Highfield CE Aided Primary SchoolSouthampton

Values Policy

At Highfield School we believe that our values together with our Mission Statement and Aims are part of our foundations and underpin everything that we do. A full list of the values agreed by the governing body can be found in the document, ‘Values In Highfield’ and the associated table. Our core values can be summarised as follows:

-God loves us and wants a relationship with us

-We love ourselves because we are children of God

-We love each other because each person is valued as someone who is made in God’s image and is his child

These values underpin the school curriculum and life together. They are explicitly linked with our plans for collective worship and are available in every classroom so that staff and pupils can refer to them.

The outcome of these values is Galatians 5 Vs 22,”The fruit of the spirit is love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law”

This policy statement seeks to build upon our School Mission Statement and Aims in the context of our values as a school.

School Mission Statement

“At Highfield Church of England Primary School we celebrate our Christian Foundation and aim to build upon it a caring and stimulating environment in which each child can develop and learn.”

School Aims

In Highfield School we are committed to:

1. Upholding Christian values and principles in the whole life and work of the school:

2. Developing a sense of Christian spirituality across the curriculum and through daily acts of worship;

3. Developing every child’s maximum educational, social and spiritual potential;

4. Providing high quality education matched to individual needs, giving all children full access to the National Curriculum;

5. Valuing all children and adults, treating everyone with equal consideration and mutual respect;

6. Promoting good co-operation and communication between children, staff, parents, governors, the church and the community;

7. Encouraging parents to take an active part in supporting the school;

8. Sustaining a good and safe working environment for staff and children, and fairly proportioning and utilising the maximum resources of the school’s allocated budget;

9. Promoting a happy and caring environment in which children can explore their own spirituality and world view.

In Highfield CE Aided Primary School we are committed to ensuring that each pupil is given full access to a curriculum appropriate to his/her personal needs. For most children this will be based on full access to the National Curriculum. For children with specific learning difficulties, it may mean a form of modification.

In addition we want to ensure that each child is given the opportunity to develop the ability to contribute to the wider society of school, home and the outside world. This means encouraging each child to develop character, feelings, emotions and beliefs in a supportive environment. As a church school we want to ensure that children can explore the world of meaning and relationships within the Christian context of care and mutual respect for each other person at school.

This is our Values Policy and as such it will be seen implicitly within the hidden curriculum through cross-curricular links as well as the more tangible areas of:

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Personal
  • Social
  • Cultural
  • Intercultural
  • Health
  • Citizenship Education

Clearly there are values in other aspects of the formal curriculum and it should be understood that we would expect the National Curriculum to be the vehicle for much of the development of the Values Policy. However, we also need to help children to be reflective about themselves and their place in the world, to develop a sense of awe and wonder as well as developing a sense of social responsibility.

None of the elements above should be seen in isolation; there are many common threads in all.

Spiritual Development

The Christian worldview understands spirituality to be part of our being which enables us to recognise and respond to our Creator God. We realise that not all children will have a Christian belief, but we are committed to helping them to explore and nurture their own spirituality.

Teachers need to think carefully about the “how and when” it can take place. In planning and preparing the learning objectives and the teaching style, we need to give consideration to the added dimension of spiritual development. This is not to say that it will happen because it is planned, or that, if it does, the quality of the moment will be assured. However, it is also true that the unplanned moment might arise and clearly this should be seized.

It is therefore important that we bear in mind the sort of activities or learning that might make such moments happen. The following list of words and phrases is associated with spiritual development and may give context or ideas for encouraging spiritual development.

Contexts for spiritual Development–

  • Awe, wonder, mystery from the natural world or human achievement
  • Searching for meaning and purpose: origins , beauty, suffering, death
  • Creativity: the arts and music, story or dance
  • Self-knowledge and self-esteem
  • Relationships
  • Personal beliefs: religious, social, moral and how these contribute to ones identity
  • Feelings and emotions
  • Celebration: special moments both individual and corporate
  • Sensory experiences
  • Silence
  • Symbol
  • Story
  • Reflection

Moral Development

Moral education is concerned with the development of the sense of right and wrong with each person’s character. The context for this development is wider that the school itself, but the schools behaviour policy is central to the work. Teachers will want to encourage children to make informed decisions about their own moral codes within the security for ideas that our school offers.

Contexts for moral education

  • Fiction offers and exciting medium for children to be able to explore moral issues in a non-threatening way. Nursery rhymes and fairy tales often have a strong moral element within them. A good example is “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. For older children the works of Roald Dahl offers children the chance to think through moral dilemmas and issues.
  • History is another good opportunity as children look back on events in world history that are good examples. The holocaust clearly stands out as one, but studies of Victorian life, slavery and exploitation all have a moral dimension for children to explore.
  • RE gives an added dimension but care needs to be taken here to avoid the development if bigotry.
  • Debatesof all kinds, carefully structured, can allow children to role-play a view that they might not normally.

