British Values
NORTHFIELD ROAD PRIMARY SCHOOL
British Values Statement
Promoting British Values:
At Northfield Road Primary School we recognise the multi-cultural and multi-faith nature of the United Kingdom. We are committed to serving the community and we value the diversity of the backgrounds of all pupils, families and the wider school community.
The Department for Education states that there is a need:
‘To create and reinforce 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.’
The Department for Education defines British Values as follows:
- Respect for democracy and support or participation in the democratic process
- Respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England
- Support of equality of opportunity for all
- Support and respect for the liberties of all within the law
- Respect for and tolerance of different faiths and religious and other beliefs
Our school reflects these British values in everything that we do. We aim to nurture our children throughout their school life so that they can grow into safe, caring, democratic, responsible and tolerant adults who make a positive difference to British society and the world.
At Northfield Road, we promote British Values in the following ways:
Democracy:
Northfield Road provides many opportunities to learn about democracy and decision making; has a whole-school approach to pupil voice and participation.
- The School Council is elected through a democratic process with children being able to nominate themselves or another within their class. A class vote is then taken with each child able to vote for one of the candidates.
- Our school Council represents the views of the pupils. School Councillors are available on the playground on a designated day each week to collect the views of children around specific identified issues and also give the opportunity for children to raise or highlight concerns or topics related to the running of the school that they would like School council to discuss at their monthly meetings.
- All children are encouraged to debate topics of interest in class and express their personal views.
- In connection with the school’s work on the UN Rights of the Child, each class has a class charter which is negotiated on and agreed by the children.
Rule of Law:
School explores the concept of rules through many strands of school life.
- School rules and expectations of behaviour are clear encouraging all children to take responsibility for their behaviour and ensures that all children understand that their actions have consequences. School rules and sanctions are clearly displayed around school and in classrooms. In addition, each class formulates their own set of rules for use within the classroom to enable the right environment for learning and respect.
- Pupils are always helped to distinguish right from wrong – in the classroom during assemblies and on the playground.
- Buddies learn the rules of peer mentoring and mediation and share these with other children who they are helping.
- Pupils are encouraged to respect the law and at Northfield Road we have
regular visits from our local Community Police Officers in addition to planned visits from Ambulance, Fire Service etc to help reinforce this message.
Individual Liberty:
School provides opportunities to learn about rights and responsibilities; develop debating skills to enable pupils to express their point of view and respect the opinions of others; learning about the struggles of people and communities for freedom and against injustice and discrimination.
- Children are made aware of UNICEF ‘Rights for every Child’. Children are aware of Articles 12, 13 and 14 of RRC – the right to have an opinion and to be listened to.
- Topical news items encourage children to share their views, emphasising that we all have the freedom to have different opinions.
- Pupils take on key roles in school eg prefects, or in class eg monitors.
Mutual Respect and Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs:
Respect is one of Northfield Road’s core values ‘Everyone showing Respect’ which is displayed around school and visible in everything the school does. The school tackles all types of bullying and discriminatory language. The school community is multi-cultural and multi-faith;
it also develops school links so that children have opportunities to engage with other children and young people from different faiths and cultural backgrounds and uses a range of resources and approaches to learn about different faiths and beliefs. As a school we take part in a range of multicultural celebrations including events or festivals from other religions and traditions eg Diwali, Eid.
Throughout our school, each classroom is equipped with a British Values display which is referred to throughout all lessons. British Values is embedded into our bespoke PSHE curriculum, all of our planned sessions are linked to British values and articles from the UN rights of a child. This ensures that our children can develop and grow and become responsible global citizens.