What are British Values?

British Values are:

· democracy

· the rule of law

· individual liberty and mutual respect

· tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

British Values have always played an important part in the work undertaken at Springfield Infant School and Nursery and they are always actively promoted. It is everywhere in our school and in everything we do. We recognise that each child is unique and provide a broad and balanced curriculum to nurture their talents and interests.

Democracy

There are many opportunities for members of our school community to have their opinions shared.  

We use questionnaires throughout the year to gather feedback on the work we do in school. Subject leaders and governors carry out pupil questionnaires to gather feedback on children’s learning and the curriculum to ensure that their views are heard. We also collect feedback from our parents through our parent questionnaire.

The Rule of Law

When children first come into our school they learn about our ‘School Promises’. Our school promises promote respect, tolerance, good behaviour and an excellent attitude towards our work. These are the first ‘rules’ which our children come into contact with. The School Promises are regularly promoted and reinforced through whole school assemblies and through discussions in the classroom.  The children learn that our School Promises enable us all to work in a safe and ordered environment.  Once the children are aware of the School Promises they will be taught that there are rules outside of our school. School Promises are our rules for inside school and the rules for when we are outside of school are called ‘the rule of law’. They learn that the ‘rule of law’ applies to everyone living in our country. Class discussions in our wider curriculum work, assemblies and visitors into school are an easy way to introduce the children to the ‘rule of law’. 

Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

We actively promote mutual respect through our school’s ethos, values and beliefs. Mutual respect is also promoted through class discussions, RE lessons, displays and assemblies.  Children are taught to respect each other, to be co-operative and collaborative and to be respectful and understanding about differences between people.

Through OPAL at lunchtimes, we are developing the use of adults on the playground and a group of our teaching assistants support adventurous play, sporting activities and role play at lunchtime.

We have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and this is reflected in our Behaviour Policy.  Good behaviour is consistently rewarded through our class reward systems and our house systems. 

Key events and festivals from different religions and traditions are built into our curriculum and give our children the opportunity to look at different cultural phenoma as well as helping to teach the British values of tolerance and respect for others.