British Values at Knowles Primary School
At Knowles Primary School, we are proud that our pupils represent a diverse background. We are dedicated in supporting our children to develop their knowledge and skills to become responsible citizens of the future
Our shared values encourage our community to think about the kind of people we aspire to be and the education we aspire to. They support our children to learn about human diversity and instil in them the knowledge , skills and attitudes they need to live together.
We share special stories in assemblies that can be found in our library to help children understand what British Values mean to them.
British Values: Democracy (making decisions together)
A culture built upon freedom and equality, where everyone is aware of their rights and responsibilities. Examples are:
- Leadership and accountability
- Joint decision making
- Team meetings
- The right to protest and petition
- Receiving and giving feedback.
We empower our children by providing them with opportunities to make choices about the things that they believe to be important.By respecting their opinions and by listening and responding to them, we show that we support democracy and liberty.
Children are encouraged to use their voices and make a positive contribution to the life of the school and the wider community through our ‘Together Everyone Decides’ Leadership opportunities for children made up of School Ambassadors, Kaleidoscope Leaders, Wellbeing Ambassadors, Forest School Leaders, Arts & Culture Leaders, Reading Leaders, Sports Leaders and Online Safety Leaders.
Our children are always encouraged to share their opinions.
British Values: The Rule of Law
(treat others as you want to be treated yourself)
The need for rules to make a happy, safe, and secure environment to live and work, examples are:
- Legislation
- Agreed ways of working, policies, and procedures
- How the law protects you and others
- Codes of conduct
At Knowles, everything we do is underpinned by our shared values. These values help us all to grow in a safe and secure environment, and to become positive, responsible and increasingly independent members of the school community. Our values ensure that everyone feels valued, treated fairly and respected. We aim to teach our children how to understand how their behaviours impact on others, ensuring we make well informed choices.
Mutual respect and positive behaviours are the expectations for all:
- We work hard
- We don’t give up
- We learn from our mistakes
- We work together
- We are confident to be ourselves
- We look after our school and make it an enjoyable place to be
- We are proud to belong
- We take pride in our good behaviour
- We ask for help and help each other
- We are good role models
- We make good choices
- We stand up for what is right
- We listen to each other
- We are kind and look after each other
- We make people feel welcome
- We make memories together
- We set ourselves goals
- We are ambitious
- We have dreams
- We celebrate our achievements
British Values: Individual Liberty (freedom for all)
Protection of your rights within Britain and the rights of others you work with, examples are:
- Equality and Human Rights
- Personal development
- Respect and dignity
- Rights, choice, consent, and individuality
- Values and principles
We teach our children about human rights and that where they have rights they also have responsibilities. These rights are linked to our values.
Every child has the right to an education which develops their personality, talents and abilities.
Every child needs to belong to a community
Every child has the right to learn and use the language, customs and religion of their family.
Every child should have enough to eat and drink and a home where they feel comfortable and safe.
Every child deserves a healthy life.
Every child should have time and somewhere safe to play.
Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes.
Every child should have someone to love and care for them.
Every child should be given the care they need to live happily in the world.
Every child deserves a happy life
At Knowles, we aim for all children to achieve self confidence, use their initiative, be independent and have the freedom to make choices.
We provide rich experiences through after school clubs and our Enrichment offer which extends our curriculum beyond the academic, meaning that all children have the opportunity to develop their skills, talents and interests. All children benefit from this offer during the school day
Children’s health and wellbeing is very important to us at Knowles. We support children’s mental health and wellbeing by ensuring that the day gets off to a calm start and that children have the chance to relax, reflect and think about and prepare for the day ahead through our Kaleidoscope sessions. Kaleidoscope is a practical and therapeutic programme that helps to equip children with the tools and techniques needed to build self confidence in order to flourish, succeed and have good mental health.
Our personal development offer for all our children is further enhanced through:
- Forest schools
- Therapy Dogs
- Big Hearts and Big Dreams
- Family Support Team
- Trips and visitors
- Mental Health Ambassadors
- Assemblies
British Values: Mutual Respect and Tolerance (treat others as you want to be treated yourself)
Understanding that we all don’t share the same beliefs and values. Respecting the values, ideas, and beliefs of others whilst not imposing our own on others. Examples are:
Embracing diversity
Promoting awareness of religion, traditions, cultural heritage and preferences
Tackling stereotyping, labelling, prejudice and discrimination
Kindness is a core value embedded in our school. Our children know and understand that it is expected and imperative that respect is shown to everyone, whatever our differences. This can be seen and felt in our ethos in school. We help children to develop an understanding of, and respect for their own and other cultures.
Through the PSHE and RE curriculums children are encouraged to discuss and respect differences between people, such as differences of faith, ethnicity, disability, gender or sexuality and differences of family situations, such as looked after children or young carers.
Our assemblies also place a great emphasis on providing awareness of others to broaden all childrens’ experiences. We also actively promote diversity through our celebrations of different faiths and cultures
