Clayton Village Primary School Staff Login

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 as part of our provision of SMSC.

By actively promoting these values means that we challenge opinions or behaviours in our school that are contrary to fundamental British values. We fully recognise that any attempts to promote systems that undermine fundamental British values are completely at odds with our duty to provide SMSC.

Through our provision of SMSC, and as appropriate for the age of our pupils, we aim to:

  • enable our pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence
  • enable our pupils to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England
  • 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
  • enable our pupils to acquire a broad general knowledge of an 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 cultures
  • 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
  • Through our promotion of fundamental British values, and as appropriate for the age of our pupils, we aim to develop pupils’:
  • understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
  • appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety
  • understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected by law
  • acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour
  • understanding of the importance of identifying and combating discrimination

We promote these values through our wide ranging provision and our broad and balanced curriculum. This page of our website – though not exhaustive and only providing information about some of what we do –exemplifies how we promote British values in our school.

Democracy

Democracy is very important in our school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council, SCOF group and regular pupil surveys. The elections of the members of our School Council are based solely on pupil votes.

In summary:

  • Pupils regularly have a say in what happens in our school because we have an active School Council  and conduct regular pupil surveys
  • Pupils vote for who represents them on their School Council, House Captains and Vice Captains.
  • Pupils help to decide which charities we raise money for
  • Pupils help develop and evaluate school policies and guidelines – including those on behaviour and the aims of the school – through regular pupil surveys.

Our General Election

In the autumn term, we held a General Election in school in which our pupils voted to elect our new School Council. Our school hall was transformed into a polling station in which our pupils cast their vote in polling booths and posted it in a ballot box. All our pupils took their votes very seriously.

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 the school day, as well as when dealing with behaviour issues and through school assemblies. Our pupils helped us decide and agree our School Rules and pupils had an important role in deciding and agreeing the school’s e-safeguarding rules.

Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind 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 fire service are part of our provision and help reinforce these messages.

In summary:

  • Pupils understand how laws are made in parliament
  • Pupils understand the importance of having laws, and know that they protect us and influence our behaviour because visits from local police and police community support officers are used to talk to pupils about their responsibilities in their community and how to stay safe
  • Pupils understand the consequences of breaking laws and rules
  • Pupils helped develop fair rules for their class and for the school

Our School Expectations

Be Ready

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

Individual liberty

All of our 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 our pupils to make choices safely, through our provision of a safe environment and empowering education.

Pupils learn about their rights and personal freedoms and are encouraged to know, understand and exercise these through, for example, our e-safeguarding provision and SMSC lessons. Whether it is through choosing how they learn, how they record their learning during sessions or their participation in our extra-curricular provision, pupils are given the freedom to make choices.

In summary:

  • Pupils are able to make their own choices in school
  • Pupils know that everybody has rights and responsibilities
  • Pupils know that they need to work within boundaries to make safe choices
  • Pupils know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms safely
  • Pupils have their freedom to make choices about how they show their teachers what they have learned through independent homework projects
  • Pupils have the freedom to make choices about attending our range of extra-curricular provision
  • Pupils have the freedom to make choices about the level of challenge in some lessons
  • Pupils have the freedom to make choices about what goes on display on their learning walls
  • Pupils are able to choose from a range of meal choices as part of our provision for universal infant free school meals

Mutual respect

Our school vision and aims – which underpin everything we do as a school – focus on the importance of all pupils and staff living our values, one of which is respect. Pupils are regularly involved in discussions related to what this means and how it is shown through our SMSC lessons and assemblies. Posters around our school promote our school aims and this is reiterated through our classroom and school rules, as well as our behaviour policy and guidelines.

In summary:

  • Pupils know that their behaviour affects their rights and the rights of others
  • Pupils treat other people with respect
  • Pupils work together to help one another
  • Pupils make all visitors feel very welcome in our school

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

This is achieved through enhancing pupils’ understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity. Pupils are involved in assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying and learning in religious education and SMSC lessons raises pupils’ awareness of those of different faiths and beliefs and importance of both respecting and showing tolerance towards these.

In summary:

  • Pupils enjoy learning about different faiths and cultures from around the world
  • We promote diversity through celebrations of different faiths and cultures
  • Our pupils know that they are part of a culturally diverse society and have opportunities to experience different cultures
  • Pupils understand how prejudice can lead to hate and how important it is to overcome prejudices
  • Members of different faiths are welcome in our school and are encouraged to share their knowledge with us
  • Pupils enjoy visiting and learning about places of worship from different faiths
  • We use opportunities such as the Olympic games and World Cup to learn about different cultures

British values and spiritual, moral, social and cultural education (SMSC)

At Clayton Village Primary School we recognise that the personal development of children – spiritually, morally, socially and culturally (SMSC) – plays a significant part in their ability to learn and achieve. We therefore aim to provide a broad and balanced education that provides children with inherent opportunities to explore and develop their own values and beliefs, their own spiritual awareness, their own high expectations of personal behaviour, a positive, caring attitude towards other people, an understanding of their social and cultural traditions and an appreciation of the diversity and richness of their cultures.

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 as part of our provision of SMSC.

To find out more about how we promote British Values please see the attached document.