The Promotion of British Values
In November 2014 the Department for Education published advice for schools named “Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in schools”. The document states that:
“Schools should promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”
As a school we are proud of the way in which our pupils conduct themselves but feel it important to outline the way in which we promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We promote these values continuously at school but are more explicit in the following ways:
Democracy:
– Each year the pupils decide upon the rules for their own classes.
– The school council reviews and adapts the school rules.
– We are relaunching our “House” system and will use the pupil voice as an integral part of developing new ideas.
– We will actively seek ways in which to promote democracy during significant events (local, national elections etc).
– Members of the school council are elected by their peers.
– The school council acts on behalf of pupils to request changes at school.
The Rule of Law and Mutual Respect:
The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced at Chapel St Leonards Primary. This is reinforced as follows:
– There are consistent school rules in action for each Key Stage.
– The school council included a range of aspirations within the school rules which demonstrate the school’s commitment to mutual respect.
– Pupils are taught the rules and they are referred to when needed to reinforce the behaviour expected.
– Pupils are taught the reasoning behind the rules in order to ensure that they understand how rules protect us.
– We have visits from the local Police Force in order to build relationships whilst explaining the importance of the Rule of Law.
– We are taking part in the new ‘Mini Police’ a project aimed to engage pupils with their community through police supervised tasks.
– We use specially trained Playground leaders (KS2 pupils) in order to aid younger pupils respect for the rule of law.
Individual Liberty:
At Chapel St Leonards Primary School we encourage children to make informed choices in order that they can assert their individual liberty and learn from both their successes and failures. We actively promote their use of individual liberty at school whilst providing a safe framework in which the children are able to make mistakes without endangering themselves. We also encourage pupils to support others who may not have the same
liberties as themselves. We do this in a range of ways including:
– Allowing school council to decide which charity the school will support on an annual basis.
– Ensuring that children understand the liberties that they have compared with others (Comic Relief, Sport Relief etc).
– Giving children access to a range of resources but allowing them to choose.
– Informing children of the potential pitfalls of their liberty (especially with regard to e-safety).
Respect and Tolerance:
Within Chapel St Leonards Primary School we actively promote diversity, respect and tolerance. We do this by:
– Providing a broad and balanced curriculum including R.E. which focuses on a range of faiths.
– Ensuring that all pupils feel valued regardless of their personal beliefs or faith.
– Using assemblies to ensure that children understand a range of beliefs and faiths.
– Developing pupils understanding of specific celebrations within the curriculum.
At Chapel St Leonards Primary School we believe that it is our responsibility to prepare our children for life in modern Britain and to encourage them to embrace difference. We ensure that the fundamental British Values are introduced, discussed and reinforced through the ethos and work of the school.
