British Values

Our Intent: 

We aim to actively promote British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain.
 
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 England are subject to its law.

The Key British Values are:

Democracy - Britain is a democracy. This means that the people of Britain vote for the people who make the laws and decide how the country is run.  If we didn't have a democracy, just one person might be able to make all the laws and would not be fair.

Rule of Law - In Britain, we have a police force who make sure people do not do the wrong thing and break the law - this means we are safe.
Individual Liberty - In Britain, as long as we do not break the law, we can live as we choose to and have our own opinions about things.

Mutual Respect - We might not always agree with other people, but we try to show respect for their thoughts and feelings. We can give respect to others and we can expect other people to show us respect.
Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs - In Britain, we accept that other people might have different beliefs than ours and they may believe in different religions.

Implementation

Democracy at Charford First School  
Our pupils are encouraged to air views, debate issues and have a clear voice.

Committees: We have a thriving School Council and a variety of pupil committees. The committees, such as our e-safety committee, arts committee and our sports all-active crew, are linked to some curriculum areas. There are class representatives for pupils from Year 2 to Year 4, ensuring the pupil voice of the school is heard. Pupils in these committees will have regular meetings to share views and discuss current ideas or issues raised. 

Voting for School Council: We use a democratic voting system to choose our school council representatives. The school council has a girl and boy representative from each class from Year 2 to Year 4.  Each candidate creates their own campaign speech, all pupils are then given the opportunity to anonymously vote for their class representative. 

Prefects:  In Year 4, anyone who wants to be a school prefect is invited to stand for the role in an anonymous election by their peers. This involves the candidates preparing and delivering a speech about their skills and experiences. The Year 4 pupils and staff will then select prefects they believe will uphold the school values. 

Rule of Law at Charford First School
The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced at Charford.

Positive Relationships Policy: At Charford, we have a positive relationship based behaviour policy which is underpinned by a set of values we actively encourage and expect. 

Our Charford Values: Our Charford values, which were developed jointly by our staff and pupils, are at the heart of both our PSHE Curriculum and wider Curriculum and are central to our school aims and ethos. We aim to support and encourage our children to be:

Reflection Time: Our pupils are reminded of the differences between right and wrong and the impact their behaviour can have on others. Our pupils have regular opportunities to reflect on their behaviour and actions. 

Class Charters: At the beginning of each academic year, our class aims, rules and expectations are discussed and reviewed as a class. These ensure children are supporting each other in learning and reaching their goals. During our weekly wellbeing sessions, children follow a whole school Class Charter to ensure all pupils rights and responsibilities are recognised and respected.

Individual Liberty at Charford First School 
At Charford, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. Our children understand that they have rights and freedoms as a member of Modern Britain.

The PSHE Curriculum: Our PSHE curriculum ensures become active citizens who show respect and compassion for themselves, other people and their environment and have the skills to form and maintain successful and happy relationships. They will be able to name, express and manage a wide range of emotions and make healthy lifestyle choices to protect their mental and physical health. They will be able to recognise situations that make them feel unsafe or uncomfortable (online and offline) and know how to ask for help if they feel at risk. They will be able to confidently express their own interests, beliefs and opinions and respect those of others. They will have confidence in themselves and their abilities, setting themselves aspirational goals and working hard to achieve them, showing determination and resilience when faced with challenge.

Forest School: Forest school is experienced by all the year groups at Charford. Forest school is a safe, open environment where children can explore and develop their self-knowledge and confidence. These sessions are delivered by our specialist forest school lead.

Competitive Sporting Clubs: We take part in many different sporting events and strive do our best, whilst promoting good sportsmanship and celebrating when others achieve. 

Charford's Got Talent: Our much anticipated annually event. Every child from year 1 – year 4 is invited to showcase their unique talents during a class celebration. One act from each class will then be selected to enter the final whole school assembly encouraging confidence, resilience and celebrating originality.   

Year 4 Careers Fair: Our Year 4 children are given the opportunity to talk to a range of employers to encourage pupils to aspire, make good choices and understand what they need to do to reach and succeed in the careers to which they aspire.

Transition: We work closely with local middle schools to ensure all our pupils are prepared for a smooth and successful transition to their next phase in Education.

Respect and Tolerance of others at Charford First School
Mutual respect, originality and empathy are at the heart of our school values. Children learn that their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community treat each other with respect. This is evident when walking around the school and in our classrooms. 
 

The children are taught to value and celebrate differences in themselves and others and most importantly to show respect to all. This is evident in our RE, PSHE and Wellbeing curriculums as well as in our e-safety and anti-bullying sessions.  
 

Our pupils understand that there are many faiths represented in Modern Britain and in our community too. We learn about the major world faiths to foster an understanding and acceptance of the beliefs of others.
 

Volunteering: We take part in many community events throughout the year. We have especially strong links with BDHT (Bromsgrove district housing trust)​ and have established a range of annual events such as making and delivering Christmas cards, and performing Christmas Carols, to the elderly.

Assemblies: Our weekly assemblies promote British values and develop respect, understanding and appreciation of a wide range of cultures which have shaped modern Britain.

Planning: Curriculum maps demonstrate integration of lessons related to British values, online safety & personal development.

A Charford Citizen will:

•    Be respectful of the differences between themselves and others, embracing and celebrating originality
•    Be confident to express their ideas, views, opinions and beliefs
•    Understand and apply strategies to support their physical and mental health
•    Be able to recognise and name their feelings and express and control them in a positive way
•    Be caring and compassionate toward others, building positive and healthy relationships
•    Have a positive attitude towards challenge, showing determination and resilience in reaching their goals
•    Know how to keep themselves and others safe and manage risk including when they are using the internet