At St. Mary's Catholic Primary School we promote ‘British Values’ through our spiritual, moral, social and cultural education which permeates through the school’s curriculum and supports the development of the ‘whole child’.
At St. Mary's, we recognise that such development is most successful when those values and attitudes are promoted by all the staff and provide a model of behaviour for our pupils.
At St Mary's Catholic Primary School we ensure that through our school vision, values, curriculum and teaching we promote tolerance and respect for all cultures, faiths and life styles.
We have duty to protect our children for life in Modern Britain and to keep them safe. We value the importance of the current guidelines in ‘developing and deepening pupils’ understanding of the fundamental British values of
As a school we value the diverse ethnic backgrounds of the world around us and appreciate the diversity of our own school community. We undertake a variety of events and lessons to celebrate these. This approach enriches all parties as it teaches tolerance and respect for all the differences in the world and our school community. Underpinning this is a range of curriculum opportunities which have strong links to British History.
Democracy
Democracy is actively promoted within the school. Pupils have their voices heard through our School Council, pupil questionnaires and surveys. Head Boy and Head Girl as well as House captains are all elected through the democratic process of voting. Our school hall is transformed into a polling station to elect our school council representatives using ballot papers and boxes as well as a returning officer to create a realistic voting experience to help pupils understand the importance of our right to vote and elect fair representation.
Individuality Liberty
Pupils are encouraged to make choices and voice their views, opinions, concerns and worries knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. It is our hope that this experience empowers pupils to make safe choices now and in later life. Pupils are encouraged to know and understand their rights and exercise them safely e.g. through our online safety curriculum and PHSE curriculum. They are encouraged to make choices and share their views during lessons and it is hoped that our pupils can understand how they can influence decision-making in a wider context as they get older.
The Rule of Law
The importance of law is discussed, whether it is the laws which represent our class, school, community groups or the country. This is consistently reinforced throughout regular school days as well as through school assemblies, school councils and other school groups. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws that govern and protect us in school, the wider community and the country, the responsibilities we have to keep these laws and the consequences when these are broken. We have visits from authorities such as fire, police and various political groups to reinforce this message. Class rules are agreed by every class and displayed in every classroom so as to be understood by all.
Mutual Respect
Our aim is to help children grow to become confident, courteous, healthy and questioning individuals.
We aim to provide a secure, caring environment that will enable children to develop healthy attitudes and become positive, happy and confident members of the community. All contributions are valued and respected. We aim for children to have empathy with and show tolerance towards others. We are particularly keen to develop healthy, fit children who feel safe in the environment of our school. We aim to ensure children enjoy and achieve within the structure we offer. Children are encouraged to make a positive contribution to the community close to school and also to the Global community we all belong to. Positive behaviour is encouraged in all areas of school activity in an atmosphere of mutual respect, consideration and courtesy. All children will be encouraged to develop their own self-discipline and take responsibility for their actions. Children agree their own classroom rules and contribute to the rules of the school. This forms the basis of our behaviour policy. Bullying is not tolerated and any reported incidents are taken very seriously indeed.
At St Mary's School we believe that children need to feel safe and healthy in order to learn and develop positive attitudes so we need to play our part in ensuring children are secure and confident. Our school is a rich educational environment promoting positive attitudes towards learning and an ethos where each child is valued and offered every opportunity to succeed. It is a happy and vibrant community in which our highly qualified staff have high expectations for the children and strive to bring learning alive in order to nurture and inspire academic success. Our intention is to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils, preparing them at school for their future life responsibilities and experiences. We encourage every boy and girl to discover and develop their own skills and abilities, as well as their interests, talents and their own distinctive personalities so they can each achieve their full potential.
Tolerance
At St Mary's Catholic Primary School, we encourage tolerance of those with different faiths (or no faith) and beliefs. We need to enhance pupils understanding of the wider world to prepare them for a more culturally diverse world than the one they are growing up in around Henley in Arden. Pupils are given opportunities to experience diversity through the school curriculum as well as links with other schools and visits to other places of worship. Pupils are taught about the diverse families units that we have in modern Britain as well as an understanding of both disabilities and hidden conditions.