British Values
British Values
At St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School, in close alignment to and in conjunction with our Catholic Ethos and the Gospel values, we uphold and teach pupils about British Values which are defined as:
- Democracy
- Rule of law
- Individual liberty
- Mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
These values are taught explicitly through Religious Education (RE) and implicitly through our expectations, Behaviour Policy (and other liked policies) and our approach to nurture. We also teach British Values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum, providing real opportunities for exploring these values
The school takes opportunities to actively promote British Values through daily collective worship and whole school systems and structures such as: Saint Stars: charitable fundraising events: daily Wellbeing time; individual pupil led initiatives and electing and running a successful School Council.
We promote the Gospel values explicitly through interpretation of the Jesuit Virtues tree - this allows for individual discussion and reflection of specific values and virtues, integral to Catholic teaching and beliefs, e.g. attentiveness, compassion, truth and trust.
At St Mary of the Angels, these values are reinforced regularly, in the following ways:
Democracy
Democracy is an important value at our school. All adults listen to the views of the pupils and value their opinions. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council. The elections of members of the School Council are based on pupil votes.
Pupils have further opportunity to have their voices heard through Pupil Voice Interviews led by phase and subject leaders. The elections of School House Captains are also the result of pupil votes and all candidates canvas the opinions of their peers before elections occur.
Pupils also have opportunities, through our Resilience and Independence Awards, to raise and take charge of simple projects which support our Catholic Ethos and value opinions and visionary thinking.
Our approach to self and peer assessment also supports their active involvement in their own destiny and outcomes. Intervention and pragmatic groups run to aid children who find it difficult to know how to react in a given situation.
During daily Wellbeing time, our Emotional Ego Crew (EEC) support those children who have had friendship issues and arguments at lunch time and help to resolve these, so that a happy and positive environment can be re-established.
From EYFS, children are encouraged to think for themselves and self esteem and self belief are valued highly.
In Key Stage 1, their independence and opinions are sought in supporting their class to solve problems and consider strategies for teamwork, especially on the playground. They are encouraged to think for themselves and rewarded for their ability to support others. These are endorsed through recognition via Congratulations Assemblies; peer mentor Resilience and Independence Badges and internal stickers to support their growing understanding of these vital communication skills.
In Key Stage 2, discussion and bespoke and coaching takes place to support children to learn from their mistakes and to see themselves as valued, thinking members of the school community. Productions and assemblies are much more inclusive of pupil voice and opinions - children are expected to be able to lead and to listen, with good knowledge of their starting points and progress towards this aim.
The Rule of Law
From EYFS, children are encouraged to think for themselves and self esteem and self belief are valued highly.
In Key Stage 1, their independence and opinions are sought in supporting their class to solve problems and consider strategies for teamwork, especially on the playground. They are encouraged to think for themselves and rewarded for their ability to support others. These are endorsed through recognition via Congratulations Assemblies; peer mentor Resilience and Independence Badges and internal stickers to support their growing understanding of these vital communication skills.
In Key Stage 2, discussion and bespoke and coaching takes place to support children to learn from their mistakes and to see themselves as valued, thinking members of the school community. Productions and assemblies are much more inclusive of pupil voice and opinions - children are expected to be able to lead and to listen, with good knowledge of their starting points and progress towards this aim.
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 throughout regular school days. Our system for behaviour is aligned to our faith and is adhered to effectively. In each year group class rules and expectations are agreed, discussed and displayed annually in child friendly speak , children are reminded of these regularly. Displays in all classes promote good behaviour as does the use of Saint Stars.
Children are asked to identify which aspect of the school’s behaviour expectations code they have broken to ensure that this connection is made and understood. 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.
Curriculum links such as work on Crime and Punishment, famous people and events, are regular parts of our calendar and help reinforce the place for and need for laws. Links with biblical messages and God’s laws of forgiveness are also valued at St Mary’s within the context of learning from our mistakes.
To encourage and promote good behaviour, attitude and work, we have a Saint Stars Award System which is consistently followed throughout the school. We are also have a half termly Safety Conscious and Resilience award and a Behaviour award which reinforces the need for following rules for the safety of others and to improve communication. The class who wins these awards receives cash tokens to spend as a class. Children are always excited to know who has won, each week. They compete with good grace and enthusiasm
We are committed to praising children’s efforts. We endeavour to praise the children informally, individually, during group work, in front of the whole class and the whole school. Congratulations assemblies are the highlight of the school calendar. Children are rewarded not only for achievement in curriculum areas, but for behaviour, success out of school and general adherence to the school's mission statement and behaviour expectations.
Rewards are given in the form of stickers, saint stars and certificates.
Individual Liberty
Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at St Mary's, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we provide boundaries for our children to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and a planned curriculum.
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. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs. They are also expected to respect the individual liberty of others in their class and in their school. These are often exemplified through project work on those who have had to fight for liberty in the past, such as Martin Luther King, Mary Seacole and Rosa Parks
Conflict and arguments are expected to be resolved, over time, with good guidance and adult supervision. The support of the Emotional Ego Crew is also effective during these times.
All pupils are encouraged to express how they are feeling during Wellbeing time and record these on emotional feeling boards in classes. Pupils are taught to accept the need for space and respect the opinions and interests of others.
Children are expected, in line with the Gospel values we uphold, to embrace disability and differences and recognise the need for individual liberty, at a level appropriate to their age and stage of development.
Mutual Respect for and Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs
Children are expected, in line with the Gospel values we uphold, to embrace disability and differences and recognise the need for individual liberty, at a level appropriate to their age and stage of development.
Mutual Respect for and 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 local community which is largely White British.
Collective Worship and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and RSE. We use annual opportunities to learn about other cultures, built into our curriculum. We also take part in individual studies of world faiths each year, eg. Judaism in Year 4.
We embrace historic social role models and through our RE curriculum, we encourage children to learn about the diverse world we live in through exploration of our communities, at parish and social level, e.g. visits from religious life; speakers from differing religions; visits to different religious holy buildings.
Protected Characteristics
PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS
PROMOTING THE NINE PROTECTED CHARACTERISITICS
The Equality Act became law in 2010. It covers everyone in Britain and protects people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
The Equality Act protects people against discrimination because of the protected characteristics that we all have.
Under the Equality Act, there are nine protected characteristics:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Race - including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
- Religion or belief
- Marriage or civil partnership
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
- Pregnancy and maternity
No form of discrimination is tolerated at St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School and our pupils show respect for those who share the protected characteristics.
At SMA, we strive to create an environment where children can share their opinions and ask questions. We use texts over the course of the year to encourage positive and guided discussion of the protected characteristics.