British Values

Promoting British Values at Marston Vale Middle School

 As the world around us changes, we recognise the need to develop awareness, tolerance and respect for the many different faiths and cultures in the local, national and international community.  We also understand the vital role we have in identifying and preventing intimidation and discrimination in any form. Encouraging children to think as individuals and make educated choices.

British values are identified and addressed in multiple ways

Democracy

As part of our PHSCE curriculum all classes look at their rights and responsibilities.

Through assemblies, Circle Time and our Pupil Voice (school council) the children will have a chance for their voice to be heard. Pupil Voice represents the children in their year group; they meet regularly to discuss a range of topics and issues to ensure we remain a safe and positive community for all. 

What we do:

We seek to promote an understanding of public institutions and services. We talk about the advantages of living in a democracy such as ours. We actively involve our children to influence decision making through the democratic process e.g. in class votes, model elections and open discussions. We hold debates and encourage our children to challenge and defend ideas. We also encourage children to reconcile by ‘agreeing to disagree’.

Rule of Law

As a school we have rules and expectations that are clear and regularly discussed.

We emphasise the need to make the right choice to keep themselves and others safe.

What we do:

We help children make the right choices for themselves and others. We help the children understand how their behaviour impacts on others.  We discuss with the children how they can keep themselves safe, including e-safety.  We have regular visits from the outside agencies, police and local community members. We discuss aspects of both civil and criminal law and how this can be different from some religious laws.  We also develop techniques to resolve conflict by using restorative approaches as part of our daily work.

Individual Liberty

The school recognises the importance of developing children’s self-esteem, self-confidence and freedom  to express one's self.  Without these the children will struggle to learn and develop into well rounded individuals.

We discuss how our community values and promotes freedom of speech and how pupils' lives are free from war and conflict and compare this to different times and cultures.

What we do:

We discuss how pupils can make the right choice for themselves and others. We encourage children to take responsibility for their behaviour whilst modelling freedom of speech and promoting the critical analysis of evidence.

We challenge stereotypes and have worked hard to implement an anti-bullying culture.  There are also a lot of ways our children can work together to identify, report and combat bullying. 

Mutual Respect and Tolerance

One of the cornerstones of our approach to positive behaviour within our school community is respect (Ready, Respectful and Responsible) and this permeates the whole of school life. 

We recognise that as a school it is our responsibility to give the children as many opportunities of different cultures, communities, language and faith as possible.  This helps to develop a broad perspective on life in multi-cultural and multi-faith Britain and allows pupils to gain a better understanding of themselves, their views and beliefs and the role they have to play in our society.

What we do:

We promote a respect for individual differences as well as acceptance and care for all in the school and wider community. We help children acquire an understanding of and respect for, their own and other cultures and ways of life. We seek to challenge prejudicial and discriminatory behaviour.  We organise visits to places of worship and different communities.  We try to develop personal, critical thinking. We discuss differences between people such as differences in faith, ethnicity, disability, gender, or sexuality and differences in family situations such as children in care or young carers.