British Values
Promoting Fundamental British Values
In accordance with The Department for Education we aim to actively promote British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance and understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law.
The key values are:
- democracy
- rule of law
- individual liberty
- mutual respect
- tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
Democracy
Children, parents and staff have many opportunities for their voices to be heard at our school. Here are some of the ways that we have developed an understanding of democracy in our school.
Each year group has an elected member of one of our four school councils: Beliefs Council, Creative Council, Learning Council and Belonging Council. The Councils meet regularly to discuss areas and initiatives they wish to focus on or participation in Collective Worship.
A number of other roles are voted for each year including House Captains, Librarians and Play Ambassadors. We use questionnaires to gain the views of children, parents and staff. The questionnaires are reviewed to see how we can improve our provision at the school. Collective worship sessions gather the views of children.
Individual Liberty
Alongside rules and laws, we promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs. Children are encouraged to make their own choices about faith, and children are given the choice as to whether they wish to join in prayer.
Through the provision of a safe, supportive environment, we provide boundaries for our pupils to make choices safely; for example:
choices about what learning challenge they start at in some tasks;
choices around the participation in extra-curricular activities;
choices around Homework on our 'optional Topic Menu'.
Rule of Law
The school has four rules which are also our four core values; show love, show care, show courage, show truth. Each class starts the new school year by drawing up a set of class hopes and how they would like their class to be. Home school agreements are signed by parents, staff and discussed with pupils. Collective worship is used to share and explain the importance of the rule of law and visitors from the police force and fire brigade visit our school to talk about their job and the work that they do.
Tolerance
Tolerance of those of other cultures, faiths and beliefs. At our school we have refugee children from around the world and they are supported within our school through a range of activities to highlight and understand their culture and language. We work with the International Rescue Committee on 'Healing Classrooms' which helps us support them further. We recently had an afternoon, in conjunction with the IRC, celebrating our refugees and their families - this included a visit from their ambassador Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock. Please access the article here: NEWS: School welcomes refugee kids with open arms | Edexec We also dedicate time to Refugee Week and ensure our culture, through guided reading books, library books and the reading spine focus on a diverse range of cultures, authors, characters and locations.
At Birchanger Primary School our Religious Education (RE) curriculum plays a vital role in promoting tolerance. Through our RE lessons, students explore a wide range of religious beliefs, traditions, and practices, fostering an understanding and respect for the diverse world we live in. This commitment to teaching tolerance extends beyond the classroom and is reinforced through our collective worship sessions, where we come together as a school community to reflect on shared values and celebrate the richness of different cultures and faiths. By nurturing an environment of respect and open-mindedness, our RE curriculum helps students develop the empathy and understanding necessary to become compassionate, tolerant individuals.
Mutual Respect
One of our school Christian values is ’Love’ and this is underpinned by respect for others and it is at the heart of our ethos at Birchanger C of E Primary. Our pupils know and understand that it is expected and imperative that respect is shown to everyone, whatever differences we may have.
We show our respect for others through: the Positive Behaviour and Anti-Bullying Policy; the PSHCE curriculum; Collective Worship which celebrates differences and promotes equality; visits to places of worship; play leaders and sports ambassadors promote equality in play; competitive sports where all are encouraged.