The Government set out its definition of British Values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy and these values have been reiterated by the Prime Minister this year. In 2014, The Department for Education published a document called ‘Promoting Fundamental British Values as part of SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural curriculum) in schools. The document reinforced the need ‘to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values and the DfE has recently reinforced the 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
Mutual respect and a tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
At Riston CE Primary Academy we are committed to serving our community and local area. We model and consistently reinforce British Values in the following ways:
- We actively promote values, virtues and ethics that shape our pupils’ character and moral perspective.
- We ensure that through our school vision, ethos, agreed rules, curriculum and teaching we promote respect and tolerance for all cultures, faiths and lifestyles.
- Our school’s curriculum has strong links to British History and reflects modern British culture.
- We ensure that British values are not only taught but lived through the school’s ethos and values.
Riston CE Primary Academy celebrates the individuality of each child. We want to inspire children to reach their individual potential and through our Christian values, prepare them for the future. Our broad and balanced curriculum ensures that all children develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. We value these aspects of the curriculum and always endeavour to promote them.
Spiritual Development
We encourage spiritual development through a broad range of assemblies and lessons which allow time for thought and reflection. We teach the children to understand that people have different faiths and beliefs and that all are valued and respected. We celebrate different views and ways of thinking. Our PSHE lessons promote discussion and enquiry as well as tolerance and kindness.
Moral Development
Through stories and drama, we teach the children to think about different situations, with empathy. They are taught to consider right from wrong and are asked open ended questions to make them think carefully about the choices they make.
Social Development
From our early years onwards, we begin teaching children how to take turns, and how to work and play cooperatively. Through the Christian Values of Respect and Friendship, we promote the development of these values through different initiatives including peace-makers on our playground and School Council representatives . Our residential trip in Year 5 / 6 is a highlight for the children and really focuses on their ability to care for each other and work together as a team.
Cultural Development
We teach the children about their own and other cultures. We do this in numerous ways, through class topics, charity fundraising, RE and PSHE lessons and assemblies. Through our curriculum, we learn about the wider world as well as where we live. Every child from Riston CE Primary Academy, Year 3 to Year 6, is learning to speak French and has a teaching session weekly exploring the language and culture.
At Riston CE Primary Academy, we teach the fundamental British values in the following ways.
Democracy:
Democratic values are an explicit part of the ethos at Riston. All adults listen to the views of the pupils and value their opinions. Pupils have further opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and Pupil Voice surveys. The elections of the School Council is the result of pupil votes and all of these groups seek the opinions of their peers. Children are also represented on our Ebor Academy Trust Pupil Parliament of 23 schools, which meets half termly.
The Rule of Law:
At Riston CE, we have school rules that the children are expected to follow. We encourage the children to understand why these rules are important. We have high standards of behaviour and we find that the children rise up to our expectations. Local residents have commented on the excellent behaviour of our children in the playground and also when they visit places of interest on school trips. Through our PSHE curriculum, the children are taught about the Rule of Law and its importance in keeping themselves and others safe. The Christian Value of Justice is also used to develop an understanding of the Rule of Law in older year groups.
The children are taught about the rule of law outside the school with visits from community police officers and firefighters who give talks in assemblies and in class. We want our children to grow into caring and law-abiding citizens and we teach them the difference between right and wrong through the curriculum as well as in the way we talk to them at all points throughout the day.
Individual Liberty:
Together with promoting an understanding of rules and laws, we embrace freedom of choice and the right to express views and belief in a respectful way. Through the provision of a safe, supportive environment and empowering education, we provide boundaries for our pupils to make choices safely. For example: choices about the learning challenge or activity they access, how they record their learning, their participation in extracurricular activities and how they express themselves. Our pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are taught how to exercise these safely, such as in our e-safety and PSHE lessons. The children are made aware of how to manage feelings and behaviour and encouraged to understand how their own and others’ behaviour has consequences for everyone’s individual liberty.
Mutual Respect:
As a school, we promote Christian values and beliefs but also promote mutual respect for all other religions, cultures, traditions and languages. Our pupils develop an understanding that respect and tolerance is shown to everyone and to everything. Sadly, no school can guarantee that there will never be instances which are contrary to this value. At Riston CE Primary Academy, such instances are extremely rare. However, should they ever occur, we use this as an opportunity to educate in an attempt to avoid future incidences. Such instances are treated seriously, but sensitively, in line with our Behaviour, Anti Bullying and other associated policies
An understanding of different faiths, cultures and beliefs
From the very earliest years in which our children start at Riston CE Primary Academy, we teach them about different cultures, faiths and religions. Children share in traditional stories, food and costumes from other places and cultures. We celebrate our differences and focus on every child as a unique individual. As a school family we encourage tolerance and respect and feel it is imperative that this is developed as a strength of our diverse learning environment.
Next Steps
Each new cohort of children enters our doors with their own areas of interest and we will seek to build on this together. The development of the whole child through a broad and balanced curriculum is essential to us and we will continue to strengthen this. Our values and aims are central to our teaching and we build our philosophy around these principles. Our aim is to enable all our school community to “live life to the full’ (John 10:10) and prepare them for life in our global community.
