Promoting British Values

Sithney School is committed to serving its community and surrounding areas. We recognise the multi-cultural, multi-faith nature of the United Kingdom and understand the crucial role our school plays in promoting these values.

We encourage admissions from all those entitled to education under British law regardless of faith, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, political or financial status. We are an inclusive school. We uphold the following principles;

Tolerance

Rule of Law

Individual Liberty

Mutual respect

Democracy

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

  • Our R.E curriculum provides a broad and balanced education on a range of faiths, religions and cultures.
  • We sometimes have E.A.L children and actively use school resources to promote their learning and integration into our school society.
  • We teach specific PSHE units of learning based on living in the wider world.

Rule of Law

  • School has links with the local police through the school liaison officer.
  • We have links with the Local Authority involving Probation, Police, Fire and Drugs services.
  • We have a clearly structured behaviour policy which all stakeholders understand and follow.
  • We regularly review our behaviour policy in school and share this with key stakeholders.

Individual Liberty

  • Pupils have key roles and responsibilities in school, wear Official Helper badges to signify their role of responsibility and all School Council members and Buddies wear a badge to signify their role.
  • See also ‘Star Badges’.
  • Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment.
  • As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safely for example during forest school activities.
  • Through our curricular clubs and opportunities, pupils are given the freedom to make choices.
  • The aims, ethos and vision statement are embodied in all that we do in school.

Mutual Respect

  • Our PSHE curriculum embodies values of Mutual Respect through units of learning such as Relationships and Being a Responsible Citizen.
  • Respect is one of our main school aims.
  • Our Sports Coaches, Teachers and Teaching Assistants actively promote an attitude of equality and fairness in PE.
  • Our ‘peer learning support’ promotes mutual respect between pupils across different phases of school.

Democracy

  • Children are involved in Democratic processes e.g. voting for school councillors and shared rewards.
  • The school council and Trust Council itself is led by a member of staff and adheres to democratic processes, reporting its actions to the Governing Body each term.

Day to Day British Values at our Schools

We value the diverse ethnic backgrounds of all pupils and families and undertake a variety of events and lessons to celebrate these. We have found this approach to be enriching for all parties as it teaches tolerance and respect for the differences in our community and the wider world. This is underpinned by a range of curriculum topics which have strong links to the British Values.

In Key Stage 2 for example, children have learnt about wars involving British Troops and the impact that the military had in fighting for the British Empire. This is linked with the annual Poppy Day celebrations where children purchase poppies and a minute’s silence is held in specially created assemblies for the school.

In Literacy lessons, the unit on biographies is taught through the life stories of British people eg. Richard Trevithick. There are times lines displayed which feature the Kings and Queens of Britain. All pupils undertake lessons around this and our new rolling programme includes topics on significant British people and British monarchs with staff and pupils dressing up as Kings and Queens.

As a whole school we have celebrated the Olympics, with Olympic themed sports days, competitions to design sports kits and opportunities to learn about the history of Olympians in this country. The Trust has been visited by an inspirational British Paralympian athlete who delivered an inspirational talk.

The Platinum Jubilee was celebrated at Sithney School and the School centenary a celebrations were a huge event for the school, with the community invited to an open day held. This was so well attended by former pupils and included four generations of one family, all of whom have attended Sithney School. The afternoon and evening was broadcast live on BBC Radio Cornwall.

On a more general level, the school undertakes daily assemblies which uphold traditional values of empathy, respect and tolerance. These are also taught within formal SEAL, PSHE and RE lessons, and on an informal nature throughout the school day.