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."

At Park Junior School these values are reinforced regularly through the concept of our ‘Golden Rules’

• Respect the rights of others 
• Be responsible
• Be ready to listen and learn
• Make safe choices 
• Care for one another

 and in the following ways:

Democracy

• We have our own school council with elected representatives.
• All children are able to put themselves forward to their classmates. A ballot is held and pupils are voted for
• All children are encouraged to debate topics of interest, express their views and make a meaningful contribution to the running of the school on matters that directly involve pupils.

The Rule of Law

• Alongside our school rules, each class also discusses and sets its own rules that are clearly understood by all and seen to be necessary to ensure that every class member is able to learn in a safe and ordered environment.
• Pupils are helped to distinguish right from wrong.
• Pupils are helped to respect through unpicking why we have school rules and therefore why rules are important in the wider world.
• Visits from authorities such as the Police; Fire Service; Ambulance etc. are regular parts of our calendar and help reinforce this message
• The Behaviour and Anti-Bullying policies encourage the restorative justice process to resolve conflict.
• E-safety is taught each year and the local PCSO has visited to reinforce the message.
• Drugs education is taught through our PSHE curriculum and each year the school is visited by the Life Bus which deals with this topic.
• Year 5 pupils take part in ‘Bikeability’ where they learn to ride a bike safely on the road and in order to pass the course, have to be familiar with the highway code.
• Rule of Law is also taught through our creative curriculum on regular occasions including:

• Guy Fawkes
• Ancient Greek society’s treatment of women and the history of democracy

Individual Liberty

Within school, pupils are actively encouraged, and given the freedom to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. e.g. by signing up for extra-curricular clubs, choosing the level of challenge in some lessons and becoming increasingly more involved in child-led learning

• As a school we educate and provide boundaries for our pupils to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment, a planned curriculum and an empowering education
• Pupils are supported to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence
• Pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their behaviour
• Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our e-safety teaching and PSHE lessons
• Freedom of speech is modelled through encouraging pupil participation.
• Vulnerable pupils are protected and stereotypes challenged
• A strong anti-bullying culture is embedded in the school
• Pupils have key roles and responsibilities in school e.g. School Council members, lunchtime office helpers, Assembly Monitors etc
• Pupils make many choices throughout the day including choosing their own lunch from the lunch menu daily and their own reading book from the library.

Mutual Respect

Respect is one of the core values of our school. This can be seen and felt in our pervading ethos in school. The pupils know and understand that it is expected and imperative that respect is shown to everyone, whatever   differences we may have and to everything, however big or small.

• The school strongly promotes respect for individual differences.
• Pupils are helped to acquire an understanding of, and respect for, their own and other cultures and ways of life
• Staff and pupils are encouraged to challenge prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour
• Actively promoting our values also means challenging pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental values, including ‘extremist’ views

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

• Links and visits are promoted with local faith communities and places of worship e.g. members of different faiths or religions are invited to school to share their knowledge and enhance learning within assemblies and in class
• Through the PSHE and RE curriculums pupils are encouraged to discuss and respect differences between people, such as differences of faith, ethnicity, disability, gender or sexuality and differences of family situations, such as looked after children or young carers
• Assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudiced-based bullying have been followed and supported in PHSCE/Circle Time
• We offer a culturally rich and diverse curriculum in which all major religions are studied and respected
• Strong links have been cultivated with the local church and each week, members of the congregation come to run an ‘Open the Book’ assembly, sharing bible stories with the children.
• Enrichment weeks provide opportunities for promoting mutual respect and tolerance for example anti-bullying week which includes a focus on prejudicial language and differences, and French week where the children found out about the country and people and how the culture differs from our own.