British Values at Sir Francis Hill
The staff at Sir Francis Hill are expected to:
- enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence
- enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England
- encourage students 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
- enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England
- further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation for and respect for their own and other cultures
- encourage respect for other people, and
- 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.
Within British Values, there are 5 distinct areas that we need to ensure the children understand. These are: Democracy, The Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance of those from differing faiths or with differing beliefs.
This term, our theme for our assemblies is ‘British Values’, all children in school will undertake this series of assemblies and these may be followed up in class time.
However, British Values go much further than being isolated to an assembly, here are a few examples of the types of activities that we undertake at Sir Francis Hill:
At Sir Francis Hill, the children vote for who they want to represent them on the School Parliament. The School Parliament meets regularly to discuss things that are important to the children, with points raised in class being fed back to other members of the Parliament and the Staff representative, Mrs Dennis. Mr Emiliani, our Chair of Governors also attends Parliament meetings.
At Sir Francis Hill, the children help to decide which charities they would like to raise money for.
Throughout the year the children have an input into which charity events we support, such as ‘Jeans for Genes’, Comic Relief’, Sport Relief’ and ‘Children in Need’.
The Rule of Law
The importance of rules and laws, whether those rules that we have in the classroom, the school, or the country, are reinforced regularly; as well as when dealing with behaviour and through school assemblies. Children will encounter rules and laws throughout their lives and it is important that they understand why they exist.
Children assist in the writing of rules for their classrooms, so that they are clear on their expectations and the expectations of others.
Children are taught the value and reasons behind rules and laws; that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities involved in these and the consequences when rules are broken. Visits from local authorities such as the Police and Fire Service help reinforce this message.
Within school, children are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment.
We educate and provide boundaries for our pupils to make these choices safely, knowing that they can talk this through with a member of staff. Children are encouraged to make sensible choices but understand that there might be consequences for unsuitable choices.
Children are encouraged to know and understand their rights and how to exercise these safely, this might be through eSafety or PSHE lessons.
At Sir Francis Hill, children are encouraged to take responsibility in helping others, including staff. They might, for example, run messages, take part in litter picking duty, or help younger children through playtime as a playground ‘buddy’.
At Sir Francis Hill, children have the freedom to make their own choices, for example, by choosing which lunchtime and after school clubs they would like to join, making choices about the level of challenge in their lessons and making a conscious choice about representing the school in sports, arts or during drama productions.
Mutual respect is a thread that runs through all of our activities and learning opportunities at Sir Francis Hill. Children learn that their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community treat each other with respect.
At Sir Francis Hill, the children welcome visitors to school. In return for this welcome, it is expected that visitors wear badges so that the children know who they are.
The children and staff are encouraged to treat other people with respect. In return, we expect to be treated with respect.
The children are encouraged to work together to help one another.
Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Belief
At Sir Francis Hill, the children enjoy learning about differing faiths and
cultures from around the world. We promote diversity through celebrations of different faiths and cultures in our curriculum and in assemblies.
We encourage the children to understand how prejudice can lead to hate and how important it is that they overcome any prejudices. To this end, we will actively challenge pupils, staff or parents who express opinions which are contrary to fundamental British Values, this includes including ‘extremist’ views, in line with the government’s PREVENT strategy.