Promoting British values

The DfE have reinforced the need to “create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs”.

At Oak Tree Primary School we teach and reinforce these values in the following ways:

Democracy:

• We provide opportunities for children to debate and discuss a variety of issues
• We encourage children to vote for things that they want to happen
• Children help make the rules within classrooms
• We ensure there are opportunities to become leaders and take on additional responsibility
• We encourage children to express their views in pupil conferences, pupil surveys and through the school council

The Rule of Law:

• Children are taught the difference between right and wrong and are encouraged to take responsibility for their behaviour and make the right choices
• They are taught that the law is there to protect them and that breaking the law involves consequences
• Children are expected to follow the 'Take Care Pledge' that aims to keep children safe and promote a positive atmosphere for teaching and learning
• Children are encouraged to reflect on their actions and make things right
• Visitors, including the Police, are invited to school to help children understand the importance of living within the law

Individual Liberty:

• Children are encouraged to put forward ideas for school improvement and what they would like to learn about in the classroom
• Children are elected to the School Council to represent their peers and make things happen
• Children are given the opportunity to express opinions and state preferences
• We learn about War, the British Empire and the Commonwealth
• Through clubs and residential trips, children are encouraged to try new things and take risks
• Children are encouraged to take on new challenges and aspire to be the best they can

Mutual Respect and Tolerance:

• We encourage children to be polite and helpful to others and lead by example
• We learn to respect other people and recognise that people may be different from us
• We promote equality, diversity and fairness
• In lessons, we actively promote everyone’s right to learn and create a learning environment which is conducive to this
• We ensure that everyone is made aware that bullying of any kind will not be tolerated
• We teach the 'Take Care Values' by which we should live our lives, and we celebrate them in assemblies
• We teach children that we are all different, special and have a range of skills to offer
• We teach children about a variety of faiths and cultures which is underpinned by respect and tolerance regardless of our own beliefs

Promotion of Britishness:

• We commemorate key historical dates such as Armistice
• We celebrate British festivals and special days such as St George’s day, Harvest festival, Shrove Tuesday, Easter and Christmas
• We show support for our country when key sporting fixtures arise

Building Diversity and Inclusion at Oak Tree Primary School and Nursery

We recognise that in schools such as ours, which are lacking in diversity in their own population, it is doubly important that the very wall paper of the school reflects a global, social picture. Through our interactions with our children, it is our aim to build diversity in to the fabric of what we teach and indeed, the whole school culture. At Oak Tree, we are at the beginning of this journey, we have identified a pressing and very real need and are taking steps to address it.

Fundamentally, we need a greater visibility of marginalised groups at Oak Tree and initially, we can do this in two ways; through the language we teach and use and through our displays.

Many of our children are from the same ethnic group, as such, we have even more of a duty to ‘demystify’ other cultures. In essence, we want to ‘usualise’ diversity at Oak Tree, not have it as an ‘add on’ but instead, create a day to day reality of the wider world we live in.

By usualise, we mean to open up the possibilities for acceptance and celebration of diversity, by those who do not experience diversity very often.

We know we need to show our less diverse intake what diversity looks like in the rest of the world.  For us, this means that when we create displays about writers, scientists or name our classrooms after authors, we show people of all backgrounds in those roles. We aim to make classroom and corridor displays that value and promote diversity and to ensure they are representative, regardless of our intake, whilst at the same time, striving towards showing students who may be a minority in our school, that they belong and are part of the fabric of Oak Tree.

The first step in this plan is to ask ourselves questions of our school and our curriculum; these will form the basis of our diversity action plan.

1. What visible commitment does the school have to diversity and inclusion?
2. What does the website tell us about the diverse culture of the school?
3. Are our values, specifically around diversity and inclusion, lived through all areas of school life or just lip service?
4. What does the curriculum include that shows a commitment to diversity and inclusion?
5. What does the wider curriculum commit to in developing a diverse culture?