Our Aims Statement

     To Care

To Enjoy

To Learn

Together

Creating a school where we respect the beliefs of others and care for the world around us.

Enabling everyone to enjoy success through an inspiring and exciting curriculum.

Looking for opportunities to stimulate curiosity, develop independence and create a lifelong desire to learn.

Together we are building a happy, welcoming environment where everyone is valued and encouraged to make the right choices.

Our Curriculum Aims Statement

At Bawnmore our curriculum fosters curiosity, creativity and resilience, to encourage every child to become independent lifelong learners. At the core of our broad balanced curriculum is the belief that children learn through enquiry and stimulating, exciting experiences. This supports the development of the whole person ready to take the next steps in their education and lives beyond Bawnmore.

Promoting British Values at Bawnmore Community Infant School

The DfE have recently 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 were reiterated in 2014.

November 2014 guidance from the Department for Education states the following, “Through their provision of SMSC, schools should”:

• enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;

• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;

• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand howthey can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;

• enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;

• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;

• encourage respect for other people; and

• encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

At Bawnmore these values are reinforced regularly through  our curriculum and positive behaviour policy, and in the following ways:

Democracy

• Each year the children decide upon their class rules and all the children contribute to these.

• We have a school council which meets every month with the Headteacher to discuss issues raised in class discussions. Each class votes for one girl and one boy to be their representatives on the committee.

The rule of law

• The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced at Bawnmore.

• Pupils are taught from an early age the rules of the school. These are our Golden Rules, Playground Rules and Safety Rules. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind rules and laws, 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 Bawnmore, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment.

• As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make informed choices, through a safe environment and an empowering education.

• Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our E-Safety and PSHE lessons. Whether through the choice of a Learning Challenge or of how they record their work, of participation in our numerous extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, pupils are given the freedom to make choices

Mutual Respect

• 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 members of the school community treat each other with respect.

• The first sentence in our School Aims Statement reads: ‘Creating a school where we respect the beliefs of others and care for the world around us’.

• As a ‘Taking Care’ protective behaviours school, we promote respect for oneself and consideration for others.

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

• We actively promote diversity through our celebrations of different faiths and cultures. Religious Education lessons and PSHE lessons reinforce messages of tolerance and respect for others.

• Members of different faiths and religions are encouraged to share their knowledge to enhance learning within classes and the school.

• Our daily act of worship in school, whilst being broadly of a Christian nature, focuses on a weekly value, and stories often link from other faiths and cultures to re-enforce that value and promote respect.

   

Pupils are rewarded by earning 'achievement leaves' for upholding and demonstrating our school values across the curriculum and throughout the week. Our weekly 'Values Assembly' recognises and acknowledges pupils in each class who have demonstrated our values around school.

At Bawnmore we will actively challenge pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including ‘extremist’ views.