Our Vision

'We believe, we achieve, we succeed in God's family.'

Promoting Fundamental British Values

In accordance with The Department for Education we aim to actively promote British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance and understand that while different people may hold different views about what is "right" and "wrong", all people living in England are subject to its law.

The Key Values are:

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

British Values at St. Mary's C of E Primary School

Our school has adopted six core Christian values of courage, compassion, thankfulness, forgiveness, community and truthfulness and these underpin our behaviour within school, our application to work and our community (local, national and global). They are integral to our commitment to promote and uphold the Fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect.

Within the school, children are taught to value their own identity and about British Values which give them a sense of belonging and pride in their community.

These values have been interpreted in the following ways:

Democracy

Democracy is part of our working practice at St Mary’s C of E Primary School.  Pupils are always listened to by adults and are taught to listen carefully and with concern to each other – respecting the right of every individual to have their opinions and voices heard. Pupils have their own voice and are active participants in decisions made such as their class charters.  These are based on a set of abiding principles and adults and pupils work together to decide what it looks like in their class environments.  Each term, Class Ambassadors, Librarians and Prayer Leads are elected. These groups are based on pupil votes, demonstrating democracy in action. 

The Rule of Law

The importance of laws, whether they are those that govern the class, the school or the country, are consistently reinforced. Our core values are reflected in children’s routines every day. Our behaviour policy, as well as promoting good behaviour and effort, also makes it clear that actions can have consequences. Children take part in reflecting and identifying how to make amends. Our children are also taught that there are laws to protect us, and when these laws are broken, we are potentially putting ourselves in danger, and could find ourselves in trouble.

Individual Liberty

Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for our pupils to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and an empowering education. Our pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely; examples of this can be clearly seen in our assemblies, PSHE and safe internet use procedures.

Mutual Respect

Respect is woven through our core values.  We emphasise the right of every child to learn and for every child to have access to quality education. Ensuring that children understand that they need to consider their actions carefully so that they do not detract from learning and therefore impact on their peers’ right to learn.

Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

St Mary’s C of E Primary School enhances pupils’ understanding of different faiths and beliefs through Religious Education, PSHE, RSE, Collective Worship, Curriculum Enrichment and Personal Development opportunities within our bespoke curriculum.  Through this offer our pupils gain an enhanced understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society. We follow the new Essex ExploRE Syllabus.  Our pupils are taught that it is important to identify and combat discrimination. In Britain we accept that other people might have different beliefs than ours and that they may believe in different religions. We believe that self-respect and respect for others goes hand in hand. Similarly, being confident about our own faith and culture is a foundation on which to build appreciation of faith and the cultures of other people.