BRITISH VALUES
At Patrington CE Primary Academy we uphold and teach pupils about British Values which are defined as:
- democracy
- rule of law
- individual liberty
- mutual respect
- tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.
Many of these values are taught explicitly through Personal, Social, Health and Emotional (PSHE), and Religious Education (RE). We also teach the British Values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum.
The school takes opportunities to actively promote British Values through our collective worship and assemblies and whole school systems and structures such as electing and running a Pupil Parliament. We also actively promote British values through ensuring that our curriculum planning and delivery includes real opportunities for exploring these values. Actively promoting British Values also means challenging extremist’ views and promoting tolerance and diversity. As a Church School this also means exploring courageous advocacy.
At Patrington CE Primary Academy these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:
Democracy:
In order to reflect the democratic values of our society, we encourage children to value each others’ opinions and this is accomplished through our Pupil Parliament and subcommittees, restorative circles and pupil surveys.
The appointment of members of the Pupil Parliament are based on the children making speeches and then a democratic voting system to elect candidates.
Pupils have key roles and responsibilities within the school: monitors are elected within his/her own classroom and Year 6 take on many other roles requiring maturity and responsibility.
Balanced arguments, debates and discussions are regularly put into practice in each classroom to support the curriculum.
Children are encouraged to voice their opinions and we foster an environment where children are safe to disagree with each other.
The Rule of Law:
The importance of laws and rules, whether they are those that govern the class, the school or the country, are consistently reinforced. The school has an agreed set of behaviour expectations taught through our Patrington Path behaviour curriculum.
Children are taught that community cohesion and personal responsibility are secured through rules and laws in our society, that they are concerned with our safety and that there are consequences when they are broken. Visits from services such as fire and police take place periodically through the year.
Bikeability in upper KS2 follows on from other Road Safety work earlier in the school.
Individual Liberty:
Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at our school, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we provide boundaries for our children to make choices safely.
Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our e-Safety teaching and PSHE lessons. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs, choose the level of challenge in some lessons and seeking out support where necessary eg. Check in using the zones of regulation.
Mutual Respect:
Our school vision and behaviour curriculum are centred around our core Christian values of friendship, trust and perseverance. Through collective worship we explicitly teach and exemplify important values including ‘dignity’, ‘respect’, ‘koinonia’ and ‘forgiveness’, and these values support how we live as a community at Patrington CE Primary Academy. Collective worship promotes personal qualities and values for life and are central to how we expect everyone to conduct themselves at our school. Successes and achievements are celebrated by the whole school in a weekly assembly with parents being invited to join us each term. All adults in our school model the values that we expect from our children.
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 in our school community. Collective worship and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and PSHE. Our Christian values underpin all aspects of school life and gives the whole school opportunity to discuss and reflect on the values in life that they believe in.
We use opportunities in the curriculum to explore culture, religion and beliefs across the world. Major world events are embraced as a learning opportunity and theme weeks are often planned.
