Promoting British Values at
Fair Furlong Primary School 

 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’

The Government set out its definition of British Values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy and these values have been reiterated in the Department for Education’s non-statutory advice, for promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in schools, November 2014. At Fair Furlong these values are already a well-established thread in our curriculum and embedded through our school ethos and are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:

Fair Furlong School Values – We have five values that underpin our vision and our daily work in our school community. These values are Respect; Learning Together; Enthusiasm; Challenge and Trust. These values are regularly reinforced through assemblies and are very much at the forefront of life at Fair Furlong. All children are expected to know our values and be able to exemplify how they might promote them. Our values certificates and badges are awarded for special achievements against our values – during a child’s time at Fair Furlong they are encouraged to collect all five badges.

We asked our children to tell us how a visitor to our classrooms and school would see our values.

These are just a few examples of their comments:

Learning Together –

• ‘We share the points and help each other’ (YR)
• ‘When we learn together we don’t leave anyone out because we know that everyone has a part to play’ (Y5)
• We learn about other cultures and we also try and learn different languages’ (Y6)

We ensure our children understand what learning together means both within our school and community and beyond our local community.

Respect –

• ‘We all work hard in class and listen and say please so we can all learn well’ (Y1)
• ‘When someone is having trouble in class or at play we show respect by being responsible for each other’ (Y3)

Enthusiasm –

• ‘We smile, we put our hands up and answer questions’ (YR)
• ‘We show our enthusiasm by doing lots of difficult work and things in our school we don’t want to just stay the same’ (Y4)

Challenge –

• ‘We do really hard things, we try hard to keep learning new things, we never give up!’ (Y2)
• ‘We all have a responsibility to do the best we can and not to give up’ (Y3)

Trust –

• I can be trusted to do my best’ (Y1)
• ‘We tell the truth, help one another and trust people not just our friends. You can see it in our school and in pictures in our school people hold onto each other’ (Y5)

Assemblies The programme for whole school assemblies is designed to promote the school values and British values, as well as events and celebrations from a wide range of cultures and religions. We also invite in speakers, to talk in assemblies, in order to provide the children with a role model for how they could make a positive contribution to society in later life, beyond school.

The children are reminded of our school and British values through displays around school and when singing our values song.

Democracy Each year the children decide upon their class charter and the rights associated with this. All the children contribute to the drawing up of the charter. We have a student council, who are elected by their class, which meet frequently with the School Council lead to look at ways to improve our school.

Throughout the school year our pupils are involved in many decisions i.e. playground redevelopment; our annual pupil questionnaire; lunchtime survey and after school club survey.

In the run up to elections and referendums our Phase 3 children have a look at the different political parties in Britain and what their mandate represents for them. We have also held our own school election and referendum. We are lucky enough to have governors and links to local governance who talk to our older children about democracy.

The Rule of Law At the heart of Fair Furlong Primary School is the belief that our school must be a place where everybody feels valued and respected. The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced at Fair Furlong. Our Good behaviour policy ensures that the way we reward and encourage positive behaviour and what we will do when things go wrong are clear and consistent to everyone and that our actions will be consistent and fair. This includes our Class Charters, Playground Rules and Lunchtime Targets. We believe it is very important to frequently acknowledge and celebrate pupil achievement in all aspects of school life.  Praise and reward should be based upon individual achievement and equally applied to all learners regardless of ability, race, gender or background (ref. Equalities policy). At the forefront is the aim to develop well rounded individuals who are responsible for their own and others actions. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind rules and laws - the fact that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Visits from authorities such as the Police and Fire Service help reinforce this message.

Individual Liberty At Fair Furlong pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, and to be proud of their community, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for our pupils to make informed choices, through a safe and empowering environment and education.

Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and discuss their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through E-safety and PSHE (Jigsaw) lessons. We have a well-planned approach to this that is flexible enough to include areas of local interest and needs as these arise.

Mutual Respect and Tolerance Mutual respect is at the heart of our values. Children learn that their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others; all children at Fair Furlong have an awareness of the Articles written into the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. These articles are displayed throughout our school. Every year at Fair Furlong we hold an anti-bullying week which underpins our school values and reinforces that everyone is different and as a school community we should respect these differences.

We actively promote diversity through our celebrations of different faiths and cultures through our World Days and school assemblies. Religious

Education lessons and PSHE (Jigsaw) lessons reinforce messages of tolerance and respect for others. Our school curriculum contains units of learning that teach our children the ethos and way of life of other cultures and historical eras.

Positive role models We have many visitors across the school year who are carefully chosen to effectively broaden understanding on a variety of issues from jobs we can aspire to and awareness of disabilities; to healthy eating and personal safety. We also expect all our staff to be professional role models for our children. We dress smartly for school and ensure we show we are good citizens and care for each other and our school community. We are proud to be part of our school and all work together to common goals despite our diverse roles in school. Our children wear their uniform with pride, it shows we all belong together and are keen to show we belong to our school community. We also encourage our children to become good role models. For example, our Year 6 pupils apply for jobs each year that enable them to take on important responsibilities across the school.

At Fair Furlong we have a very strong ethos of care and respect within our school. Staff, governors, families and children all work together to ensure everyone feels valued. We regularly revisit our values (School and British) because they are important to us in keeping our school a happy place to be.