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, cultures and no faith, 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 

Below are examples of how British values are promoted at Thorpe Acre Infant School:

Democracy

Democracy is embedded throughout our school and presents in many different forms:

• Pupils are 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.  We encourage class debates so that the children can actively practise how to voice and challenge their opinions in a safe, constructive environment.
• Each year, the children hold an in-class vote for their school council representatives.  All children are given the opportunity to apply and present their case to their peers as to how they suit the role of school councillor.  The children take part in an anonymised vote to elect their representatives
• School council representatives hold meetings whereby they will gather and feedback the ideas of their peers.
• Although there are school-wide rules, classes write their own class charter to demonstrate the rules they would like in their class, alongside those of the school.
• The children work in conjunction with members of the Senior Leadership Team to devise the whole school behaviour system.
• In class, children will vote on rewards they would like to earn when they have reached the desired amount of tokens, within our behaviour system.

The Rule of Law

The importance of laws, whether they are those that govern the class, the school or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout our school day, through our school assemblies and also when managing behaviour in school.  Children are aware of the expectations the school has and aware of the consequences that follow, should the rules be broken.

We encourage pupils to distinguish right from wrong and help them to understand that living under the rule of law, protects individuals.  When dealing with situations where a rule has been broken, children are actively encouraged to reflect on their behaviour and are guided to alternative ways to manage behaviours.  In encouraging active reflection, children learn to accept responsibility for their actions and how these actions may impact on others.

Pupils are taught the value of, and reasons behind, laws: that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities this involves and the consequence of when laws are broken, visits from the Police, Fire Service etc, also help to reinforce our messages.

Individual Liberty

Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are doing so in a safe and supportive environment.  As a school, we educate and provide boundaries for our pupils to make choices safely, by providing a safe environment and an empowering education.  These choices are made in a variety of ways, such as: school council meetings, class discussions, reflection times and assemblies.

Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely; examples of this can be clearly seen in our e-safety and PSHE lessons.  We implement a strong anti-bullying culture.

We strongly believe in supporting pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence.  As a school, we recognise some of the challenges our pupils face in these areas and work hard to address these.  These include, but are not limited to, the following:

• PSHE lessons focus on strategies to build self-confidence and raise self-esteem in all children;
• Open dialogue with families to support individuals;
• A positive, constructive environment in and around the school;
• Weekly celebrations to recognise those children who have worked hard during the week (All Star Assembly)
• Children’s work is displayed around the school;
• Children’s achievements outside of school, for example sporting events, are celebrated in assemblies or in class.

Mutual Respect

At the heart of our whole school ethos, is a commitment to mutual respect.  Respect is promoted across school and is modelled and embedded in all that we do.  The pupils know and understand what is expected.  The core value of Respect underpins our daily work both in and out of the classroom.  We frequently participate in learning activities which promote respect, including visits to/from local places of worship, visitors to deliver assembles, visitors to work with individual/groups of children along with promoting opportunities during PSHE lessons.

In addition to these activities, our children are signposted to regular opportunities to learn within their community and beyond and each time an emphasis is placed on respecting those with whom they come into contact, and their surroundings.

A range of extra-curricular clubs are offered after the school day.  These clubs provide another opportunity for mutual respect to be secured in the attitudes of our pupils, both amongst those participating from their own setting, and any visiting staff or teams.

Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

Our core value of Respect ensures tolerance of those who have different faiths and beliefs.  We encourage pupils’ understanding of different faiths and beliefs in a range of ways.  These include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Our PSHE & RSE and RE curriculums encourage pupils to discuss and respect differences between people, such as differences of faith, ethnicity, disability, gender or sexuality and differences in family situations, such as looked after children or young carers;
• We actively promote diversity through our celebrations of different faiths and cultures;
• We respond vigorously to the use of racial or homophobic language and have clear consequences in place for managing this;
• We actively challenge pupils and parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British values, including ‘extremist’ views;
• Our assemblies place an emphasis on providing awareness of others to broaden all pupils’ experiences;
• We foster a comfortable and positive environment where children of all faiths and backgrounds can share what makes their lives special with their peers and staff.