British Values

At Newker Primary School we promote British values. Fundamental British Values underpin what it is to be a citizen in a modern and diverse Great Britain valuing our community and celebrating diversity of the UK. These values are:

• Democracy
• Rule of Law
• Liberty
• Respect
• Tolerance

How do we promote ‘British Values’ at Newker?

We seek to promote British values in our policies and practice here at Newker. Our activities and the way we manage learning and behaviour, clearly reflect British values. We promote these values in the following ways:

Democracy

• We provide pupils with a broad general knowledge of, and promote respect for, public institutions and services – by discussing these whenever appropriate in curriculum work.
• We teach pupils how they can influence decision-making through the democratic process – e.g. in our School Council elections and work, our Rights Respecting group work, pupil voice around the curriculum and school issues.
• We have looked at the advantages and disadvantages of democracy and how it works in Britain – e.g. when considering periods of history where democracy was not as fully developed as it is now.
• We have attended ‘The Big Debate’ held at Durham County Hall Council chamber, to have our say as pupils in a County Durham Primary School.
• We hold School Council Elections in September each year, so our pupils learn how to argue and defend points of view e.g. when electing representatives to the School Council for each class.
• We have started to work on developing our Oracy curriculum in all lessons to help our pupils to express their views and provide opportunities to present their work and share their opinions.
• There are also opportunities in Assemblies to share our opinions and views of local, national and world news events.
• Our School Behaviour system helps to model how perceived injustice can be peacefully challenged e.g. through our interactions with pupils and discussing scenarios in Assemblies and class PHSE work.

The Rule of Law

• We ensure school rules and expectations are clear and fair e.g. by discussing these with pupils and establishing classroom rules and class charters with the pupils themselves.
• We help pupils to distinguish right from wrong, during everyday interactions and also through discussions of books and within curriculum topic areas.
• We help support our pupils to respect the law and the basis on which it is made e.g. by showing how rules help everyone to interact in an orderly and fair manner and protect the vulnerable in society.
• We help pupils to understand that living under the rule of law protects individuals in society.
• We include visits from the police in the curriculum e.g. our children have had sessions with the Community Police Officers around Online Safety and also visits from the Fire Service.
• We develop approaches in school focused on fairness and justice to help resolve conflicts e.g. as part of consequences in our approach to behaviour.

Liberty

• We support pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence through all areas of teaching and learning in school.
• We encourage our pupils to take responsibility for their behaviour, as well as knowing their rights through work around our Rights Respecting Award.
• We challenge stereotypes through SMSC/PHSE work and assemblies.
• We have an anti-bullying culture and this is reflected in our Anti-Bullying Policy, which our School Council review each year and also in our Rights Respecting Behaviour Policy.

Respect and Tolerance

• We promote respect for individual differences in all areas of our school.
• We help our pupils to acquire an understanding and respect for their own and other cultures and ways of life, through our Religious Education learning and in SMSC and PHSE curriculum.
• We challenge prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour through discussions and in our approach to behaviour in school.
• We organise visits to places of worship e.g. visits to the local church in Chester-le-Street and also to other diverse places of worship to support pupil’s learning through our RE curriculum.
• We develop critical personal thinking skills throughout our curriculum.
• We discuss differences between people, such as differences of faith, ethnicity, disability, gender or sexuality and differences of family situations, such as looked-after children or young carers e.g. through our SMSC/PHSE and broader curricular work and through visitors to school sharing their experiences.