British Values at St Thomas à Becket C of E (Aided) Primary School
At St Thomas à Becket Primary School we uphold and teach pupils about the British Values which are defined as:
- rule of law
- individual liberty
- mutual respect
- tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
These British Values are taught through planning and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum and specifically through our Christian ethos.
In our last Ofsted inspection the inspectors recognised that children’s behaviour was exemplary and that the outcomes for our pupils were outstanding particularly in aspects of their personal development.
These values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:
Democracy is embedded at the school. Pupils are always listened to by adults and are taught to listen carefully and with concern to each other, respecting the right of every individual to have their opinions and voices heard. Pupils also have the opportunity to air their opinions and ideas through class discussion and School Voice sessions. Opportunities arise through the school year for democratic voting i.e. we recently invited children to vote for winners in a recent performance poetry competition
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 school has ‘Golden Rules’, which are deeply embedded in our work every day. The children have a good understanding of rules and reinforce these to each other and to staff verbally. Our behaviour management strategies are run by a set of agreed criteria. Children understand and can talk about the reasons for these rules and consequences of breaking them.
Visits involving authorities such as the police, fire service, road safety officials help reinforce this message. Annually we take Year 6 to a Junior Good Citizen event to reinforce good citizenship.
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, through the provision of a safe environment and 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 and PSHE lessons. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs, taking part in sports events, leading assemblies.
Part of our school ethos and behaviour policy are based around core Christian values such as ‘respect’ and ‘responsibility’ and these values determine how we live as a community at School. Assemblies are based on ‘Values for Life’ and are central to how we expect everyone to go about their life at our school. Children and adults are expected to behave in a respectful way to all others.
Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs:
Understanding and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs is an important strand as many of our children live in a local community which is largely white British.
Each year we study the beliefs and culture of a different religion. We invite a range of visitors to school i.e Speakers from different faiths (recently a Hindu and Muslim); leaders from different branches of the Christian church ;recently a very disabled visitor who spent the day in school and talked and worked with the children.
Our RE not only covers the main faiths other than christianity but in Upper KS2 we look further into living in a world with diverse beliefs.