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OFSTED commented how confidently the children spoke to them and how they were very aware of issues surrounding British Values, such as valuing diversity and respecting other people's points of view.
British Values
All have a duty to ‘actively promote’ the fundamental British values of Democracy, The Rule Of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance Of Those With Different Faiths And Beliefs. These values were first set out by the government in the ‘Prevent’ strategy in 2011. Our rich curriculum, underpinned by our Christian ethos, actively promotes these fundamental British values.
Democracy.
At Banks St Stephen's children have a say in what happens in our school. Our school council is made up of two children from each class from Reception to Year 6. These children are voted into their position of councillor by their classmates
Our school councillors liase with their classes to decide which charities they would like to raise funds for. Ways to raise money are also discussed.
Rule of Law
Children help to develop class and school rules. We feel this helps to understand the importance of having rules and laws and help the children to see that they are there to protect us and influence our behaviour.
From September 2025 we are going to have our very own school parliament, and are currently looking for our stakeholders to apply to join.
Mutual Respect
All visitors to our school are treated with respect. Adults and children show respect to each other and are ready to help each other at all times. We liase with our friends at Sutton Grange Nursing Home regularly and often have shared lunches alternating our venue.
Individual Liberty.
Children can make their own choices in school for example when choosing their lunch, play ground activity or extra curricular activity. Our children are taught in the curriculum about rights and responsibilities and the need to work within boundaries to make safe choices.
We also have, in one of our KS2 classrooms a flexible seating arrangement. We have lots of new furniture and the children can choose to sit/lean or stand so they are comfortable when learning. This has been so successful that a second KS2 classroom will be introduced from September 2025.
Tolerance
All members of different faiths are welcome in our school and encouraged to share their knowledge with us. At Banks St Stephen's we know that we are part of a culturally diverse society and our pupils are given opportunities to experience different cultures and they enjoy learning about world faiths and cultures.
Year 5 had a fantastic trip to see The Windrush exhibition at The Atkinson. We listened to the stories of people who travelled from The Caribbean to help rebuild Britain after the Second World War. Sadly, many of those people experienced racism.
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We received a letter from King Charles and Bridget Phillipson (Secretary of State for Education) in response to a letter we sent suggesting that studying The Windrush Scandal should be included in the history curriculum. She has told us that our views will be taken into account when the curriculum is reviewed later this year. Well done Year 5 - making a real difference!
Our school's Christian values are promoted alongside fundamental British values and they are all interlinked and complement each other perfectly.
Our school Facebook page has further pictures/videos of children promoting fundamental British values.
