British Values

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Promoting Fundamental British Values

 

At Woodside Primary School we recognise not only the importance of allowing children to flourish academically, but we also embrace our wider role in preparing them for their adult life beyond the formal examined curriculum. Part of our role in that preparation is ensuring that we promote and reinforce British Values to our children.

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The Government set out its definition of British Values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy, and at Woodside Primary School these values are reinforced regularly and permeate throughout our school community. In addition, we explicitly teach British  Values through assemblies and collective worship, Personal, Social, Health Education & Citizenship (PSHE&C) lessons, Religious Education (RE) lessons and through other pertinent subjects across the year groups. 

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The examples that follow are an indication of some of the many ways we seek to embed British Values at Woodside Primary School and should be seen as an indication of our approach rather than an exhaustive list. Further specific activities can be viewed on each individual classes termly topic plans in the ‘Promoting Fundamental British Values’ section.

The key values are:

• Democracy

• Rule of Law

• Individual Liberty

• Mutual Respect

• Tolerance of those of different faiths & beliefs

 

 

Democracy

 

At Woodside Primary School the principle of democracy is consistently reinforced, with the democratic process being employed for important decisions within the school community. Each year the children decide upon their class rules and the rights associated with these. All children contribute to the drawing up of these rules.

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Elections that are held for School Council representatives and roles within school: especially in Year 6, are areas of the school where children can see, first hand, how the democratic process works.

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From a curricular point of view, the principle of democracy is further explored in both History and Religious Studies. Further examples of democracy and the democratic process are covered as part of assemblies.

  

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The Rule of Law

 

The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are reinforced daily, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through school assemblies. Children are taught from an early age the rules of the school. These are our Golden Rules, Playground Rules and Safety Rules. They 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 laws are broken. Visits from authorities such as the Police and Fire Service help reinforce this message.

  

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Individual Liberty

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At Woodside Primary 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 informed choices, through a safe environment and an empowering education. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices and become critical thinkers through evaluating, reflecting and collecting valid and reliable evidence to make good decisions, for example: whether it is through choice of challenge; how they record their learning using key skills to present information and communicate ideas; or by choosing to participate in our  extra-curricular clubs and opportunities.

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Safeguarding our pupils and staff is paramount and PSHE&C/e-Safety lessons aim to equip pupils with the skills to make safe choices. All classes in school are taught about how to keep safe outdoors, indoors and online through the ‘Keeping/Staying Safe’ and ‘Being Responsible’ topics within our PSHE&C scheme.   

                                                                                            

All classes have ground rules, which are a very important part of the PSHE&C lessons. This is a class agreement, with a set of rules that are kept to consistently and revisited throughout the lesson. This is one of the main ways to ensure there is a safe teaching and learning environment.

 

 

Mutual Respect

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Respect is at the core of our school ethos and is modelled by children and staff alike. The school promotes respect for others and this is reiterated through our classroom and learning environments. In line with our commitment to democracy children at Woodside Primary School are always able to voice their opinions and we foster an environment where children are safe to disagree with each other. Mutual respect is embraced throughout the curriculum from the concept of ‘fair play’ in PE to the Year 6 / Reception buddy system which promote mutual respect and support between children across different year groups within the school.

  

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Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs 

 

Woodside Primary actively promotes diversity through our celebrations of different faiths and cultures. Religious Education lessons and PSHE&C lessons reinforce messages of acceptance and respect for others. This will equip children with the ability to understand their place in a culturally diverse society by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity within the school community. Our Religious Studies curriculum provides a broad and balanced education on a range of faiths, religions and cultures.

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