Promoting Fundamental 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 support 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 School Council meetings.
• The Arts –we offer a wide range of opportunities throughout the school to enhance creativity, self-esteem and performance e.g. Rock Steady Concert, end of year and Christmas productions, to name a few.
• My Happymind programme - this helps children to understand their brain and teaches mindfulness. The programme includes regular brain breaks.

In addition:

• We hold a weekly ‘STARS’ Assembly to encourage positive behaviour which focuses on praising good behaviour, focused values, attitude and work.
• We aim for all pupils to participate in a competitive sports’ fixture/s 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   Respect  Safe
• Organising competitive sports fixtures – accepting rules of the game, knowing right from wrong, respecting the umpire, good sportsmanship.
• Appointing Sports Leaders – children in Year 4 lead games with children and are encouraged to solve playground disputes themselves.
• Having School Council Representatives 
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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, MacMillian and Alexander Divine coffee mornings, Jeans for Genes, Reindeer Run for Thames Hospice supporting World Mental Health Day
• Homer Growers Gardening Club and Eco-Warriors
• Supporting local charities, like Thames Hospice and Alexander Divine
• Encouraging pupil to pupil support e.g. through our Well-being Champions and Reading Ambassadors
• 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 Early Years
• Engaging in the local library reading challenge 
• Learning about 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.
•  Vicar visits, visits to local church

We encourage respect for other people by:

• 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 4 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
• Allowing children to nominate themselves for the role of Sports Leader and Reading Ambassadors.
• Encouraging debating across the curriculum.

We discourage radicalisation by:

• Studying other faiths through our RE curriculum.
• Encouraging respect and tolerance for all faiths.
• Having three strong rules embedded across the school - ready, respect 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.