British Values at Dinting Church of England (VA) Primary School

 

At Dinting C of E Primary School we uphold and teach pupils about the British Values which are defined as:  

 These values are taught explicitly through Personal, Social, Health and Emotional (PSCHE), and Religious Education (RE).  We also teach the British Values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum. We have achieved the following external accreditations which demonstrate evidence of our commitment to British Values.
   

The school takes opportunities to actively promote British Values through our daily collective worship and whole school systems and structures such as electing and running a successful School Council. We also actively promote the British values through ensuring that our curriculum planning and delivery includes real opportunities for exploring these values. Actively promoting British Values also means challenging pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including ‘extremist’ views.

 At Dinting C of E Primary School, these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:

  Democracy:

Democracy is an important value at our school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council (The elections of members of the School Council). Children recommend each other for the Head teacher Values Awards which are awarded to individual children (or classes) who show they are modeling the Gospel values shown in the entrance hall of the school. The children have worked together and agreed sets of codes which we at Dinting Primary School actively work and live by; these are our ‘Behaviour and Playtime Codes’. These codes are available in each classroom and actively used by children and adults influencing what is an agreed acceptable behaviour.

  The Rule of Law:

 The importance of laws and rules, whether they are those that govern the class, the school or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days. Our ‘Traffic Light System’ for behaviour is aligned to an agreed set of codes (see above) and if children are given verbal warnings this is always set against the agreed school behaviour code. Children are asked to identify which aspect of the code they have broken to ensure that this connection is made and understood. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken.

  Individual Liberty : 

 Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at our school, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we provide boundaries for our children to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and planned curriculum. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our e-Safety teaching and PSHE lessons. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs, choose the level of challenge in some lessons and are becoming increasingly more involved in child–led learning.

  Mutual Respect:

Part of our school ethos and behaviour policy are based around core Christian values such as ‘respect’ and ‘responsibility’ and these values determine how we live as a community at Dinting Primary School. Collective Worship is based on ‘Values for Life and themes’ and are central to how we expect everyone to go about their life at our Church of England school. Children and adults alike, including visitors, are challenged if they are disrespectful in any way. Values are highly visible around the school and can be seen in posters, certificates and as part of our agreed codes. Our SIAMS inspection confirms this in aspect of life at Dinting  C of E Primary School.

 Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs:

This is achieved through enhancing pupils’ understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity in our local community which is by large white British. Collective Worship and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and PSHCE.’

  Examples of the British Values being taught in the curriculum this term at Dinting Church of England (VA) Primary School