Promoting British Values
All maintained schools must meet the requirements set out in section 78 of the Education Act 2002 and promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils. Through ensuring pupils’ SMSC development, schools can also demonstrate they are actively promoting fundamental British values.
Pupils must be encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance. It is expected that pupils should 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 school’s ethos and teaching supports the rule of English civil and criminal law and the school does not teach anything that undermines it.
Fundamental British values
As a school 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.
Through our provision of SMSC we
• enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
• enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;
• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
• encourage respect for other people; and
• encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.
How We Teach Fundamental British Values -
We enable our pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence by teaching:
- Get Set 4PE –this builds self-confidence because every child knows how to improve their skills and feel good about themselves
- Music – self-confidence comes through performing in shows, they can see progress through practise; the children are positive about their ability to sing, play instruments and perform.
- Friendship skills– developing self-awareness by learning about themselves and others.
- Life skills lessons (PSHE) – lessons which cover a variety of life skills and issues. We also hold regular Pupil Parliament and School Council meetings.
- The Arts –we offer a wide range of opportunities throughout the school to enhance creativity, self-esteem and performance e.g. dance festival, end of year and Christmas productions, class assemblies to name a few.
- Mind Up programme - this helps children to understand their brain and teaches mindfulness. The programme includes regular brain breaks.
In addition:
- We hold a weekly ‘Over and Above’ Assembly to encourage positive behaviour which focuses on praising good behaviour, focused values, attitude and work.
- We aim for 100% of KS2 pupils to participate in a competitive sports’ fixture each school year.
- Effort is valued as well as attainment.
- We organise interventions; when necessary children are supported through an ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) or a range of other adults in the school
We enable our pupils to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England by:
- Agreeing on our three core rules - Ready Respectful Safe
- Covering rights and responsibilities –especially in Y5 & 6 through their work on democracy.
- Organising competitive sports fixtures – accepting rules of the game, knowing right from wrong, respecting the umpire, good sportsmanship.
- Appointing Young Ambassadors – children in Year 6 lead games with children in KS1 and are encouraged to solve playground disputes themselves.
- Having School Council Representatives
- Having a ‘Pupil Parliament’ that all children are members of
We encourage our pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely by:
- Making charitable contributions through a variety of fundraising events – food share, cake sales.
- Supporting schools in other parts of the world through charitable contributions and through our link with New Brainstorm School in Uganda
- Work on eco-garden at lunchtimes
- Supporting local parish activities– e.g. helping with fetes, Cookham Festival and attending parish meetings.
- Encouraging pupil to pupil support e.g. through our Young Ambassadors programme and through training five pupils in Year 6 to be Emotional Well-being Champions
- Windsor & Maidenhead Dance Festival
- Pupil Premium ‘buddies’.
We enable our pupils to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England by:
- Learning about people who help us in KS1
- Inviting fire officers to visit Y1, 2 & 5 to teach about fire safety
- Teaching about democratic processes in KS2
- Engaging in the local library reading challenge and weekly library visits
- Visiting different places of worship
We further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures. We show this through:
- Teaching a wide range of topics
- Inviting visitors in to share their different experiences with the children
- Teaching Modern Foreign Languages in KS2 – children share their own language and culture with others as well as learning about new languages and cultures.
- ‘Open The Book’, vicar visits, visits to local churches, visits to a wide range of places of worship
We encourage respect for other people by:
- Yr 6 Science Fair – each class visited in class to class presentations.
- Shared reading.
- Giving opportunities for children to listen to and understanding the opinions of others.
- Promoting fair play.
- Allowing peer assessment of work.
- Expecting children to coach each other in PE and partner work.
- Appointing our Year 6 children into a wide range of roles
We encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England by:
- Holding a voting process to elect our School Council
- Inviting applications for head boy and girl and holding a hustings event
- Allowing children to nominate themselves for the role of Sports Ambassador.
- Allowing children to vote for particular activities in our Reception classes.
- Encouraging debating across the curriculum.
We discourage radicalisation by:
- Offering a wide range of trips to other faith places of worship-the local gurdwara, mosque, synagogue and Neasden Hindu Temple.
- Studying other faiths through our RE curriculum.
- Debating religious issues
- Learning about topical issues –through FirstNews and Espresso which are used as a stimulus e.g. immigration issues.
- Encouraging respect and tolerance for all faiths.
- Having three strong rules embedded across the school - ready, respectful and safe
- Having a strong PSE curriculum.
- Promoting self-esteem.
- Reinforcing and repeating core messages such as those around the themes of anti-bullying and internet safety.