Personal Development

Personal Development is simply the development of each of us as a person. It is about the many facets that make up our lives from a wide range if stimuli collected, refined and developed throughout our existence. It is not so much about the learning of a subject or a bank of knowledge, rather how this influences values, attitudes and behaviour.

Clearly there is no programme of study for everyone to follow, but in school we must ensure that we give children a wide range of stimuli in a broad range of contexts so that the personal development of each one can take place.

Contexts for developing Personal Education

  • Developing less teacher dependence
  • Giving children a sense of security
  • Valuing each child and his/her contribution
  • Encouraging children to develop enquiring minds
  • Giving opportunities for leadership
  • Ensuring that teamwork skills are developed
  • Opening up the world beyond their current view
  • Developing skills of listening, empathising, supporting peers
  • Developing a notion of care and social responsibility Develop children’s learning skills through the ‘Building Learning Power ‘programme’
  • Provide children with a deep understanding of focus bible stories and songs which they can draw upon in later life.(reference to story seeds Appendix 1)

Social Development

Social Development will overlap with personal development in many ways. Effective personal development encourages the individual to think bout a personal response to social affairs and values. With this in mind, the opportunities suggested in the box should be read in conjunction with the section on Personal Development.

Contexts for Social Education

  • Giving children a sense of community
  • Making children aware of the impact that individual behaviour can have on a group
  • Encouraging children to see the wider impact on a group of their individual behaviour
  • Encouraging a sense of teamwork and interaction
  • Enabling children to see that combined effort can make some tasks easier
  • Learning that the world of work is about collaboration and co-operation
  • Learning that we live in a society that is made up of disparate groups who must be able to co-exist
  • Developing a sense of appropriate behaviour
  • Learning that there are rules and conventions that exist so that a civilised society can exist
  • Develop a political sense in children so that they become aware that the people can change ideas and behaviours

Cultural Development

Cultural Development is concerned with giving children the opportunities to learn that the society in which they live is made up from past traditions. In addition they need to learn that they have a contribution to make to this and that society is made up of people from many different cultures. Within our school we aim to provide a positive and living experience of Christian culture.

The Curriculum offers many opportunities for cultural development. As we live in a community and society of many cultures, part of the multi-cultural aspect of our work will be developed quite naturally. However there are aspects of intercultural education that need to be addressed in their own way.

Contexts for Cultural Development

We need to give children the opportunity to develop their understanding of their own culture, and that of others, through much of the curriculum.
Aspects in –
  • Literature
  • Art
  • Music
  • History
  • Geography
  • RE
  • Worship
  • Dance
  • Drama
All make positive contributions to this.

1 -April 2013

Intercultural Education

Introduction and Aims

The society we live in is both multi-cultural and multi-ethnic. Through an ethos of love and care that is rooted in the Christian faith, our aim is to value and encourage the development of each child, providing them with the necessary skills and knowledge to live successfully in this society.

Intercultural education builds upon the features of cultural education above. We recognise that we live in a world that is changing and within a culturally diverse society. Children will be prepared for living in this society if we enable them to:

  • Recognise and value the Christian beliefs that form the basis of British culture, as well as other cultures that contribute to and make up our society
  • Recognise and develop awareness of the diversity of other peoples cultures and languages
  • Explore peoples similarities and appreciate and understand their differences and encourage respect and tolerance for others
  • Experience good and varied examples of British culture and other cultures and traditions, particularly those represented in the school
  • Celebrate human achievement in whatever form it takes place
  • Increase their knowledge and understanding of other people, the interdependence between groups and nations

Planning, Teaching and the Curriculum

We will achieve this by:

-Developing self esteem of each pupil

-Ensuring that the planning and delivery of the National Curriculum, Religious Education and the wider curriculum embraces and develops understanding between different ethnic groups, whilst drawing on pupils cultural, religious and linguistic knowledge and experiences

-Encouraging children to be secure with themselves and their own heritage

-Giving opportunities to recognise similarities and differences and celebrate appropriately

-Ensuring that children are given learning opportunities that enrich their experience and understanding of the world

-Encouraging children to recognise discrimination and stereotyping and to learn how to challenge such behaviour

-Responding appropriately to racial incidents

-Supporting pupils for whom English is an additional language

-Ensuring that all staff and adults working with the children will foster tolerance and discourage prejudice

We can achieve the above by:

  • Identifying and using opportunities as appropriate, especially in the areas identified for cultural development
  • Providing opportunities for children to meet visitors from culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds
  • Taking active part in workshops and similar activities which enable children to enjoy, explore, empathise, create and celebrate
  • Encouraging open discussion of issues such as prejudice and racismwithin a safe and supportive environment
  • Encouraging an awareness of the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen in our diverse world
  • Developing in children a global perspective
  • Celebrating the achievements of all our pupils
  • Ensuring that all staff has appropriate Inset opportunities and that curriculum planning reflects opportunities for intercultural education

Resources

Resources will present positive images of different cultures and traditions. These are stored in the appropriate subject area.

