Celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III

British Values at Lawford C of E Primary School

We are a Church of England School and the Christian values are at the heart of everything that we do and believe in. Children are immersed in a set of values for life and are the best ambassadors at showing our values in action.

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

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

These values are taught explicitly through Personal, Social, Health and Emotional (PSHE), and Religious Education (RE). Whole school worship assemblies are based around a value each half term and explored through a range of different experiences such as Bible stories, stories from other cultures and ‘I wonder’ questions. 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 assemblies 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. All staff carry out annual Prevent training and resources are used in the classroom to look at issues such as stereotyping people by their colour and sex.

At Lawford 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 and Sports Leaders are based on pupil votes. The children have worked together and agreed two sets of codes which we at Lawford 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. We work with the children to recognise when they have not followed our rules and the impact this has on others.  There are also visits from authorities such as the police, fire service, lifeguards etc. are regular parts of our calendar and help reinforce this message.

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, involved in child–led learning, e.g. and planning and delivering child led assemblies and suggesting the projects that the eco council adn school councils will work on and the charities we will support.

Mutual Respect:

Part of our school ethos and behaviour policy are based around core Christian values:  ‘love’, 'trust', 'hope', ‘service’ and 'community'  These values determine how we live as a community at Lawford C of E Primary School. Collective worship  follows the church year and 'iSing pop' resources as well as Picture news - which makes specific links to British Values throughout the year. Children and adults alike, including visitors, are challenged if they are disrespectful in any way. . 

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. Assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and PSHE. 

We celebrate ‘European Day of Languages’ as a whole school encouraging children to research and discover differences and similarities between us and our European neighbours. Likewise we use opportunities such as the Olympics and World Cup to study and learn about life and culture in countries such as Brazil.