British Values
Promoting British Values
At The Whitchurch Church of England Federation, we take our responsibility very seriously to support our children in becoming good local, national and global citizens of the future; nurturing and modelling high expectations of love, care and respect for one another.
The Department for Education states that there is a need:
“To create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to 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.”
Our Federation reflects British values in all that we do, underpinned by core Christian values which can be seen as equally relevant whether our families are from a Christian, other faith or non-faith background. British and Christian values are regularly endorsed through high quality teaching across the curriculum, within Collective Worship, and by a positive behaviour policy which allows children to develop and demonstrate skills and attributes that will enable them to contribute positively to life in Modern Britain.
We encourage all our children to be creative, unique, open-minded and independent individuals, respectful of themselves and others in our academies.
Our curriculum driver, ‘This is Me’, specifically focuses on guiding children to believe in themselves, develop personal and affective skills, values, behaviours and character traits. It enables children to consider each other’s ideas and opinions, share responsibilities and respect other people’s views. It develops in our children an understanding of our Federation values, as well as, an appreciation of fundamental British values.
The work that we organise with the local Whitchurch community reinforces our children’s understanding of their important place within our local community and beyond.
At The Whitchurch Church of England Federation, we actively promote British values in the following ways: -
Democracy
Democracy is embedded here at The Whitchurch Church of England Federation. Children are always listened to by adults and are taught to listen carefully, with concern for each other, respecting the right of every individual to have their opinions and voices heard.
Children undertake roles and responsibilities, such as School Council representatives, Eco-Council representatives, Junior Librarians, Worship Leaders, Anti-bullying Ambassadors, Digital Ambassadors and House Team captains. They make a positive impact on school development and the life of the academies. We believe these responsibilities encourage a growth mind set in children, together with personal and social skills, such as aspiration and co-operation. The elections of our House Captains and School Council members are based solely on pupil votes, reflecting our British electoral system and demonstrating democracy in action.
Children have many opportunities for their voices to be heard and are actively encouraged to share their ideas and interests and make a meaningful contribution to the running of the academies. We have created pupil voice groups to ensure that children at the Whitchurch Church of England Federation are involved in the shaping of the curriculum.
Ensuring that pupil voice is part of classroom practice means that children are motivated by their learning. This area is often closely linked to choice and steering learning; however, it can be more than allowing children to steer a theme in a certain direction. It can also be ensuring that our planning takes into account their interests, popular culture, as well as current affairs and world events which the pupils are engaged with or excited by.
Members of the Senior Leadership Team meet termly with the pupil voice group to seek feedback on subjects or areas. Feedback from the children is used to reshape and modify action plans in order to ensure that each subject is both meeting the needs of its learners and maintaining relevance and interest. This means that children feel empowered to share their opinions in order to ensure the curriculum is engaging and relevant.
Democracy
Rule of Law
The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced at The Whitchurch Church of England Federation.
Through our clear and positive Behaviour Policy, we develop our children’s understanding of the importance of following rules; that they keep us and those around us safe. Children’s self-regulation and understanding that their behaviour affects others and may have consequences is also a crucial part of learning across our Federation.
We give the children lots of small roles with responsibility through the Federation, for example, Class VIP, Junior Librarians, Worship Leaders and this helps them feel a sense of pride and self-worth; which reinforces an understanding of what is ‘the right thing to do.’
Visits from community partners such as the police and fire service also help to develop our children’s understanding of roles within society.
Rule of Law
Individual Liberty
At The Whitchurch Church of England Federation, children are given the freedom to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment.
Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our E-Safety and PSHE lessons.
Children learn boundaries and how to take ‘safe risks’ through our outdoor learning curriculum.
They are supported to develop self-knowledge, self-confidence and resilience to cope with set-backs.
The RE, Collective Worship and PSHE curriculum reinforce opportunities to explore views and opinions.
Individual Liberty
Mutual Respect and Tolerance of others
The Federation has a very strong inclusive ethos of care and respect developed around an explicit commitment to Christian values. Self-respect and respect for others form a core part of our value system.
We recognise that, although our Federation has a Christian foundation, some of our children come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including children from other faith communities. It is the Federation’s aim to provide for children an atmosphere, practice and education in which their spiritual life and experience will develop.
The gifts of ‘Respect, Kindness, Honesty, Trust and Peace’ are the values we hope and aspire that our children will foster during their time at our infant academy. As our children continue their learning journey through our junior academy, we focus on the additional values of ‘Courage, Responsibility, Creativity, Perseverance and Compassion’.
All members of the school community treat each other with respect. Through our Religious Education curriculum, we promote tolerance and understanding of a range of faiths, religions and cultures. As a Church school we promote this tolerance and understanding through our Christian values and our daily acts of Collective Worship. ‘Talk Partners’ develop our children’s capacity to actively listen to the ideas and opinions of others. Children develop fair play through our PE curriculum.