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Becket Primary School

SMSC and British Values

SMSC at Becket Primary School

 

smsc mapping.pdf

 

 Promoting British Values at Becket Primary School  

 

The Department for Education’s five-part definition of British values is as follows:

  • democracy
  • the rule of law
  • individual liberty
  • mutual respect
  • tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

 

At Becket Primary School, we value and celebrate being a part of Britain, and we are committed to serving our community and surrounding areas.  We recognise and value the multi-cultural, multi-faith nature of the school and understand how this reflects the wider society of the United Kingdom.  We accept the crucial role our school plays in promoting important values to make our school community a safe, respectful and happy place to work, learn and achieve. 

This means that we celebrate traditions and customs in the course of the year; for example, Harvest Festival during the autumn term and Christmas celebrations.  We also value and celebrate national events, e.g. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Further, children learn about being part of Britain from different perspectives. They learn where Britain is in relation to the rest of Europe and other countries in the world and about significant events in British history such as ‘The Great Fire of London’ and key historical figures.

Respect

Mutual respect is at the core of our school life. Children learn that their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others.  All members of the school community are taught to treat each other with respect. 

At Becket Primary, children learn respect through:

  • The promotion of positive relationships.
  • The modelling of positive relationships by all adults working in school.
  • All aspects of the curriculum, in particular the R.E and Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum (as successfully working in groups requires respect for each other).
  • The work of the school council. 
  • Our celebration assemblies when all pupils show respect for the efforts of others.
  • Participation in events organised to raise money for various charities which are chosen and voted on by the school council. 
  • Learning to live with their peers on educational residential visits.

Individual Liberty

Alongside rules and laws, we promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs.  

  • Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at our school, knowing that they are within a safe and supportive environment. 
  • 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 Online Safety, RSE and PSHE lessons. 
  • Children are encouraged to understand responsibility in school in terms of behaviour and attitude to learning. 
  • Pupils are taught how to be safe and how to act safely. This is given an additional emphasis during anti-bullying week. 
  • We offer a range of lunchtime activities which pupils have the freedom to choose from, based on their interests and needs. 
  • Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make the right choices, knowing  that  they are in a safe and supportive environment.
  • Children in the Foundation stage are encouraged to develop their independence and make sensible choices through the structured continuous provision which enables children to return to the same resources to extend their learning.
  • At Becket the children are consulted on the choice of activities for After School Clubs activities and there are a range of after school clubs which they can access.

In RE lessons, we explicitly promote individual liberty through teaching and questioning about identity, belonging and diversity, as outlined in the Derby City Agreed Syllabus.

 Tolerance of those with different beliefs and faiths

Our school population is made up of young people from many different nationalities and over 30 different languages are spoken in school. Nearly every main world religion is represented. This rich, diverse mix of children provides the ideal opportunity for our pupils to grow up and learn from each other from first-hand experience. Our pupils regularly welcome new children into their classes and are responsible in acting as buddies to newcomers.

We believe that tolerance is gained through knowledge and understanding. Through our curriculum and the routines of our daily school life, we strive to demonstrate tolerance and help children to become knowledgeable and understanding citizens. 

As well as actively promoting British Values, the opposite applies; we would actively challenge pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including ‘extremist’ views. 

Children in Foundation Stage develop their understanding of the World by learning about different celebrations connected to different faiths. In Key stage One and Two our R.E curriculum covers learning about the main world faiths and the children have the opportunity to visit different places of worship including local churches, a Gurdwara and a Mosque.

Our assemblies are broadly Christian in content but often focus on moral issues which are common to all religions e.g. respect, manners and reflecting on individual skills and talents and maximizing these. Assemblies are also dedicated to teaching about the different World religions including key celebrations in the Multi Faith Calendar. The topic of tolerance and

Anti bullying are regularly addressed in assembly time, as well as in the PSHE curriculum. Incidents of bullying are dealt with by all staff but the Pastoral team use a Restorative Justice approach to ensure that children reflect on how incidence of bullying can affect others.

Democracy

Children at Becket Primary have the opportunity for their voice to be heard through our school council which meets regularly to discuss issues raised within the school.  They are elected by their class peers and are involved in making the school a better place to learn. The council is able to genuinely effect change within the school and gives our children a better understanding of democracy.  

Pupil voice is also considered through our regular pupil voice which enables the children to impact the decisions made by the leadership team. 

Pupils are consulted on a range of issues e.g. discussing our school values, to questionnaires to discover the uptake of physical activities at lunchtime.

Rule of Law

The importance of laws, whether they are those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout the school day. We have a clearly structured Behaviour Regulation Policy which all stakeholders understand. There are consistent practices within the school that the children understand and are expected to follow e.g. Recognition Boards in each classroom.

We regularly review behaviour incidents in school and where necessary create individual plans for specific children which are shared with parents.

Assemblies are delivered with a focus on the law e.g. Anti-Social behaviour including hoax phone calls.

Pupils are taught the laws of the road and develop their responsibility of personal safety through cycle training.

Foundation stage staff support parents on many issues or signpost them to further advice e.g. arranging health visitor talks on safety (use of car seats etc.)

In RE, pupils examine different codes of conduct for different religions but will also consider how English Law is above these. Our School has links with the local community police officers and Derbyshire Fire and rescue Service. They visit the children to talk about their role and also offer support and advice to children and their families on a number of issues including gangs, fire and e- safety.