At King Charles School we promote ‘British Values’ through our spiritual, moral, social and cultural education which permeates through the school’s curriculum and is part of our Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum. British Values are also an integral part of our school’s Worship and Values planning. Where we can, we look for opportunities to reflect on these values and make contextual and opportune links. For example, as part of our focus on reading, we ensure that some of the books we use have strong links to British Values giving our pupils a clear reference to help understand their importance.

At King Charles, we know that development in this area, and any other area of learning, is most successful when values and attitudes are promoted and modelled by all the staff and provide a model of behaviour for our pupils.

‘British Values’ were set out in the Government’s 2011 ‘PREVENT STRATEGY‘ (click on the following link).

The British Values are identified as:

Democracy:

Pupils, parents and staff at King Charles are always being given the opportunity for their voice to be heard and when making decisions in our school, everyone is involved. An important part of this learning for our pupils is how we are heard in a polite, precise and respectful way. We provide opportunities in class to discuss and debate where appropriate and this is built around listening to and respecting others’ views – this is reflected in two of our three ‘school rules’: ‘Show good manners at all times’ and ‘Show care and respect for everyone and everything’.

An obvious example of Democracy in action in our school is our School Council. Here, class representatives are voted for by their peers and attend regular meetings where decisions and ideas are shared in two way communication – from the pupils and to the pupils. Each meeting is chaired by a Year 6 pupil and there is a clear agenda and actions that arise from each meeting. Our School Council doesn’t stop at this though; Council members lead class and whole school assembly inputs, they work across the school carrying our surveys and ‘fact finding’ missions as well as helping decide on the charities and local events that we support as a school.

Parents’ views are vital to us. When new initiatives have been made or are being considered, ‘quick slips’ are sent home to ask for parents’ views with opportunities to share ideas, praise and concern. It’s important to know that at King Charles, everyone is part of everything. Parental feedback and its impact on our work as a school can be found HERE.

Rule Of Law:

We involve pupils in setting codes of behaviour; helping pupils to make decisions and choices that are acceptable to the school community and society at large. Within our classrooms and other areas of the school, when ‘rules’ need to be put in place to help keep us all safe and learning, the pupils are part of this decision (showing clear Democracy) and importantly, are helped to learn ‘why’ rules are important. From having a sound understanding of the need for rules in our school environment, they appreciate the importance for the local, national and international communities too.

Pupils are helped to learn to manage their behaviour and take responsibility for their actions. Staff are committed to providing a consistent, welcoming and predicable environment within the school and beyond and model our expectations to pupils. Being part of an environment like this ensures that our pupils feel safe, secure and happy and as such – being ready to learn.

Individual Liberty:

Pupils at King Charles are encouraged to become good and valued citizens. We do this by supporting each pupil to become as independent as possible and considering what we, as citizens, expect from each other. Some pupils will be able to take responsibility for particular roles and to understand that with certain rights comes a level of responsibility such as our Year 6 Ambassadors, members of our School Worship Action Team (SWAT) and those pupils that support the running of a school club or help in the school office. Learning to do things independently is an important part of learning to understand yourself. We support others by participating in charitable events such as, Red Nose Day/Comic Relief, Children in Need and other local community events.

Alongside rules and laws, we promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs. Through the provision of a safe, supportive environment and empowering education, we provide boundaries for our young pupils to make choices safely; for example:

• choosing activities to take part in during lessons or break times
• choices about how they show their learning in class and through homework
• choosing and organising fund-raising events
• choices around the participation in extra-curricular activities
• choosing groups to work on a task and dividing roles and responsibilities

Our pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are taught how to exercise these safely, such as in our e-safety and PSHE lessons.

Mutual Respect:

One of our three school rules is ‘Show respect for everyone and everything’. At King Charles, any rule is not simply ‘enforced’, it’s modelled and understood. We consider what this means to us and what it means to others too.

Through our curriculum we learn about other cultures, beliefs and the differences that make each person and community different, special and important. As a Church of England School, respect is central to our work as a school and it’s a central theme to our whole school collective worship programme.

Tolerance Of Different Faiths And Beliefs:

King Charles School serves an increasingly multi-faith community where each person is respected and valued equally without regard to ability, gender, faith, heritage or race.

Cultural appreciation and development forms part of our curriculum. We place great emphasis on providing encounters and participation in events and celebrations to broaden all pupils’ experiences and awareness of others.

Pupils are encouraged to experience British Culture through our curriculum themes. For example, pupils in Year 6 learn of changes to popular culture in Great Britain since the 1960s and how this also had a wider impact to other parts of the world. Pupils in Year 2 make comparison between ‘2 Queens’: Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II whilst in Year 5, pupils learn about what it means to be part of the Commonwealth and in doing so, learn of other countries and cultures that make this.

Through our Religious Education, Geography, History and PSHE curricula, we learn about others and ensure that where possible, there are opportunities to learn ‘from’ not just ‘about’ other cultures, beliefs and people.