At Kingsway, students encounter these principles throughout everyday school life, these could be embedded within lessons or as focus sessions. Our school’s displays reflect the British Values and our learning.
At Kingsway we believe pupil voice is significant. Children are invited to put their name forward and given opportunities to present their reasons as to why they would make a good representative. We give all the children the opportunity to vote for school council members from each class in Years 2-6. Throughout the year, our school council meet to discuss ideas for the school. The aim of the meetings is to seek the children’s views and opinions on a range of school issues. Sometimes, the school council members feedback to their class and collect class views, which they share at future meetings.
Throughout school (from Early Years Foundation, up to Year 6), children are often given the chance to vote (within class on whole school matters) and make choices and decisions for themselves.
Through the spring term children took part in Science Day (which involved many different experiments), and allowed children to vote for their favourite. Our Junior Road Safety Officers also lead a whole school competition (banner encouraging walking to school) and voted for a winning design.
The Rule of Law
The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced at Kingsway. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind our school rules, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when rules are broken. At Kingsway Primary School we also reward children who follow our rules. We have a school jewels system, with weekly individual winners being rewarded in our whole school assemblies and whole classes earning golden time.
Children are given many opportunities to discuss and understand laws (across different situations). During the autumn term, each class agrees its own class rules. Foundation stage have learnt to share and take turns and have started to learn about what is fair and unfair behavior. Year 1 children have been learning about British Monarchs and visited Warwick Castle, where they have learnt about different roles and hierarchies during different periods of time. They have also had a visit from the fire service where they learnt to be safe in the event of a fire, which includes practicing the ‘Stop, Drop and Roll’ technique. Year 2 have created good and bad rules and discussed why they were chosen and when the rules are needed. Year 3/4 have had visits from Roman actors, which gave the children opportunities to learn about the lifestyle and laws of this time and how they are different from today. Year 5 have also received a visit from the fire service where they the message of laws, safety and consequences was reinforced. Year 5/6 have learnt about anti-bullying, how to identify when someone is being bullied and discussed peer pressure across a number of situations.
Throughout the spring term, Foundation Stage have had many opportunities to work with a partner (understanding the importance of sharing) and have taken part in role play activities, which has allowed them to understand rules in different scenarios. Year 1 children have explored and compared the teachings of the bible, comparing these to their class rules and learning about how to treat others. Year 2 have learnt about dangers of using the internet and learning skills to keep them safe online. Year 3/4 have looked into how to stay safe online as part of their Netwrok Engineers ICT topic. Year 5/6 have focused on E-safety throughout the term; learning how to keep themselves safe online. They have also explored the rules during the Victorian times, comparing these rules to today’s.
At Kingsway pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make informed choices, through a safe environment.
In foundation stage, children are given the free choice to explore different activities and make decisions about how to use the resources within their base. They discuss what they would like to learn and what they want to achieve throughout the day. Year 1 children have learnt how to make people feel welcome and how to create a safe learning environment for themselves and others. In Year 2, children have discussed their responsibilities inside and outside of school and their roles in the community, and how they can fulfil their roles. Year 3/4 have taken part in creating weather reports, with the BBC East Midlands weather presenters. During this visit, children discussed future job opportunities and the importance of being at school, as well as presenting the weather. They have also been learning about the importance of perseverance and how to cope with activities if they are challenging. Year 5/6 children were given the opportunity to take part in Bikeability sessions where they learnt to stay safe and make suitable decisions when riding their bike on roads. Year 6 had a visit from the British Red Cross to learn basic first aid skills (bleeds, burns, head injuries and choking) and discussed when to step in and help. At the start of the academic year, Year 6 children went away on their residential and stayed at Beaumanor Hall, Loughborough. During this trip, they were encouraged to make choices and go out of their comfort zone, in a safe and supportive environment. The activities included climbing wall, canoeing, bridge building, shelter making, nightline (blind folded) and hide and seek in the cellars!
During the spring term, Foundation Stage have focused on developing self-esteem and making their own choices during free flow activities. Year 1 have participated in discussions about individual choices, through texts such as The Lost Sheep and the story of Moses. They have also had visitors from dental and head lice nurses, allowing children to be aware of the importance of keeping clean. Additionally, they performed in an assembly for their parents, demonstrating their audio book which they had created. Year 2 have focused on understanding the value of money. They have learnt the difference between needing something and wanting something and how they can choose to save money in different ways. Year 3/4 have been discussing the importance of respecting prosperity and people and making the correct choices in different situations. They also learnt about staying safe (and keeping others safe) in and around water, through their swimming lessons. Year 5/6 have learnt about making the right choices online.
Mutual Respect and Tolerance of Those with Different Faiths and beliefs
Mutual respect is at the core of our school life. Students learn to treat each other, and staff, with great respect. Throughout our curriculum children learn to understand different cultures and beliefs.
In foundation stage, children understand what is special about each other, what makes them similar and different to other people and their friends, as well as talking about special times for themselves and their friends. Children in Year 1 have been learning about emotions and how to identify them in themselves and others. They have also been learning about how to use simple problem solving skills to become more independent and when it is necessary to ask for support. Year 2 have being learning about respect for each other and have been learning about different religious beliefs. In Year 3/4 children are encouraged to nominate ‘Fab’ friends and discuss positive friendships. In Year 5/6, children have been learning about different religious views and discussing how to build positive friendships and people who are special to them and will support them. The British Red Cross have also visited Year 6 to discuss the meaning of migration, how migration is portrayed in the media and the consequences of population movement.
During the spring term, Foundation Stage have learnt about other children’s communities, interests and special celebrations, including the Chinese New Year. Year 1 have learnt about sacred texts used by Christians, Muslims and Jews. They started to recognise some of the ways in which faiths treat their sacred books with respect and how these texts contain stories which are special to many people. They have also learnt about how Easter is celebrated and compared to other celebrations, and looked at special symbols and discussed the importance of these. Year 2 have learnt about the role of people who help the community and learnt about what charities are for and who they help. For World Book Day, Year 2 focused on the book ‘The Day The Crayons Quit’ and the rhyme ‘We Are All Like Crayons’ allowing children to consider what makes them unique and how each class is special because of each child’s qualities. They also visited the theatre to watch The Twits giving them different experiences to learn from. Year 3/4 focused on things that are important to individuals, making everyone special and showing how different we all are. They also visited a Hindu Temple, giving all children the opportunity to enhance their understanding of a different religion. Year 5/6 have learnt about the different understandings of life after death and important places of worships for a different religions. They also visited ‘The Black Country Museum’, where they enhanced their learning about Victorian times and their beliefs.
The whole school participated in ‘Yellow Day’ to raise money for British Liver Trust and learnt about the charity, which is very close to one student’s heart. Parents and Grandparents were also invited into school to celebrate ‘Grandparent Gardening Week’, which allowed children to work alongside different generations.