How British and Christian values come together at St Mary’s
At St Mary’s, we are proud to promote British values in everything we do; they are embedded throughout our wider curriculum and collective worship. We explicitly link them to our core Christian values. You can find examples of how we promote British values through collective worship here. Please see the Picture News coverage maps for details.
Here are some examples of how we prepare our pupils for life in modern Britain by teaching and reinforcing the core British values, which are:
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Curriculum and collective worship
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School life
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- Age-appropriate material about the strengths of democracy, eg learning about the ancient Greeks
- Multiple opportunities to work together productively as a team, eg in science experiments and music performances
- Picture News weekly themes in collective worship, explicitly linked to British values and corresponding Christian values.
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- Pupil voice: consulting our children, on a daily basis and through surveys, and acting on their feedback
- Our School Council, whose members are elected by their peers, discusses issues raised by pupils and our pupil leadership model creates roles of responsibility, including peer mentors and the eco-committee.
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Our linked Christian values: love, respect, hope
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Curriculum and collective worship
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School life
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- Across the curriculum, we teach our children why we have rules, how they keep people safe and the consequences of breaking them
- For example: in computing our programming and online safety lessons; in PHSE through Connecting with others units; visits to school, eg by the High Sheriff and magistrates
- Picture News weekly themes in collective worship, explicitly linked to British values and corresponding Christian values.
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- St Mary’s has clear school rules and our Behaviour Policy encourages children to take responsibility for their actions
- Our pupils understand that racism and bullying are never tolerated.
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Our linked Christian values: love, faith, respect
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Curriculum and collective worship
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School life
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- St Mary’s instils self-respect into our children as individuals, through PHSE and other lessons
- For example: Connecting with others and My healthy self units in PHSE; What is life like units in geography
Picture News weekly themes in collective worship, explicitly linked to British values and corresponding Christian values.
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- We encourage independence, teaching the children that they have the right to develop their own well-informed beliefs and opinions
- Our pupils are taught about good choices and encouraged to make their own, within a safe and supportive environment.
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Our linked Christian values: love, faith, hope, joy
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Curriculum and collective worship
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School life
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- Our RE, PHSE, history, art, music and Spanish lessons encourage mutual respect and tolerance, with widespread opportunities to learn about, and embrace, diverse cultures and backgrounds
- Eg: Learning about Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Humanism in RE; studying a diverse range of artists in art; learning about Spanish and Latin American cultures in Spanish
- Picture News weekly themes in collective worship, explicitly linked to British values and corresponding Christian values.
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- We are a proudly inclusive school, where pupils learn to respect each other and treat everyone as an equal
- With our strong emphasis on collective worship and RE, pupils have extensive opportunities to learn about, and understand, different faiths and worldviews.
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Our linked Christian values: love, respect, faith, joy