British Values

Oxon CE Primary School is fully committed to fulfilling the DfE requirement to ‘promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.’

The school curriculum and ethos aims to:

enable children to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
enable children to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
encourage children to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
enable children to acquire a broad general knowledge of, and respect for, public institutions and services in England;
further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation and respect for their own and other cultures;
encourage respect for other people; and
encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

The school curriculum and ethos is designed to enable children to acquire the following understanding and knowledge as a result of schools promoting fundamental British values.

an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process;
an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety;
an understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence;(For most children this will be at an introductory level.)
an understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law;
an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour; and
an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination.

Key strategies the school uses to promote the British Values agenda:

Area

Key elements and examples

References (see above)

Future plans

School Council

We have a robust and active, elected school council that has played a key part in the school life and development for over a decade.
The display board by the school office illustrates the range of projects they have been involved in.
The minutes of the council meetings demonstrate the work of the council over many years.

a,b,c,d,e,f,g

i,ii,iv,v,vi

The council will continue to play an active role in school life (See the School Council section of the current School Improvement Plan.)

PSHE Curriculum

The PSHE curriculum is well established and covers many of the learning outcomes.

a,b,c,d,e,f,g

i,ii,iii,iv.v,vi

See the PSHE section of the current School Improvement Plan

Area	Key elements and examples	References (see above)	Future plans
Friday morning whole school acts of worship	Friday morning whole school acts of worship (assemblies) regularly explore these themes. Examples of recent assemblies include: Fcus on a ‘single’ value The general electin The right t vote - suffragettes India – demcracy Kenya - partnership	a,b,c,d,e,f,g i,ii,iii,iv,v,vi	The planning of worship provides a balanced focus of this area over time. Major news events are frequently addressed and contextualised with the British Values agenda.
Kenyan partner school	Very strong links with our partner school in Kenya with four school staff visiting Kenya and three Kenyan staff visiting Oxon. A member of our staff has a key co-ordinating role, on a regional basis, for this project, which is one of the largest projects nationally. Reasons for this focus have strong correlations with the current Kenyan situation. We are working with the British Council to take a lead role in this area across the West Midlands.	a,b,c,d,e,f,g i,ii,iv,v,vi	This area remains a major focus. Our new role at a regional level with British Council is developing rapidly.
Arts Week	Each year the school holds an Arts Week that culminates in an open afternoon. Recent themes have included: India China Suth America These weeks are very popular with children and parents and help promote the inclusive nature of our school.	a,b,c,d,e,f,g i,ii,iii,iv,v,vi	Arts Week is well established as an annual event within school. Decisions on future Arts Weeks are partly influenced by the British Values agenda.
RE Curriculum	High quality curriculum in place linked to The Shropshire Agreed Syllabus. Evidence in planning and children’s books illustrate this work. The use of visits and visitors further supports this.	a,b,c,d,e,f,g i,ii,iv,v,vi	See the RE section of the current School Improvement Plan. Increased use is being made of visitors to school to further enhance our programme of visits.
History Curriculum	High quality curriculum in place, the curriculum has many overlaps with the British Values agenda. Evidence in planning and children’s books to illustrate this work. Examples would include: Wrld War II The Greeks	b,d,e,f,g i,ii,iii,iv,v,vi	See the history section of the current School Improvement Plan.
Wider Curriculum	Our wider curriculum supports this agenda in many ways. Examples would include: Gegraphy – comparisons with other countries. English – reading texts linked t the values. English – writing, including themes linked t the values.	a,b,c,d,e,f,g i,ii,iii,iv,v,vi	See the current School Improvement Plan.
School Ethos	Areas such as our House system with elected captains and vice captains. School prefects.	a,b,c,d,e,f,g i,ii,iii,iv,v,vi	See the current School Improvement Plan.
Picture News	The school subscribes to this resources that provides resources each week link to news and current affairs. Each week, the resource makes explicit links to British Values.	a,b,c,d,e,f,g i,ii,iii,iv,v,vi	Resources are used in different acts of worship and to support the wider curriculum. The new resource is e-mailed to teachers each week.

Staff routinely review school actions and impact in this area.