Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School

 Promoting British Values in Holy Spirit 

Our promotion of British Values in school at Holy Spirit Primary School permeate our everyday school life. 

As a school, we value and celebrate the diverse heritages of everybody. Alongside this, we value and celebrate being part of Britain. In general terms, this means that we celebrate traditions and customs in the course of the year; for example, Harvest Festival during the autumn term and Christmas celebrations. We also value and celebrate national events, such as The late Queen's State funeral and The King's Coronation.

We have enjoyed excellent assemblies from the UK Parliament and celebrate UK Parliament week annually - learning about democracy and rule of law!

Children learn about being part of Britain from different perspectives. They learn where Britain is in relation to the rest of Europe and other countries in the world and about significant events in British history and key historical figures.

Promoting British values at Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School

We agree with the Department for Education’s five-part definition of British values:

• democracy
• the rule of law
• individual liberty
• mutual respect
• tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

At Holy Spirit, pupils will encounter these principles throughout everyday school life.

 What are British Values?

Democracy

Children at Holy Spirit have the opportunity for their voice to be heard through our school council, who are voted for by their peers, which meets regularly to discuss issues raised within the school. They are elected by their class peers and are involved in making the school a better place to learn. There is an agenda, issues are discussed and minutes taken. The council is able to genuinely effect change within the school and gives our children a better understanding of democracy. E.g. The children voted on opinions about the school menu, suggested extra resources for playtime activities and are involved in the interview process for new staff. 

The Rule of Law

At Holy Spirit we promote the rule of law by:-

Having a clear, consistent behaviour policy which is consistently applied throughout the school.
Providing opportunities for children to reflect about positive and negative behaviour.
Developing links with our Police Community Support Officer.
Addressing issues of law during whole-school assemblies as and when appropriate.
Encouraging visits from external agencies to talk to the children in school.
Using our reward system to acknowledge outstanding behaviour as well as outstanding academic work.

Individual Liberty

Alongside rules and laws, we promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs.

Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at our school, knowing that they are within a safe and supportive environment.
Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our e-Safety and PHSE lessons, through the PATHS curriculum (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies).
Children are encouraged to understand responsibility in school in terms of behaviour and attitude to learning through our Chance to Change station in class.
Home / school agreements for all pupils are in place.
Pupils are taught how to be safe and how to act safely. This is given an additional emphasis during anti-bullying week; this year it was centred around the theme show respect.
We offer a range of after school clubs which pupils have the freedom to choose from, based on their interests and needs.

Mutual respect

Mutual respect is at the core of our school life. Children learn that their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community are taught to treat each other with respect.

At Holy Spirit, children learn respect through:

The promotion of positive relationships.
The modelling of positive relationships by all adults working in school.
All aspects of the curriculum, in particular through Come and See (Our Religious Education program) and Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum (as successfully working in groups requires respect for each other).
The work of the school council.
The positive reward system developed to promote respect.
Our celebration assemblies when all pupils show respect for the efforts of others.
Participation in events organised to raise money for various charities which are chosen and voted on by the school council. E.g. Children in Need, Mission Together, CAFOD, Macmillan Coffee mornings, Teardrops and the NSPCC.
Learning to live with their peers on educational residential visits such as Kingswood for our year 4-6 children.

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

We put a large emphasis on promoting diversity with the children at Holy Spirit

Tolerance is promoted in our school through:

Our stated aims and values.
Assemblies which are regularly planned to include stories and celebrations from a variety of faiths and cultures. E.g. Chinese New Year, St Patricks day, St Andrews day, St Georges day, St David's Day as well as learning about another religion each year through our Come and See RE lessons.
Our RE, PSHE and MFL(we learn Spanish in Holy Spirit) curriculum.
Educational visits to places of religious worship. E.g. Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and Lowe House for our religious retreat with Year 6. 
The school’s equal opportunities policy.
Members of different faiths or religions are invited to share their knowledge of their culture and beliefs with the children.
Using world events as opportunities to positively reinforce life and culture in other countries (football world cup, the Olympics, etc.).

We believe that tolerance is gained through knowledge and understanding. Through our curriculum and the routines of our daily school life, we strive to demonstrate tolerance and help children to become knowledgeable and understanding citizens.