British Values

At Martello Primary, we teach, promote and actively practice the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

British Values are carefully addressed using our curriculum and are woven into the ethos of our school.

We have a developmental approach that enables children to develop their understanding of these values throughout their time at our school, in order that they become responsible citizens.

Democracy:

• School Council are elected at the beginning of the year and are involved in many aspects of school life

• Pupil questionnaires provide the pupils with an opportunity to have their say about their school

• Democracy week assemblies teach pupils about the government, parties, policies and our voting system

• Head Boy, Head Girl and deputies are elected during Democracy week

• Visits from local councillors, local MPs and a visit to the Houses of Parliament

• Voting in class, such as a termly ‘Value VIP’, classroom themes, topics, seating plans etc.

Rule of Law:

• ‘We are Martello’ is our universal moral code, followed and respected by pupils and staff

• Classrooms follow individual class rules created by the pupils and staff

• All stakeholders are aware of our school behaviour policy

• Pupils are taught to regularly reflect on actions, involvement and behaviour in relation to the school rules

• We hold assemblies about safety (road, coastal, fire, anti-bullying, e-safety etc.) which reinforce rules, laws and consequences

• Some year groups take part in cycling proficiency

• Our core values support the understanding of law (in particular, morality) and making the correct moral choices

Individual Liberty:

• We celebrate pupils’ achievement with assemblies and class rewards

• Pupils in the school council have regular and useful dialogue with their class, regarding school issues and pupils are given the opportunity to voice their views and suggestions which are then followed up in council meetings

• Pupils regularly follow current affairs in their classroom assemblies, with debates and discussions following this

• Our core values support individual liberty

• Pupils are supported in making choices related to learning, behaviour, lifestyle and safety

• We encourage pupils to express their views, faiths and beliefs confidently and give them opportunities to do this through school events such as the school council, and democracy week.

• We greatly develop pupils self-knowledge via the use of pack types, core values, growth mind-set support, reflecting on behaviour and developing involvement for learning

Mutual Respect:

• Our RE, PSHE and History curriculums teach mutual respect

• The core value teachings in whole school and classroom assembly practises strive towards embedding mutual respect

• We learn about anti-bullying

• We have a respectful culture in all classes where views of all are heard and respected

• We support local, national and international charities and teach pupils about the importance of supporting others around us

• We promote and practise respectful relationships between pupils, staff, parents and visitors to our school

• We study key figures who display the British Values (house teams, assemblies etc.)

Tolerance:

• Our Discovery RE and PSHE curriculum support the teaching of tolerance.

• We have termly visitors with varying religious backgrounds to ensure that pupils have a broad understanding and access to real people of varying faiths

• Our core values promote the acceptance and tolerance of others views-despite possibly being different to ours