British Values

Children have a range of opportunities to experience democratic principles within the school setting eg voting for School Councillors, Team Captains, as a means of reaching a decision where there is more than one possible outcome.  For our School Council elections, children provide a ‘manifesto’ to present to others and then voting takes place.  Children are taught that the results of such a democratic process are binding.  As part of school self-evaluation children have the opportunity to voice their opinion on a range of matters through pupil conferences and pupil questionnaires.  The information collected through these channels is then carefully considered as part of the school’s decision making process.  Children are given appropriate feedback from the school leaders as to the outcomes of these processes.

The school uses the occurrence of local and general elections as an opportunity to teach children how the democratic process operates in our country today.  Through our history curriculum, children learn about regimes where democracy has not been the foundation for government and they are able to recognise the differences.

The school offers a range of opportunities for children to take up. At Spindle Point, we want children to be aspirational and there are opportunities to apply for roles and responsibilities, such as office manager roles, eco shop managers etc.

At Spindle Point we use a toolbox of resources to promote discussion, presentation of different points of view and an appropriate way to ‘argue’  or ‘defend’ a point using rationale and chosen words, such as P4C, Would You Rather.., oracy opportunities.

Our school rules –

• A – Aim High
• B – Build Confidence
• C – Care for Each Other

These rules are revisited and reinforced many times throughout the school year.  Each class has its own age appropriate rules (drawn up in consultation with the children) that guide behaviours.  Through this process, children learn about the necessity for rules, if groups of people are going to live together successfully.   We endeavour to develop in all children a strong moral compass that guides their behaviour, such that they are able to differentiate between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.  Children learn that they are responsible for their own actions.  We uphold the message of Positive Regard and all staff are trained to use this approach to build good citizenship.

From a very young age, children learn about the role of the police force in upholding the law and helping people.  This is built on as part of our PSHE curriculum in Key Stage 2 where children learn more about why we have laws, how the law protects individuals and how to take part in making and changing laws.  We make use of opportunities to further enhance this learning by inviting other agencies into school (eg police officers, Fort Alice- Healthy Relationships) or by linked educational visits (Crucial Crew). Our character education permeates through the curriculum and out of school opportunities.

Our school ethos is grounded in a firm belief that everyone, adults and children, should show respect to each other at all times.  This is very evident in the way that children conduct themselves around school and in the many interactions that take place between adults and children.  The cultural makeup of the school is predominantly white British and this mirrors the cultural makeup of the local community.  We recognise that our children need planned opportunities to learn about other cultures and faiths and this is addressed in a variety of ways.  We have a well-established link with Sunning Hill Primary School, where children are predominantly Muslim.  Through a series of planned events the children meet up together and take part in a wide range of activities together.  Over the last few years these have included a street party to celebrate a Royal event, a Brazilian carnival, a mobile farm and sport.  The children are learning about each other’s faiths, customs and beliefs and recognising that there are many more similarities between them than differences.

Our Religious Education Curriculum includes learning about different faiths from around the world.  We teach children that people may have different beliefs to their own but this does not mean they are inferior to their own.  We include a programme of visits to a number pf religious places/buildings eg the Jewish museum, a Mosque, a Hindu Temple.  We have an established link with Kearsley Mount Methodist Church and we visit this at least once every year when we hold our carol service.

We also teach this through

• PSHE curriculum and assemblies
• Positive relationships encouraged and modelled
• Inclusive ethos
• Religious education (RE) curriculum
• School council
• Sports day
• Participation in sports competitions with other schools
• Trips – wider community
• Visitors to the school
• Peer assessment
• Collaboration with other schools in local area
• Stories from world faiths and cultures
• RE curriculum
• School curriculum
• Special assemblies on faiths led by children in school
• PSHE
• Debates in the English Curriculum
• Learning about Spanish Cultures

Learning about Windows and Mirrors viewpoints in Talk Through Stories