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