British Values

Our school mission aims to provide an excellent education to all, where children can:

• Grow in God’s love through following the core values and Jesus’ teachings
• Discover new things and new learning through using our learning muscles and being provided with exciting learning opportunities.
• Achieve their potential, through hard work, a positive learning attitude and using the talents God gave us.

St Joseph’s promotes the fundamental British values. Our staff model the values through their own behaviour and teach the values implicitly through every aspect of the curriculum, ensuring equity and excellence for all pupils. Our Academy Council ensures that these values are reflected and implemented effectively in school policy and practice and that there are effective risk assessments in place to safeguard and promote students’ welfare.

Our British Values are:

• Democracy
• The Rule of Law
• Individual Liberty
• Mutual Respect
• Tolerance of those with a different Faith/Belief

Democracy:

Democracy is a central value within the school. Pupils help to shape our school by having their voices heard in class, through our School Council and Pupil questionnaires. Pupils are encouraged to debate, which promotes critical thinking, effective communication, independent research and teamwork: all vital qualities to ensure that they are equipped to fulfil their responsibilities as citizens of a democracy. Pupils grow to appreciate how lucky they are living in a democratic society.

The Rule of Law:

Pupils are taught the importance of laws and rules; whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country. These are consistently reinforced through our Core Values, our Virtues as well as when dealing with behaviour and through school assemblies. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind these laws: that they govern and protect them, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Pupils are shown how they can contribute to the well-being of those in the locality and beyond, through many events such as supporting various charities, going on local visits and sharing their talents with the community through the arts.

Individual Liberty:

Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment where adults are always ready to listen to them. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safely, through provision of a safe learning environment. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and learn how they can do so safely; for example through our E-Safety, PSHCE and Circle Time sessions. St Joseph’s seeks to provide opportunities for pupils to become positive and emotionally resilient with the knowledge and confidence to stand by their own convictions, whilst also respecting others.

Mutual Respect:

Our school ethos and behaviour policy revolves around our Core Value of ‘Respect’. Pupils have been part of discussions and assemblies related to what this means and how it is shown. Quality Circle Time and worships promote respect and empathy for others and this is reiterated through the learning of class/school rules, as well as our behaviour policy and mission statement.

Tolerance of Those With a Different Faith/Belief:

This is achieved through enhancing pupils understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity. Assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been further developed by supported learning in RE, RHE and PSHCE. Members of different faiths or religions are encouraged to share their knowledge and experiences to enhance learning within classes and the school. 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. Underpinning all of this is a range of curriculum topics which encourages tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. This is particularly evident in some of the R.E, Geography and History topics taught throughout the school promoting global citizenship. We also take part in an interfaith week each term, and the children complete a more indepth study of a different religion in each year group. The main religions we study as part of our interfaith weeks are: Christianity, Hindu, Islam, Catholic faith, Sikh, Buddhism and Judaism.

By the time our children leave St Joseph’s they will be able to: 

• understand their responsibilities as citizens of a democratic society 
• have an awareness of how they can maintain the underpinning core British values 
• maintain an awareness and respect for the culturally diverse society in which they live

There is a ‘British Values’ display, placed in the hall of the school, that reflects the values listed above. Over time, this display will feature photographs and other evidence that support our drive to instil British Values amongst our children. We will also have the values displayed in each class, which will be referred to and spoken about regularly.