At St. Joseph’s RC Primary School, our core principles that underpin our relationships, values, curriculum and all teaching and learning are driven by our mission statement:
‘whereby everyone ….in our community can feel valued’
‘Through a curriculum that supports the holistic development of each child’
‘We will seek to develop the necessary partnership links with home and parish so that all are able to participate as members in the wider community.’
We also fully embrace the commitment to “create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools 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.2 (DfE 2014).
These values are explicitly taught through our Religious Education programme, our pastoral care activities, Personal, Social and Health Education lessons and through our broad and balanced curriculum.
To promote democracy we:
- ensure each class decide upon their own class rules, with all pupils contributing
- democratically elect members of the School Council, with each child voted on by their class
- have a Mini-Vinnies group which plans and organises our charitable activities
- democratically elect members of the Mini Vinnies’ Committee so that meetings and charitable fundraising are managed by the pupils
- proactively seek the opinions of our pupils formally through pupil voice meetings, school council meetings and pupil questionnaires
- discuss democracy in assemblies and in our “Statements to Live By”
- involve children in determining our Behaviour Policy
To promote the rule of law we:
- have a Behaviour Policy which is consistently applied and expects all members of our school community to behave responsibly for the good of all
- believe in being remorseful, forgiveness and reconciliation
- have clear safety expectations
- develop class rules
- have sports leaders to promote fair-play
- teach the importance of laws in class, school and within our country. Pupils are taught the values and reasons behind the laws and the consequences when they are broken. Visits from authorities such as the Fire Brigade and Police reinforce this message
To encourage individual liberty we:
- encourage pupils to make choices in our safe and supportive environment
- teach children ways in which they can keep themselves safe and encourage them to act with understanding and wisdom e.g. through E-Safety lessons
- encourage pupils to choose to play an active role in the school community
- deal justly yet compassionately with those who prevent others from expressing their liberty, educating them so that they understand the implications of their actions
- help children to understand their responsibilities towards others
To ensure that everyone treats each other with respect we:
- model positive relationships at all levels
- reward positive behaviours and encourage children to recognise the positive behaviours of others through our Statements to Live By, Stars of the Week awards in KS1 and termly Gold Award Assembly
- facilitate opportunities for children to work collaboratively in a range of contexts.
- share responsibilities and roles in the day to day life of the school
- commit to charitable events
- visit local and national places of interest, being respectful of those we are with and those we are visiting
Take the opportunity to learn more from and about each other during residential visits
To promote tolerance we:
- educate children in the ways of other faiths and cultures through a broad curriculum
- educate children about prejudice and how this can be challenged through lessons, liturgies and assemblies
deal swiftly and seriously with any acts of intolerance, challenging unacceptable behaviours and comments - visit places of worship and invite visitors of other faiths to educate us
- encourage the children to discuss and debate news items
- apply consistently our Equality Policy and have equality objectives agreed and monitored by governors
celebrate cultural and seasonal events - take part in local community events
- use world events to learn positively about the culture and life in other countries
- work with families from different faiths in order to ensure that all children are included
