Promoting British Values at Moseley

At Moseley we encourage children to celebrate and recognise the multi-cultural nature of our school, community and the rest of the United Kingdom. We nurture and support children as they grow so that they can become safe, caring and educated members of society. We want our children to become adults who make a positive contribution to the United Kingdom and the wider world by promoting British values to all. At Moseley we have identified 6 personal values that we actively encourage children to demonstrate throughout their time at Moseley and beyond. These values are displayed in every classroom, spoken about in lessons and celebrated in assemblies. Children are rewarded for showing a commitment to demonstrating these values.

The 6 values chosen by the pupils, teachers and governors are:

1. Happiness
2. Resilience
3. Honesty
4. Respect
5. Co-operation
6. Responsibility

We believe these values are intertwined with the definition of British Values as set out by the Government in its 2011 Prevent strategy. At Moseley we reinforce these values in the following ways:

The five British Values are:

1. Democracy
2. The rule of law
3. Individual liberty
4. Mutual respect
5. Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

Democracy

Pupils are taught that they have a voice which should be listened to and in turn they should listen to the opinions and views of others. Adults always listen carefully to children and children are encouraged to respect the right of individual to have their voice heard. Throughout a school year; children are regularly asked to voice their opinions on school matters and their education through ‘pupil voice questionnaires’ We teach children about how a democracy works through a series of lessons.

The rule of law

The importance of law is consistently reinforced at Moseley. Pupils are taught the rules and expectations of the school which are consistent throughout the school. The school’s behaviour policy sets out clear expectations and children are taught the value and reasons for these rules. Children are taught that everyone has the right to feel safe and are taught to recognise when they start to feel unsafe and what to do about this. Children are taught right from wrong and are helped to understand how their actions can impact on others. In PE, the importance of rules and fair play is highlighted and built upon through each year group. Our themed curriculum has been designed so pupils can develop skills that enable them to understand the way rules and laws were developed at specific times in history and how they reflected the values of the period. In Year 6 there is a topic dedicated to crime and punishment and as part of the children are visit by local magistrates and take part in a workshop and mock trial.  Our RE units of work allow pupils to learn about the fundamental rules and beliefs of all the major religions and focus on common areas and differences within them.

Individual liberty

Pupils are encouraged to be independent right from a very young age. Pupils are supported to make choices in a safe, inspiring and supportive environment, knowing that mistakes are where learning happens. Pupils are taught that they have rights and responsibilities even as a child and are encouraged to understand and exercise these rights sensibly and safely. Through our school values and PSHE lessons, children are taught about personal responsibility, making informed choices, ambition and aspiration. Our PSHE curriculum has a unit titled celebrating difference. Children are taught how to keep themselves safe, including on-line.  This is done through computing lessons, e-safety lessons, assemblies and through the PSHE curriculum. Children are also included in making choices about their extra curriculum activities that the school provides including; sport, music and arts.

Mutual Respect and Tolerance of Those with Difference Faiths and Beliefs

Respect is one of the core values picked out by pupils, teachers and governors. Respect underpins every one of our school rules in the behaviour policy and pupils know and understand that that respect should be shown to everyone. Pupils learn that their behaviour will have an impact on themselves and others. Pupils and adults in the school understand that they should be respectful of others and that they also have the right to be respected by others. Mutual respect is embedded throughout the curriculum. We learn about all faiths and religions in our broad and balanced RE lessons, respect and tolerance are taught in our PSHE lessons and we have regular anti-bullying sessions during assemblies and PSHE lessons. As a school we recognise and celebrate difference for example by wearing odd socks for ‘World Down syndrome’ day.

A day to celebrate the British Values and the King’s Coronation.

We had a special visit from Colonel George Marsh MBE DL from the West Midlands Lieutenancy who helped the youngest and oldest children in our school plant a tree in honour of our new King.

The children also had a special message from King Charles III, informing them about a new island that had been discovered. The children were then tasked with setting up a new island by using their knowledge of the British Values to make the island a respectful and safe place to be.

We also celebrated by having an afternoon tea party for lunch. Every child received a delicious cupcake made by the lovely ladies in the kitchen!