British Values

British Values at Bentley West Primary School

At Bentley West Primary School we uphold and teach pupils about 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). We also teach British Values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced creative curriculum.

The school takes opportunities to actively promote British Values through regular assemblies which include collective worship and celebration of pupils’ hard work and achievement.

We have whole school systems and structures in place such as electing and running a school council, promoting peer learning and having learning ambassadors and visits coordinators working in each class. We also actively promote British values through ensuring that our curriculum planning and delivery includes real opportunities for exploring these values.

At Bentley West Primary School, these values are reinforced in following ways:

Democracy:

Democracy is an important value at our school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council. Each class has two school council representatives, who are elected by their peers in a formal election process.

Children are also given the opportunity to nominate and elect Head Boy and Head Girl in September and following the introduction of the house point system in January, nominate a House Captain and Vice Captain for their House Team.

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 PHSE work. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs.

The Rule of Law:

Bentley West Primary School has high expectations for pupil behaviour and the school’s behaviour policy is consistently applied by all members of staff within the school.

The school has clearly displayed rules for behaviour around school and in classrooms, at lunchtime and on the playground. At Bentley West Primary School, we follow ‘Good to be Green’ as our behaviour approach. Children are rewarded for following rules and remaining ‘on green’ all day. Excellent behaviour is rewarded by moving through bronze, silver and gold. Where necessary children are given warning cards in yellow, orange and red. Class teachers keep a log of behaviour in the class and phase leaders speak to children about their behaviour if there have been any issues.

Good manners and effort are rewarded with house points. Stickers, certificates and badges are also rewarded for good behaviour.

Mutual Respect:

Our school ethos is based around core values such as respect, responsibility and community. Bentley West pupils are respectful and polite. The children are aware that they are part of the school community, this is reinforced by the positive relationships they witness between staff and between staff and pupils.

Parents are regularly invited into school to participate in Inspire Days,.

Bentley West is part of the Bentley Federation of schools and our pupils are taught to foster positive relationships with the pupils from King Charles Primary our federated school.

Bentley West is a central part of the Bentley community and children are taught to respect all members of the local community and wider area, through its involvement in community events, religious celebrations and charity fundraising.

Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs:

Due a lack of cultural diversity in the local Bentley area, developing children’s understanding and tolerance of differing faiths and beliefs is an important part of the work of the school. Weekly assemblies are used to develop children’s understanding of significant people in history, stories from different religions and cultural festivals and celebrations, follow up work is undertaken in class assemblies to further develop children’s knowledge. This is enhanced by learning in RE and PSHE. We use opportunities such as the Olympics and World Cup to study and learn about life and culture in different countries.

We have regular Celebration days where we study another world faith and learn about their customs, practises and celebrations. We also invite guest speakers and visit places of worship to give children a first hand experience.