British Values
PROMOTING BRITISH VALUES IN OUR SCHOOL
Mission Statement
‘Opening minds, unlocking potential, celebrating success.’
School Aims
"Through high quality collaboration, Chesnut Lodge School aims to equip all members of the school community with:
- The skills and knowledge to lead a healthy fulfilled lifestyle.
- A safe, secure and stimulating learning environment through a person centred approach.
- Opportunities to develop understanding of how to stay safe and make good choices in life.
- Enjoyable and challenging learning experiences which enable all to reach their full potential.
- Opportunities to celebrate each individual’s own achievement, effort and personal success.
- A passion for life-long learning by developing self-confidence, intellectual curiosity and a thirst for discovery and achievement.
Government
The Government has set out its definition of British values as:
- Democracy
- The rule of law
- Individual liberty
- Mutual respect
- Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
Undoubtedly these values are cornerstones and traditions of British society and are fundamental to community cohesion.
It is the intention of the whole school community to nurture a caring and supportive environment in which the individual has the opportunity to develop socially, morally, spiritually, intellectually and emotionally in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.
At Chesnut Lodge we actively foster positive values, virtues and ethics that shape our pupils character and moral perspective. We recognise that each pupil is an individual and brings with them a set of values and beliefs.
As educators we have an enormous responsibility to instil positive attitudes and values in our children and young people. Equally we have a moral responsibility to challenge when negative attitudes and intolerance of others and our British value system comes into question.
We aspire to teach our pupils about the world we live in and about the people, cultures and belief systems that are part of it. Our curriculum reflects this desire and promotes global learning so pupils can appreciate and value diversity within our society and the wider world. We do this primarily through our extensive PSHE curriculum which highlights character education at its core. Citizenship promotes the understanding and importance of democracy, rule of law, liberty and respect for others whilst our RE Syllabus reflects the need to ‘learn about’ and ‘learn from’ different religions, spiritual aspects and beliefs.
At Chesnut Lodge we foster an environment whereby pupils feel confident to question. This is particularly evident in our Philosophy for children (P4C) sessions whereby pupils discuss issues affecting their lives and those of others.
School assemblies endorse and uphold British values as pupils learn about other cultures, faiths and religions, celebrate special events and recognise the diversity that exists within our society.
Pupil voice is encouraged at all levels within Chesnut Lodge and many school initiatives are supported by our School Council, Eco Committee and Healthy Stars. Throughout this process British values are promoted and exercised through democracy and mutual respect.
Anti-racist and anti-bullying are fundamental to our school ethos and embedded within school policy and practice. All pupils in our school are respected regardless of their ability/disability, gender, social background, ethnicity or faith.