British Values
British Values
British Values Statement
At Our Lady & St Rose of Lima we ensure that through our mission of “Learning Living Loving together in Christ”, our values, our school rules, our curriculum, learning and teaching, we promote tolerance and respect for all faiths, cultures and lifestyles.
We are a school which represents Thirty-Five nations across the world, and we celebrate our differences and similarities, always coming back to the fact that we are ALL made in the image and likeness of God.
As a staff, we relish in our duty to prepare the children of St Rose for life in modern Britain and to keep them safe and teach them how to keep themselves safe.
We undertake a variety of assemblies and lessons to celebrate the range of faiths and cultures in St Rose, in Britain and around the world. We are very proud of the many different heritages of St Rose and celebrate this is as many ways as possible.
General overview
At Our Lady & St Rose of Lima we recognise the multi-cultural, multi-faith nature of Birmingham and the rest of the United Kingdom and we understand the crucial role our school plays in promoting the British Values.
The things we do to promote and embed British Values are:
- CPD for staff and parent about the British Values…
- Giving parents a say in our school…
- Promote tolerance and inclusivity…
- Lighthouse group: it’s mission and its activities…
- Display boards reflect British Values within the classrooms and for each subject area...
Democracy:
A culture built upon freedom and equality, where everyone is aware of their rights and responsibilities.
We empower our pupils by giving them opportunities to make choices about the things that they believe to be important. By valuing each ‘voice’. By listening and responding to the pupil’s voice, we demonstrate that we support democracy and freedom.
Pupils also have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and pupil questionnaires.
The School Council itself is part of the Lighthouse Group and is led by a staff team. It adheres to democratic processes, reporting its actions to the Head teacher.
The principle of democracy is also explored through our curriculum as well as in assemblies. We explore how democracy and the law, works in Britain in contrast to other forms of government in other countries.
- Our school councillors have gone through the process of writing a statement about themselves and what they intend to bring to the role of school councillor. After presenting this to the class their peers vote for who will represent them.
- Our children are taught the importance of the choices they make in their RHSE and RE lessons but also through many areas of the school curriculum.
- Children, through pupil voice monitoring, are given the opportunity to talk about their lessons and various aspects of school life and to say what they think is good about them and what they might think about changing. E.g. The children completed a Forms survey about school lunches and as a result we changed the whole menu.
- Playground boxes…
- Turn taking…
- Sharing…
- Collaboration…
- Where questions are valued…
- Pupil Voice in different subject areas.
- Opportunity to nominate stars of the week in the class each term.
Individual Liberty
Protection of your rights and the rights of others around you.
Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment.
Pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their behaviour, and our pastoral support reinforces the importance of making the right choices. We educate and provide boundaries for pupils to make choices safely, through provision of a safe environment and an empowering education.
Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and discuss ways to exercise these safely, for example through our Online Safety and RHSE lessons.
Whether it is through choice of challenge, of how they record, choose their lunch options, of participation in extra-curricular clubs and opportunities etc., pupils are given the freedom to make choices.
- Our children are fully involved in ensuring the rights and responsibilities of our community are upheld. The children, with support from staff, develop and present assemblies on a range of important topics/areas, eg. anti-bullying, charity, recycling, online safety
- Children from all classes have been part of Online Safety lessons and workshops.
- Parents have also been invited into school to take part in Online safety workshops.
- Self-knowledge…
- Self-esteem…
- Confidence in own abilities…
- Exploring the language of feelings and responsibility…
- Everyone is free to have own opinions…
- Explore questioning in a safe environment
- Creation of individual class rules
- Catholic Social teaching?
The Rule of Law:
The need for rules to make a happy, safe and secure environment to live and work.
The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, our school, or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days, when dealing with behaviour, in formal and informal conversations, through meetings with parents and through school assemblies.
Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws; that they govern and protect us; the responsibilities that they hold, and the consequences when laws are broken. Visits from authorities such as the Police & Fire Service; etc. are regular parts of our calendar and help reinforce this message.
We have a clearly structured behaviour policy, heavily influenced by our mission statement and the Catholic Virtues, which all stakeholders understand and follow. Furthermore, children (& adults) are constantly reminded that it is their responsibility to ensure the rules are upheld by themselves and by the people around them.
The concept of the Rule of Law is also reinforced through teaching activities in our RHSE curriculum.
Our behaviour policy insists on a zero-tolerance approach to any form of aggression, abuse or violence, which extends to pupils, staff, parents and carers.
- Distinguish right from wrong…
- Class rules… (Children have ownership)
- School rules…
- Zone board in classes
- Housepoints
Mutual respect & tolerance of different faiths and beliefs:
Understanding that we all don’t share the same beliefs and values.
Respecting those values, ideas and beliefs of others whilst not imposing our own onto them.
Part of our school ethos and behaviour policy revolves around core values such as “Respect” and “tolerance”. (Learning Living Loving TOGETHER). Pupils have been part of discussions and assemblies
related to what this means and how it is shown in our everyday lives. These ideas are immersed through school and classroom rules.
Our RHSE curriculum embodies values of Mutual Respect and Tolerance.
Through PE and sports competitions & activities, we promote an attitude of equality and fairness.
Assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying are regularly held.
- Sharing and respecting points of view/opinions…
- Celebrating diversity and experiences…
- Provide resources and activities that challenge gender, cultural and racial stereotyping…
- Inclusivity and tolerance…
- Other’s views, faiths, cultures and races are valued…
- Visits to places of worship…
- Discussing with children the similarities and differences between themselves and others…
- Ensuring PE lessons have respect to celebrate both wins and losses.
- Sign Language school prayer in assembly.
- Sign Language after school group.
