In accordance with The Department for Education, we aim to actively promote British Values at Scarcroft Primary School to ensure our young people leave school prepared for the next stage in their development and for life in modern Britain. British Values are a core part of our school vision and are a key part of our daily life in the classroom as well as during assemblies, playtimes, clubs, Religious Education, PSHCE and our School Council.
Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance and understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in the United Kingdom are subject to its law.
The key British Values are:
• democracy
• rule of law
• individual liberty
• mutual respect
• tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
As well as actively promoting British values, we would actively challenge pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British values, including ‘extremist’ and ‘far right’ views.
Our core aim at Scarcroft is ‘Developing All of Me’. Through this we really value the voice and individuality of the child. We are proud of our relationships between our staff and pupils, and how staff model respect and have genuine interest in individual pupils.
Pupils have many opportunities to develop their skills and talents through choir, playing an instrument, playing sport, partnership work such as Young Voices and Shakespeare Week, and first aid training. We actively encourage pupils to share these achievements, as well as those outside of school, and celebrate them with their peers through our ‘This is Me’ and ‘Home Pride’ displays.
We promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs. We provide a safe, supportive environment and empowering curriculum in which to discuss issues, such as racism, relationships and beliefs. We provide boundaries for our young pupils to make choices safely, in particular, behaviour choices.
Our pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are taught how to exercise these safely, such as in our e-safety and PHSCE lessons on Relationships and Living in the Wider World.
We also encourage our pupils to develop an understanding of others in different circumstances through assemblies and charity event days such as Children in Need, work with NSPCC and collections for the local food bank.
We also learn about our own wider responsibility towards animals and the environment through links with our local councillors and charities. Events have included workshops on dog safety with support from the charity Dog’s Trust and a number of projects in our local area: planting trees, planting bulbs, cleaning up the park, creating anti-litter posters and road safety campaigns.
We welcome pupils from a range of faiths, cultural backgrounds and geographical localities. Our pupils are predominantly from white, Christian or no faith backgrounds, with limited experience of different faiths and cultures. Through our Religious Education lessons we discover different religious beliefs, teachings and ways of life. Pupils increasingly have the opportunity to meet people from different religious and cultural backgrounds, visit different places of worship, handle artefacts and listen to stories from various cultures. They study fundamental aspects of religion such as belief in God, festivals, prayer and sacred texts as well as questions of rules, forgiveness and charity. As they move through school, pupils will consider similarities and differences between religions as well as appreciating that some people do not follow a religion at all.
Our older pupils are specifically taught about negative stereotypes and how these can be unfair and unhelpful.
Pupils are given lots of opportunities for their voices to be heard; from voting for which story to read, to ‘Class Vote’ sessions led by the school council representative on issues affecting school life.
School Council Election Day is a popular and grand occasion. Pupils from each class put themselves forward as candidates, then they embark on their campaign before votes are cast. Candidates each wear rosettes to clearly identify themselves. Real polling booths and ballot boxes are borrowed from the local council for the election with the successful candidates being announced officially the next day.
We learn more about democracy in our local area through strong links with our local councillors and visits from local MP, as well as democracy as a concept and how it works nationally through our PHSCE Living in the Wider World lessons.
Our House teams provide another opportunity for pupils to take an active role in our school community. From nominating and voting new house names to voting for charities to support, ways to fundraise and discovering more about the people that inspired their house names.
At Scarcroft, pupils are taught about good and bad choices and to understand reasons behind rules and laws (both in school and the wider community), that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when the laws are broken.
Rules are frequently referred to and reinforced, such as in assemblies and when reflecting on behaviour choices. At the start of the school year, a class might set its own rules in the form of a class charter and discuss why we need these in our classroom.
We reinforce the need for rules and laws through our PHSCE curriculum, our RE lessons, during everyday school life, for example in sports lessons and through visitors such as the PCSO, fire service, local councillors and our MP.
Our school council is elected very democratically. Prior to voting, each class select six candidates, through a primary voting system, who wear a rosette for the whole of election day. Children campaign in a range of ways including posters, manifestos and speeches. In class, children learn about democracy and how the British system works.
Throughout the election day, every child from Year 1 to Year 6 takes a trip to the election booths (real booths borrowed from York City Council) and places their vote. Votes are counted and revealed the next day.