Promoting British Values – How we develop our Hunsley Primary Values in line with the British Values / Life in Modern Britain
Our curriculum is designed to develop all our children as positive, responsible individuals with a strong sense of their community and the contributions they can make as citizens, locally, nationally and globally.
As the school develops in its local community, we recognise the necessity to review our provision of PSHE, RSE and SMSC to embrace the following elements:
- The diversity of ages, academic requirements, pastoral needs, personal interests, social and cultural backgrounds, economic demands and health factors our pupils will possess;
- Our growing catchment area, with its own unique context and opportunities for all our children to be responsible and thoughtful members of the community;
- The ever-changing political, ethical and spiritual landscape in which our children will live.
It is therefore vital that we work together with our staff, children, Local Governors and our parents to develop the wider personal, social, health and economic education curriculum by being agile, aware, fully meeting statutory requirements set down at national level and anticipating the concerns, opportunities and challenges ahead of our pupils before they arise.
The British Values promoted, as stated by the Department for Education are as follows:
- democracy
- the rule of law
- individual liberty
- mutual respect
- tolerance of people of all faiths, races and cultures
Our Hunsley Primary Values aim to unite children as a team, to be respectful of the British Values in every experience they share in school and beyond the school gates. The Hunsley Primary Values are displayed in school and use a language the children share – they were voted for by the children, for the children, and as such are their values to share and pass on to others. Each value is based on the British Values above to ensure these vital elements are built into the heart of the school day.
We regularly revisit the Values in our assembly; share them on posters in the Hall; refer to them in our day-to-day discussions with pupils and link them to wider challenges and issues we might cover in our curriculum.
Hunsley Primary Values
Throughout the school day, through playtimes and lunchtimes, our PSHE programme, displays, pupil voice, our assembly programme, educational visits on and off-site, via the Behaviour Policy expectations and the delivery of the PSHE and RSE programme, Jigsaw, we create structured opportunities for our pupils to:
- develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
- distinguish right from wrong and respect the civil and criminal law of England;
- accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in our community and society more widely;
- acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;
- advocate tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions and acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
- respect other people;
- respect democracy, support participation in the democratic processes and respect the basis on which the law is made and applied in England
Additionally, through our approach to linking curriculum subjects such as religious studies, history, geography, English and modern languages to our Values, pupils are taught to:
- understand how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process;
- appreciate that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety;
- understand that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence;
- understand that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law;
- accept that other people having different faiths or beliefs to themselves (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour;
- understand the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination.
The Key Stage 2 curriculum leads onto the more stretching learning experiences that children will have in their secondary education and we collaborate with our Trust secondary colleagues to ensure the journey is continual, robust and challenging.
