British Values School Statement

At St Martin’s we actively promote equality, diversity and fundamental British values. Through our cross-curricular planning and mapping we ensure that Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural (SMSC) aspects of the curriculum and British values are covered at an appropriate time for the age of our pupils. We take British values to be those that are recommended in the Prevent Strategy and Promoting Fundamental British Values as part of SMSC in Schools (DfE, November 2014). These are democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

We have four key school values of respect, faith, tolerance and togetherness which are displayed at the front of our school for the whole community to see and are posted on our school website. These values are closely linked to our Gospel values and we promote these with the children and their families on a regular basis. Our school values are intrinsic to our British values as they reflect our belief that all members of our community should have:

• Equality of opportunity.
• Freedom of speech.
• The right to live free from persecution of any kind.

The values that we promote at St Martin’s through our SMSC mapping also include the following:

• The influence we can have on decision-making through the democratic process.
• How living under the rule of law protects us and ensures our well-being and safety.
• The freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law.
• That nobody should be subject to prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour due to their faith or beliefs.
• That we have a responsibility to identify and combat discrimination.

We also promote democracy through our own school practices. We operate a School Council through which pupils are elected by their peers as representatives who are then able to influence school decision-making. The processes of democracy are studied at different times, particularly in Year 6 when “parliamentary debates” are part of the curriculum. As part of our Religious Education programme we study other world religions and take every opportunity to promote tolerance and respect for other faiths and cultures. We promote figures from minority groups as role models. For a number of years we have been part of the School Linking Network (SLN) whereby our pupils take part in planned activities with pupils from other schools with a different cultural make-up to our own.

Each year group has developed a PSHE/SMSC/Safeguarding Topics & Themes cross-curricular map. Through this document we ensure that our pupils are exposed to the schools’ and British values at a time that is appropriate to their age. This includes the coverage of safeguarding concerns such as radicalisation, child sexual exploitation and prejudicial issues.