British Values

British Values at Wyndham Park

Context

The Department of Education has reinforced the need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote ...fundamental British values.”

 At Wyndham Park Infants’ School we uphold and teach pupils about British Values which are defined by the DfE as:  

•      democracy
•      rule of law
•      individual liberty
•      mutual respect
•      tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

At Wyndham Park, our aims as an infants’ school could be simplified as follows:

We treat everybody equally.

We understand right from wrong.

We understand the consequences for our actions.

We listen to and respect other peoples’ opinions and values.

We try to help other people.

We know that we are all special.

We understand and respect the roles of those who may help us.

We respect the culture and beliefs of others.

Our ethos and the “Big Picture”

At Wyndham Park Infants’ School we strongly value social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL). We aim to give our children a deep understanding and knowledge of themselves and of others in the “community of communities” in which we live. We want our children to become thoughtful, responsible and active citizens who are able to thrive in a diverse modern Britain. We encourage the children to be community- minded and curious about our world from the beginning, teaching the importance of understanding and respecting other people’s differences and opinions. We regularly explore the need for making wise choices, and of recognising the difference between right and wrong and related consequences.

We also consider the benefits of British values for our school society as well as society generally, and aim to put everything into as meaningful, personal and purposeful context as possible for our young children. For example, we learn about Democracy and we try to live it e.g. by running democratic School Council elections; we also explore a range of stories and role- play situations about fairness. We believe that one way of promoting democratic engagement is through pupil voice: we aim to ensure (e.g. through class SC books) that every child has a right to contribute to and shape our school constructively, and we regularly change our SC committee throughout the year affording as many pupils as possible this important role and responsibility.

Delivery

We believe that the best way to instil British values in our pupils is to reflect them in the way our school is run. We aim to embody democracy in the way we work and within the ethos and culture of Wyndham Park within a clear and consistent framework of rules, regulations and high expectations which are there for the benefit of us all.

These values are also taught explicitly through Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education and Citizenship (PSHEE & C), and Religious Education (RE) through assemblies, visits and visitors and daily “Points of View”© sessions. These sessions last for between twenty to thirty minutes and are planned and delivered across all three infant age groups; they are our core means of delivering PSHEE (Personal Social Health and Economic Education), Citizenship and RE (Religious Education) at our school. We explain and explore the meaning and significance of British values; we encourage our pupils to reflect on the values and what they mean for themselves and others, and wherever possible to use these values to guide their actions.

We also teach British Values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced creative curriculum. (Please see examples below.)

Furthermore, our strong links with “Child of Hope” school in Uganda and our modern foreign language curriculum foster intercultural respect, understanding and tolerance.

At Wyndham Park Infants School we will actively challenge pupils, staff, parents or governors expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including “extremist” views.