British Values

St Mary’s is committed to serving its community and surrounding areas. We recognise the multicultural, multi-faith nature of the United Kingdom and understand the crucial role our schools play in promoting these values. We are a school for all. This statement outlines the key British values we actively promote.

Democracy

• Children are involved in Democratic processes e.g. voting for school councillors and shared rewards.
• The school councils are led by a member of staff from each school who adhere to democratic processes.
• We have links to the local PCSOs who come into school to educate the children about upholding British law and the prosecution service.

Individual Liberty

• Children are involved in Democratic processes e.g. voting for school councillors and shared rewards.
•  The school councils are led by a member of staff from each school who adhere to democratic processes.
• We have links to the local Police who come into school to educate the children about upholding British law and the prosecution service.
• Children have key roles and responsibilities in school, such as children in Key Stage 2 who take on the roles of Junior Sports leaders, Playground Leaders, Lunchtime Crew and Librarians.
• Within school, children 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 children to make choices safely.
• Through our curricular clubs and opportunities, children are given the freedom to make choices.
•  The aims and ethos statement are embodied in all that we do in school.

Mutual Respect

• Our PSHE curriculum embodies values of mutual respect through units of learning such as relationships and being a responsible citizen.
• Respect is embedded within our whole school rules and responsibilities.

The Rule of Law

• We have links with the local police.
• We have a clearly structured behaviour policy which all stakeholders understand and follow.
• We regularly review behaviour incidents in school and share these with key stakeholders.
• Assemblies are delivered with a focus on the law e.g. Safety Awareness and E-safety Awareness.

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

• Our R.E curriculum provides a broad and balanced education on a range of faiths, religions and cultures. At St Mary’s there is a strong focus on the Christian values and how as a school we endeavour to be guided in our daily lives by our Core Christian Values.
• We have a growing number of E.A.L children and actively use school resources to promote their learning and integration into our school society.
• We teach specific PSHE  Personal Development Programmes
• We have staff from other countries and visitors from other faiths who share their language and culture with our pupils.

British Values in Early Years 

The principles and ethos of British values extend down to our youngest children in the school. Whilst not as involved in some of the processes described above for the rest of school, children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are supported to:

• make their own choices;
• their opinions are listened to, respected and valued;
• they are involved in making and following class rules appropriate to their age and stage of development.

Children in the Early Years are encouraged to respect each other and to acknowledge and celebrate individual differences in a supportive and inclusive manner.

P4C – Philosophy for children

Each week we look at an aspect of British Values in assembly through a variety of ways from problem solving, reviewing the news of the time and stortelling, to give examples of a few. We also follow a P4C approach, with weekly questions based on current events, all of which have links to key aspects of British Values. The focus of he week is displayed through our weekly questions which children are encouraged to discuss amongst themselves and with staff.

Click this link for an example: British Values – 13th January