British Values
As part of our SMSC policy the school will at all times promote fundamental British values. This means:
- Actively promoting the values and challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values;
- Enabling pupils to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
- Encouraging pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
- Enabling pupils to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;
- Encouraging harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling pupils to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
- Encouraging respect for other people;
- Encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.
We aim:
- To ensure that everyone in the school is aware of the core vision ‘encouraging excellence, valuing people.'
- To ensure a consistent approach to SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural) issues across the school and actively demonstrate fundamental British values in our approach towards education.
- To ensure that the pupils’ SMSC education is age appropriate and relates to our Leicestershire and national context.
- To support our pastoral team by ensuring that pupils understand what is expected of them both in the school but also in the wider community
- To give each pupil a range of opportunities both within and beyond the curriculum which develop their sense of understanding about the world and their place within it
- To support our school ethos of trust and individuality by supporting pupils to find their own identity
- To enable young people to develop an understanding of their cultural and social environment and an appreciation of the many cultures in our locality and in society
- To give each pupil an opportunity to explore age related social and moral issues, and develop a sense of social and moral responsibility
- To support pupils to understand what it is to be part of British society including what ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ means in British law
- To ensure that all pupils are aspirant for themselves and are challenged to achieve their very best
Across the school we are committed to developing pupils who can:
- Identify, reflect on and explore experiences and distinguish between right and wrong
- Discuss moral issues, develop and talk about their own attitudes and values
- Take responsibility for their own decisions and develop an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety
- Have an understanding of social responsibilities and citizenship through an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
- Accept that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour
- Celebrate a diversity of cultures through an understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law
- Understand the importance of identifying and combating discrimination
- Strive for excellence and to achieve at the very highest levels relative to their ability
We achieve this through:
- By using assessment to develop our pupils’ understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses (see Assessment Policy)
- Through our curriculum and approaches to pupil wellbeing we will encourage pupils to ask and answer deep and fundamental questions about the world and their place with it (see Teaching and Learning Policy)
- In lessons we will challenge young people to be independent learners in order to achieve their very best
- Our culture challenges all pupils to want to learn and to challenge all to be aspirant for themselves
- We will endeavour to embed creativity at the heart of the learning experiences for young people
- Through the clarity of our behaviour policy and expectations we support young people to understand the differences between right and wrong. We will model high expectations to young people at all times in order to support their growth and development
- In our lessons we will develop each pupil to establish their own moral code within the community setting and develop their understanding of the consequences associated with anti-social behaviour
- Learning will encourage collaboration in order to develop our pupils’ ability to work as part of a community
- Through the curriculum and through enrichment we will celebrate and develop our pupils’ cultural understanding
- The curriculum will celebrate diversity and develop tolerance for cultural diversity
- Actively collect pupil voice on life at the school and in terms of teaching and learning and develop the school accordingly