Our Gospel and British Values

Our Gospel and British Values
at Sacred Heart Primary School

Gospel Values

The Social, Spiritual, Moral and Cultural Development of pupils is important to us and one way in which we foster this is by promoting our ‘Gospel Values’ alongside our British Values. Our policies, procedures and daily teaching are underpinned by these values as is rooted in the teaching of Christ, these Gospel values should constitute the targets and outcomes of the educational enterprise in every Catholic school, as they do in Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School.

Prayer and Worship in a Catholic school is concerned with giving glory, honour, praise and thanks to God. It is our loving response, in word and action, to God’s invitation to enter into relationship with Him, made possible through the work of Jesus Christ and the witness of the Holy Spirit. It is an integral part of the life of the Catholic school, putting Christ at the centre of education, helping to create and sustain the Catholic ethos, making it tangible.

The Social, Spiritual, Moral and Cultural Development of pupils is important to us and one way in which we foster this is by promoting our ‘Gospel Values’ alongside our British Values. Our policies, procedures and daily teaching are underpinned by these values as is rooted in the teaching of Christ, these Gospel values should constitute the targets and outcomes of the educational enterprise in every Catholic school, as they do in Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School.

Prayer and Worship in a Catholic school is concerned with giving glory, honour, praise and thanks to God. It is our loving response, in word and action, to God’s invitation to enter into relationship with Him, made possible through the work of Jesus Christ and the witness of the Holy Spirit. It is an integral part of the life of the Catholic school, putting Christ at the centre of education, helping to create and sustain the Catholic ethos, and making it tangible.

British Values

In June 2014 David Cameron spoke about the important role of British values in our education system. How well schools promote such values are now part of the Ofsted inspection process, but we embed them within our curriculum because of the importance to developing our children into kind, respectful, inclusive and aspirational young adults. Developing children who are ambitious and kind, who are ready to make a positive impact in the world. We will ensure our children are proud of who they are and what they can achieve. Such values are at the core of all we do whether it be through our assemblies, our RE curriculum, our Relationships and Sex Education, PSHE lessons or through other areas of the curriculum or ethos of our school. Of course, the term British values can be somewhat misleading as these values are integral to so many countries across the world.

We are a school that is rich in diversity of culture, faith and background. Our curriculum reflects, celebrates and teaches children about diversity and equality.  For example, in RE children learn about other religions of Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. The children have opportunities to visit different places of worship and work with specialist visitors to tell us about their faith. Throughout the year we celebrate being part of Britain. In general terms this means we celebrate events such as Christmas, Harvest, Diwali, Black History Month and Remembrance Day. In addition, we always take part in key British events. For such events we hold parades, tea parties, concerts and do additional curriculum classroom work about how such events relate to being British.

The annual election and work of our Pupil Parliament reflects British democracy. Our PP is very proactive in having its voice heard. Recent work has included deciding upon Good to be Green events, creating the Friendship Charter and creating a timetable of play leaders to work with all year groups leading activities during break times. In addition, the PP are going to organise our charity work throughout the year. This includes fun days such as Odd Socks Day for the Anti-Bullying Alliance, Mental Health Day as well as supporting Cafod and our sponsored friend in the Gambia. This fostering of a commitment to charities is another way in which we teach a sense of Britishness.

Children are taught the importance of rules and laws and how the ones in school reflect those in our country. Children are taught the reasons behind rules and that they are there to keep us safe and happy. Each class has its own code of conduct and positive behaviour reinforcements are operated throughout the school. Visits form authority figures in society such as the fire brigade, the local community police officers, doctors, dentists, nurses, MPs , Occupational Therapists, The Climate team from Chester Zoo, students in Universities, My Bank and governors demonstrate to children how rules and laws are an integral part of a safe and happy Britain.

Alongside rules and laws, we promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express our views and beliefs as an integral part of what it is to be British. Children may choose to take part in our very wide range of extra-curricular activities. They have a very broad choice of lunchtime play areas and activities. They are involved in their own learning and respond to their learning by feedback systems and self-review of marking. They start in Nursery by voting for and choosing their book for the day alongside the choice of provision to learn through play. Children are taught how to use their choices and freedoms safely through our curriculum in areas such as e-safety, anti-bullying, RSHE education and health aware awareness education.

Sacred Heart is a wonderfully culturally diverse school with a highly regarded inclusive ethos and practice. We are blessed to be a microcosm of British society and we truly celebrate this. Our children are taught and know how to show respect to everyone no matter what our differences may be. We celebrate this diversity in our curriculum through all subject areas whether this is WW2, Black History Month, Women in Science and Engineering, Following our “All are Welcome” programme of Equality and Diversity or working from texts in English such as Lorna and the Pebble, My name is not Refugee, The Island or A story like the Wind. Examples include our celebrations of different religious festivals throughout the year, the participation of all our children, including those with a SEND need in all our curriculum activities and the regular staff training we undertake to ensure this inclusive practice remains integral to our work. This year we have dedicated every staff meeting in autumn to inclusive practice. 

Behaviours, which are contrary to these British values, are actively challenged, whether they come from children, parents or staff. Such instances are extremely rare in school and we are proud of the reputation we have in our local community.