British Values at Bishop Chavasse School

The Government defines ‘British Values’ as:

• Democracy
• Rule of Law
• Individual Liberty
• Mutual respect
• Tolerance of different faiths and beliefs

As an inclusive Church of England school, our strong Christian values of Compassion, Wisdom and Honesty permeate all areas of our curriculum and the community of which the children and families at our school are part. These values are at the centre of our school vision and through them we live out the very definitions of the Government’s core British Values, ensuring they are embedded within the learning opportunities we offer for our children and reinforced through the life of our whole school. We reinforce the values during Collective Worship and through our carefully planned and progressive PSHE lessons and through the wider curriculum.

Democracy   

• Our passionate and dedicated School Council make up part of our Pupil Voice. They listen to the pupils in their classes and bring the Pupil Voice to the forefront of our school community in weekly School Council meetings where they have the time to discuss ways to make improvements and changes within our school. In other parts of the curriculum, pupils have the opportunity to share their understanding and thoughts about different curriculum subjects or pupil behaviour and wellbeing.
• Each year the children decide upon their class rules and/or charter and all the children contribute to the drawing up of the charter. Each child then signs the rules/charter to signal their commitment to it.
• Year 6 children hold a number of posts of responsibility across the school ranging from Head Boy and Head Girl and House group captains to Leaders of Light, Sports leaders and buddies.
• In House groups, we encourage children to decide which charities we would like to raise money for each year. Through our work with House groups and the School Council, we support, teach and encourage children to understand democracy, and decide on their preferred charity as a house.
• Through PSHE lessons and Collective Worships children are taught to respect their rights and the rights of others through careful discussion.
• We welcome a range of external visitors throughout the year, from church leaders to our local MP to charity representatives.

The democratic process not only helps pupils make decisions and share ideas with others, but helps develop their confidence in sharing their voice. They also understand that they have an audience who listen. Additionally, children learn how to manage feelings of disappointment in a supportive and safe environment, if they are not chosen or elected.

Rule of Law

• Rules are important. At Bishop Chavasse, children learn about the importance of different rules in the classroom, home, or in the wider community and the consequences of not following them.

• When the school year starts, each class discuss their class rules and create a class charter. Teachers guide conversations about the importance of having these shared rules and sticking to them to make their learning journeys and friendships more fruitful and safe. All children sign the class rules to signify their agreement in them.

• At Bishop Chavasse, we have a number of positive reward systems in place to celebrate achievement in classrooms and across the school: Good to be Green, Chavasse Shields, Uniform ‘golden table’ and Headteacher Heroes all promote positive behaviours and the following of the rules at school. There are clear logical consequences throughout the school which are issued in line with our behaviour policy underpinned by therapeutic thinking.

• Our PSHE curriculum and collective worships teach children about being trusting, respectful and honest members of the community and we actively encourage children to develop a strong sense of morality; knowing right from wrong and doing the right thing even when that may feel difficult or challenging, throughout all our teaching and our wider curriculum opportunities.

• We plan visits from external agencies such as the Police, Fire Service and Road Safety regularly to help reinforce the Rule of Law.

• Internet Safety day and online safety lessons throughout the year reinforce the rules and safety procedures needed to be followed in order that children are safe in their behaviour online. 

Children at our school show respect for the rules and the law. They show an understanding of their responsibilities and know that their behaviours - both pro-social and antisocial - have logical consequences. Our children feel safe in a secure and respectful environment. Through the buddy system and House group system, Head Boys and Girls, our older children in the school set a good example for younger children to follow. 

Individual Liberty   

• We recognise the importance of our children understanding and valuing their liberty when living in the UK and make them aware that not all children experience this in other countries around the world.

• During the school day and week there are a variety of opportunities for the children to make their own individual choices: choosing their lunches, partners and groups for different learning opportunities, activities to participate in some lessons and sports to take part in. Our compassion and commitment to growing curious and kind children mean they are able to do this in a safe environment in order that they feel supported and confident in making those choices.
• It is important that children understand the rights and we grow an understanding of this through PSHE lessons and in Collective Worship.
• We want our children to be empathetic and tolerant of others. It is through an embedded wisdom that we ensure our pupils understand each other and promote these behaviours in Worship, RE and PSHE lessons.

The children at our school feel a sense of belonging and feel their opinions are valued. Where children are able to or need to make choices, we support them in developing the confidence to do so and help ensure they know how to stay safe when making their choices. Our children are able to speak freely as long as they remain honest, compassionate and respectful of others as well as wise to the environment around them.  

Mutual Respect   

• Being respectful and polite to each other underpins our learning in school and are two of the most important qualities we want our children to develop. They encompass compassion in its entirety. Children are rewarded with Chavasse Shields when they display these values around the school.  
• We have high expectations of how children behave which is reflected in our behaviour policy. Our policy is underpinned by the therapeutic thinking approach to behaviour where prosocial and antisocial behaviours are met with relevant logical consequences.
• Through our behaviour policy and our teaching in PSHE, RE and Collective Worship our children learn that their behaviour has an impact on their rights and those of others.
• Our House group system, buddies, School Council and leadership positions ensure we offer a variety of opportunities for children to work together with others in different classes or year groups. This supports the development of stronger friendships and a more meaningful understanding of one another throughout the school.
• We warmly welcome all visitors and newly arrived children and their families.
• All members of the school community treat each other with respect.

Tolerance of different faiths and beliefs   

Bishop Chavasse is a Church of England primary school and we have a strong Christian ethos that runs through all of our teaching and learning. We come together to worship every day.

However, we welcome children and families of all faiths and no faith and are respectful of everyone’s different faiths and beliefs.

We have a wide range of cultures and beliefs represented by the children in our school and ensure these children have the opportunity to share their experiences to widen the cultural understanding of our children at school.

Our RE curriculum is designed by the Diocese of Rochester and their learning sequences include learning about other faiths in the world, places of worship and festivals. Each year group studies a different faith each year and members of different faiths and religions may be invited to the school to enhance the learning our children get.

• Children learn about different societies and cultures through geography and history topics.
• We organise international days and culture weeks where children learn about other cultures. In addition, we ensure children read texts in literacy originating or set in other cultures from around the world, and our History and Geography learning sequences have great focus on cultures around the world.

The pupils at Bishop Chavasse are respectful to those who have different beliefs or lives to them and understand that differences should be celebrated. Our children are taught that any form of discriminatory behaviour is not acceptable.