British Values

At Grove Road School we uphold and teach pupils about British Values which are defined as:

• Democracy
• Rule of law
• Individual liberty
• Mutual respect
• Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

These values are taught explicitly through Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE), and Religious Education (RE). We also teach British Values through our broad and balanced curriculum and through whole school systems and structures.

The school takes opportunities to actively promote British Values through daily routines and whole school systems and structures such as electing House Captains and running House Forums. We also actively promote British Values through ensuring that our curriculum planning and delivery includes real opportunities for exploring what these values.

At Grove Road School, British Values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:

Democracy:

Democracy is an important value at our school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard in various ways: through regular pupil voice interviews through monitoring areas of the curriculum and through the House system. Each year, all children in the school are invited to vote in the election of House Captains. Year 5 children who would like to serve as House Captains, run an election campaign in which they explain their vision for their House. A secret ballot is then carried out, and the children in each House vote for their new leader.

Every two weeks our serving Year 6 House Captains lead a House Forum in which children have the opportunity to air their views about various aspects of the school, from reflecting on the implementation of the behaviour system, to voting on the purchase of play equipment. Please see pictures below of our current Year 6 House Captains. 

The Rule of Law:

The importance of laws and rules, whether they are those that govern the class, sport, the school or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days. Our system for behaviour is aligned to an agreed set of principles and children fully understand the purpose, structure and importance of our behaviour ladder.

At Grove Road, children are asked to reflect upon how their behaviour has fallen short of agreed norms and are encouraged to consider the effect of their behaviour on others. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws that govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken.  Visits from external agencies are also encouraged through our curriculum: in Year 6 a local magistrate visits the school each year to help children understand the process of law and recognise the age of criminal responsibility; children take part in a mock trial at a magistrate court where they assess evidence and determine the guilt of a “defendant.”

To encourage and promote good behaviour, positive attitudes to learning and intrinsic motivation, we have reward systems embedded throughout the school.

We are committed to praising children’s efforts.  We endeavour to praise the children informally, individually, during group work, in front of the whole class and the whole school. Children are rewarded not only for achievement in curriculum areas, but for behaviour and general endeavour. These qualities are also celebrated each week at our celebration assembly.

Individual Liberty:

Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at our school, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we provide boundaries for our children to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and balanced curriculum. 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 teaching. Pupils are also given the freedom to make choices during lessons through our ‘challenge by choice’ approach to learning.

Mutual Respect:

Our school ethos and the behaviour policy are based around our core values of ‘respect, community, self-belief and ambition’. These values determine how we live as a community at Grove Road School, considering the needs of others as well as our own. We encourage the children to balance their rights with an awareness of responsibilities to others. Children are taught about the value of respect implicitly through the modelling of appropriate behaviour by adults and explicitly through PSHE lesson and through the implementation of our behaviour policy.

Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs:

This is achieved through enhancing pupils’ understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience diversity in the wider community. Collective Worship and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been supported by learning in RE and PSHE. Learning across the curriculum, in particular RE, promotes understanding of other cultures and beliefs. We use our thematic approach to the curriculum to provide opportunities for children to explore different faiths and belief systems in relevant and interesting ways.