Promoting fundamental British values

At Sauncey Wood Primary School, we recognise not only the importance of allowing students to flourish academically, but we also embrace our wider role in preparing them for their adult life beyond the formal examined curriculum.  Schools are not expected to undertake British values activities in isolation; the fundamental British values are promoted across our curriculum and wider school experiences.

Teaching and learning about British values is an integral part of the school experience, and is reflected in all aspects of life at Sauncey Wood Primary School.  As part of our day-to-day practice, we value and promote equality and diversity and help children to reflect on their differences and understand what makes them unique.  We:

·         teach children to be respectful and to recognise those who help us and contribute positively to society

·         celebrate what we have in common whilst developing children’s understanding and appreciation of diversity

·         routinely challenge stereotypical behaviours and promote respect for different people.

By challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values, we are not only protecting children from extremist ideologies, we are ensuring they become knowledgeable and tolerant individuals and preparing them for life in modern Britain.

Democracy

Our pupils are encouraged and supported to show respect for other people and for democracy democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.  Children discover more about advantages and disadvantages of democracy, and how democracy and the law works in Britain, in contrast to other forms of government in other countries. 

All pupils have a voice that is listened to and are given the opportunity to learn how to argue and defend points of view through debate and discussion. 

We promote democracy through our own school council with representatives from each year group elected by their peers.  We also have a School Council and House Captains who are voted for by the pupils.

Rule of law

Pupils are enabled to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England.  We encourage our children 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. 

We promote the rule of law by upholding the 3 Rights of Sauncey Wood (Right to Learn, Right to Respect, Right to Be Safe and Feel Included) and through having a set of clearly understood and consistently applied behaviour principles that are regularly reinforced through assemblies and in the classroom.  Pro-social behaviours and acknowledge and rewarded through house points, headteacher’s award, Star of the Week certificate, etc. Consequences for different stages of anti-social behaviours are clearly set out and understood by the whole school community.

Individual liberty

Through our SMSC curriculum, we support pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence.  

We promote ideas of individual liberty by emphasising the importance of choice and taking responsibility for your own actions.  For example, pupils are encouraged to choose an appropriate level of challenge in many classroom learning activities. The recognition that behaviour is a personal choice is reinforced by all members of staff when praising good behaviour choices as well as when dealing with inappropriate behaviour choices. We seek opportunities to share children's successes including having 'stars of the week' to promote positive behaviour and attitudes to learning.

 Mutual respect and tolerance

We support children to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England and develop further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by facilitating children to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures. 

In PSHE lessons, pupils learn about the importance of mutual respect and tolerance, and how to communicate and resolve conflicts in a respectful manner.

We further promote mutual respect through our school values – Co-operation, Resourcefulness, Reflectiveness, Perseverance and Curiosity.  These values are regularly referred to in school life and we expect to see these modelled throughout the school by adults as well as children.

In RE, we use teaching resources from a wide variety of sources to help pupils understand a range of faiths.  Families from different faith backgrounds are encouraged to share their personal experiences with children across the school.  We celebrate a variety of different religious and cultural events throughout the year.

We also teach online safety: children at Sauncey Wood Primary School know how to keep themselves safe online and understand that they must not engage online with people they do not know.  They know to tell a trusted adult if they see something online that upsets them or goes against our values.

You can read our British Values statement in full on our Policies page.