This policy works in conjunction with all our other policies particularly the English as an Additional Language Policy. There is additional money to support the work we do from the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant that is developed to Highfield School through the Standards Fund.

Health Education

Health Education is concerned with making children aware that their bodies have functions that need the correct maintenance if they are to stay healthy. This maintenance includes diet, rest, sleep, exercise and hygiene. In addition they need to know that some actions and behaviours can have a harmful and detrimental effect. Children should also be made aware of agreed aspects of mental health and the effect that promoting positive action can have on their lives.

Contexts for developing Health Education

  • Opportunities for developing this can come in the formal curriculum through some aspects of Science and Design Technology. Our PE programme reflects the need for appropriate exercise.
  • Teachers will want to do more than the basic teaching, especially if the school is part of the Healthy Schools Initiative.
  • The formal PHSE documentation has further ideas.

Citizenship

Social and moral responsibility – Pupils learning from the very beginning self-confidence and socially and morally responsible behaviour in and beyond the classroom, towards those in authority and towards each other.

Community involvement – Pupils learning how to become helpfully involved in the life and concerns of their neighbourhood and communities, including learning through community involvement and service.

Political Literacy – Pupils learning about the institutions, issues, problems and practices of our democracy and how citizens can make themselves effective in public life, locally, regionally and nationally through skills and values as well as knowledge; this can be termed political literacy, which encompasses more than political knowledge alone.

At key stages 1 and 2, the Framework emphasises the development of social and moral responsibility, community involvement and some of the basic aspects of political literacy, for example, knowing what democracy is and about the basic institutions that support it locally and nationally, as essential preconditions of citizenship as well as PHSE.

The benefits of the Framework

It will help children to:

  • Value their achievements;
  • Deal with risk ad meet the challenges of life now and in the future;
  • Identify their values and strive to live up to them.

It will help schools to:

  • Relate positively to their neighbourhood and local communities;
  • Raise standards of achievement by children who are more secure, motivated, confident and independent learners;
  • Help promote equal opportunities for all;
  • Improve the health of their children through links with the National Healthy School Standard.

Society gains:

  • Healthier and more active children
  • Children who are confident that they can participate in community affairs.

Involvement in the running of the school through school or class councils and other decision making also promotes responsibility and learning about democracy.

Broader links with community partners can benefit the schools PHSE and citizenship provision. For example, links with companies, financial and business services, banks and building societies can promote learning about personal finance and reinforce any work related learning.

Provision for some aspects of PSHE and citizenshipcould be made through other subjects including RE.

Some subjects in the curriculum have opportunities to make links with the Framework through their programmes of study –

  • English: skills in enquiry and communication, stories that illustrate aspects of personal and social development.
  • Mathematic:aspects of financial capability, counting and sharing.
  • Science: drugs (including medical), sex, health, safety and the environment.
  • DesignandTechnology: health and safety, healthy eating , realising that people have needs as they generate design ideas, use of technology.
  • ICT: communicating with others via e-mail, finding information on the internet and checking its relevance.
  • History: use of sources, reasons for and results of historical events, situations and changes, diversity within societies studied, significant people, events, ideas and experiences of people from the past.
  • Geography: topical issues concerning environment, sustainable development, land use, study of pupils’ own locality and places in different parts of the world including less economically developed countries.
  • Art and Design: reflecting on and responding to ideas and experiences communicated through works of art, craft and design from different times and cultures.
  • Music: making the most of abilities in playing or singing, issues of cultural diversity, their value and their expression.
  • Physical Education: teaching and learning about health and safety, development of personal and social skills through team and individual activities, games and sports.
  • RE: religious and moral beliefs, values and practises that underpin and influence personal and social issues and relationships. It is insufficient to rely on these links along for the effective provision of;
  • PSHE and Citizenship: other provision needs to be made either separately or within other subjects/curriculum areas to ensure full coverage of the Framework at key stages 1 and 2.

PSHE and Citizenship activities and school events