British Values at Shakespeare Infant School

Intent

At Shakespeare Infant School all children and staff wear the ‘We Care’ badge on their jumpers and lanyards with pride.  Our WE CARE ethos (Welcoming, Encouraging, Caring, Aspirational, Respectful and Emotionally Intelligent) supports the British Values school curriculum. 

We value and celebrate the diverse heritages of everyone in our school and wider community. Alongside this, we value and celebrate being part of Britain.  We all share a planet which is continually changing and our ‘We Care’ ethos strives to broaden children’s cultural capital and see themselves as global citizens.  We nurture all our children and encourage them to be confident to embrace life and all it entails and have the resilience to firmly but respectfully challenge anything which undermines the values they hold in their developing moral compass.  Our curriculum aims to empower our children to know the power of their own voice.  

We are mindful that different families and even individuals within families can hold different values and therefore, as a school, it is our responsibility to provide a plethora of opportunities to explore and understand British Values and Protected Characteristics within our school community and in the wider global community.  We make meaningful links to British Values in our school curriculum and also use our timetabled ‘We Care Time’ to explore values and protected characteristics.  Staff skilfully capture spontaneous moments throughout the school day to explore these values and access our virtual resource bank to address any misconceptions. We ensure our children embody British Values and realise that these are an essential quality to have. 

Legislation

. In 2014 the Department for Education published guidance on promoting fundamental British Values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain.  

. Our ‘We Care’ ethos similarly captures opportunities to promote understanding about the Protected Characteristics outlined in the Equality Act (2010) of: Age, Disability, Gender reassignment, Marriage and civil partnership, Pregnancy and Maternity, Race, Religion or belief, Sex, Sexual Orientation in an age appropriate manner.

. At Shakespeare we actively challenge pupils, parents or staff expressing opinions considered ‘extremist’ or that are undermining to fundamental British Values or Protected Characteristics.  Staff have a comprehensive knowledge of The Prevent Duty (which was published in 2011 and updated in 2015) and set out the fundamental British Values of: democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.  Staff complete training annually to refresh themselves and become ‘Prevent’ certified. Our Prevent Duty Policy can be found here.

Implementation

We ensure all school staff are skilled at grasping spontaneous moments throughout the day which facilitate learning about British Values. This includes the ability to compassionately challenge views or behaviours which are not in line with British Values. We have an extensive resource bank of pictures, books and multimedia links that allow staff quick access to age appropriate materials to support children’s understanding of concepts in a timely manner in these instances. Resources are continually monitored for their effectiveness and updated on an ongoing basis.

In addition to our We Care ethos, we also promote British Values through carefully considered and coherently planned opportunities, ensuring there is appropriate progression and coverage including:

. Children’s Voice and charters

. Rights, Respect and Responsibility

. Philosophy for Children (P4C)

. Assembly Themes

. Regular timetabled sessions of ‘We Care’ Time (at least weekly).  In these sessions teachers use high quality resources such as pictures, books and videos to spark discussions about values. For example, children use stimuli such as “picture news” to recognise and describe British Values in school and globally in an age appropriate manner. They confidently use relevant vocabulary to describe British Values in school and the wider community. Children know they have “a voice” in our school community and that this is valued and listened to. They are taught that school is a safe place to explore ideas and values.

. Utilising cross curricular links e.g. debates within the Titanic and Great Fire of London projects. We monitor the development of task design ensuring relevant meaningful links are made throughout the curriculum to British Values so that children are able to recognise and demonstrate a growing understanding of these.

.  We ensure through our school policies and continued professional development that all staff are clear about how British Values are portrayed throughout our school community and are able to make explicit links to these in their everyday practise.

.  Children’s work and displays capture, celebrate and show evidence of rich opportunities for learning about British Values.

We have looked at each British Value separately and outlined some of the ways we promote them at Shakespeare Infant School.

Shakespeare Infant School Does … Democracy

Shakespeare Infant School Does … The Rule of Law

Shakespeare Infant School Does … Individual Liberty

Shakespeare Infant School Does … Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs