British Values
Fundamental British Values help children develop knowledge and understanding around our multi-diverse community, and inspire children to value and celebrate the modern diverse community of Great Britain. By actively promoting the British Values at St Mary’s, we challenge any opinions or behaviours in school contrary to these values. We are dedicated in developing responsible, respectful citizens who are able to play their part and become actively involved in public life when they become adults.
The five Fundamental British Values are;
· democracy
· rule of law
· mutual respect
· individual liberty
· tolerance of different faiths and beliefs
They are actively promoted through spiritual, moral, social and cultural education and form a part of our distinctive Christian character. British and Christian values are regularly promoted through high quality teaching across the curriculum, within collective Worship, PSHE and by our positive behaviour policy which allows pupils to develop and demonstrate skills and attributes that will allow them to contribute positively to life in Modern Britain. These values and attributes are promoted and reinforced by all staff and used to provide a model of behaviour for all our pupils.
Democracy
Democracy is embedded at our 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. We outline our expectations of pupils in our ‘classroom non-negotiables’ and through our behaviour and rewards systems. We help pupils to distinguish right from wrong, to encourage pupils to listen to the views of others even if they are different from their own. Pupils also have the opportunity to air their opinions and ideas through Pupil Voice activities, St Mary’s Pupil Leadership Team and circle time. To demonstrate our British electoral system and democracy in action, we carry out elections to recruitment our Pupil Leadership Team during the Autumn Term.
Rule of Law
The importance of rules and laws, whether they are those that are adhered to in class, the school or the country, are consistently reinforced. Our school has embedded rules, which are deeply embedded across the school community are clearly understood by all. We help children understand the necessity of these, which is to ensure every class member is able to learn in a safe and ordered environment. Our Positive Behaviour Policy contributes to this value and pupils are taught the value and reasons behind rules and laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when rules and laws are broken.
RE and PSHE lessons cover religious laws, commandments and practices. In RE we encourage pupils to debate and discuss the reasons for laws so that all pupils understand the importance of them for their own protection. As part of our PSHE coverage, children discuss Rules, rights and responsibilities, Rewards and consequences and Responsible choices. During the year we welcome visitors from the wider community including the police, fire brigade and other key groups. They are able to give pupils valuable advice on their own safety and the need to follow rules. We include Online Safety Week into our PSHE and Computing planning to ensure children understand how rules and law translate into online behavior to keep themselves and others safe.
Individual Liberty
Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedom and are advised how to exercise these safely, through E-Safety activities and pastoral activities. In lessons, we encourage discussions to further develop freedom of speech amongst pupils, ensuring all are involved and understand their right to speak, whilst being tolerant of others’ views and opinions. Another aspect of school that encourages this is within our extensive extra- curricular programme and school initiatives – our pupils are given the freedom to make choices in various daily situations.
Mutual Respect
Developing a culture of mutual respect is priority at St Mary’s; it underpins so many key values and is one of our chosen values for our school. The pupils know and understand that it is expected and imperative that respect is shown to everyone, whatever differences we may have and to everything, however big or small. The value of Mutual Respect at St Mary’s underpins our work every day both in and out of the classroom. We believe every interaction, children and adults, is vital to effectively model and embed this attribute effectually. Our Behaviour Policy sets out our high expectations related to this aspect for all stakeholders within the school community. Our school sings at local community events such as the Christmas Light Switch on and during Church Services. We aim to make links with the local nursing home to extend this. All are intended to help pupils think of others who need support and to respect the work of agencies across the country and globally who support communities less fortunate than ourselves.
Tolerance of those with Different Faiths and Beliefs
St Mary’s enhances pupils understanding of different faiths and beliefs primarily through our Beliefs and Values curriculum, PSHE, visits to places of worship and recognising and celebrating national cultural events. Through this our pupils gain an enhanced understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society.
We promote and develop tolerance in children by supporting the understanding that people in our community may believe different things to us, but we accept their right to believe in what they want to believe in and we do not impose our beliefs on them.
Charity Events
At St Mary’s we also encourage pupils to support a range of charity events. This has included the harvest collection for local food banks, Children in Need, Comic Relief, the Big MacMillan Coffee Morning and the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal as well as other fundraising activities some of which have been chosen by the student council.
Worship
Understanding of others is embedded within all subjects, particularly RE, enabling pupils to gain an enhanced understanding of the place of religion in a multi-faith world and their own place in a culturally diverse society. Through school worship we explore themes which develop our understanding of others. Through our curriculum and the routines of our daily life we aim to help children to become knowledgeable and understanding citizens. We regularly visit St Mary’s Church in order to learn about the history of the Church and get the opportunity to worship, appreciate and explore the Church itself to immerse ourselves into the community.
Faiths and Beliefs
St Mary’s is situated in a local area which is not greatly culturally diverse, but is near to culturally diverse communities such as Wolverhampton. Therefore, we are placing more emphasis in promoting diversity within the school curriculum. Our RE curriculum reinforces this through study about Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Humanism as well as through multicultural themed days.
