Monkleigh Primary School marked Remembrance by unveiling a Poppy Art Installation. 

  

At Monkleigh Primary School, we develop and promote British Values throughout our school and within our curriculum.

 A key part of our plan for education is to ensure children become valuable and fully rounded members of society who treat others with respect and leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain.

 British Values

• The Rule of Law
• Democracy
• Individual Liberty
• Mutual Respect
• Tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs
   

Our Children learn:

• An understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
• An understanding that the freedom to hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law
• An acceptance that people having different faiths and beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of discriminatory behaviour
• An understanding of the importance or identifying and combating discrimination

The mission statement and aims of the school clearly reflect these values, and the whole school strives to uphold them.

  Our School Aims:

• To provide every child with the life skills to become successful learners who reach their full potential.
• To provide a safe, supportive, stimulating and inclusive environment where every child is recognised, cared for, encouraged and valued.
• Monkleigh will actively ensure the involvement of the whole community, particularly families, who have a vital role in supporting their children’s education. This partnership will encourage healthy and positive attitudes motivating children to become life-long learners.
• As a school, we value and celebrate the diverse heritages of everybody at Monkleigh Alongside this, we value and celebrate being part of Britain. In general terms, this means that we celebrate traditions and customs in the course of the year; for example, Harvest Festival during the Autumn term and trips to the pantomime at Christmas. We also value and celebrate national focusses, recent examples being; MND readathon (Raising money for this charity due to losing an Ex Headteacher with this illness],  Chinese New Year and Safer Internet Day, with many more opportunities planned in throughout the year to collaborate with the wider,local community and world e.g. Children In Need and Harbour.

Children, parents and staff have many opportunities for their voices to be heard at Monkleigh  Primary School. Democracy is central to how we operate.

An obvious example is our School Council. The election of the School Council members reflects our British electoral system and demonstrates democracy in action: candidates make speeches, pupils consider characteristics important for an elected representative, pupils vote in secret using ballot boxes etc. Made up of two representatives from each class, the School Council meets regularly to discuss issues raised by the different classes. The council has its own budget and is able to effect change within the school; in the past, the School Council has hosted fundraising activities and helped to provide equipment for our school grounds as selected by the children. The Council is actively involved in providing teachers with feedback.

 Another example of ‘pupil voice’ is:

Children are asked to respond and reflect on the teaching and learning they receive as well as make suggestions for the School Council to consider.

 Pupils are always listened to by adults and are taught to listen carefully and with concern to each other, respecting the right of every individual to have their opinions and voices heard. We encourage pupils to take ownership of not only their school but also of their own learning and progress. This encourages a heightened sense of both personal and social responsibility and is demonstrated on a daily basis by our pupils.

Parents’ opinions are welcomed at Monkleigh Primary through methods such as questionnaires, surveys at parents evenings and opportunities to comment on whole school matters.

Alongside rules and laws, we promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs. Through the provision of a safe, supportive environment, we provide boundaries for our pupils to make choices safely; for example:

• choices about how they can improve their learning
• choices around the participation in extra-curricular activities

Our pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are taught how to exercise these safely, such as in our PSHE SCARF and KAPOW  lessons. We use the SCARF resource across the whole school which also links to assemblies.

Collective worship is used to both explore and support the school’s values. By teaching the children how to manage and understand emotions they will be motivated and equipped to:

• Be effective and successful learners
• Make and sustain friendships
• Deal with and resolve conflict evenly and fairly
• Solve problems with others by themselves
• Manage strong feelings such as frustration, anger or anxiety
• Be able to promote calm and optimistic states that promote the achievement of goals
• Recover from setbacks and persist in the face of difficulties
• Work and play cooperatively
• Compete fairly and win or lose with dignity and respect for all competitors
• Recognise and stand up for their rights and the rights of others
• Understand the value of the differences and commonalities between people, respecting the rights of others to have beliefs and values different to their own.
• To respect and value our world, and the things, both material and alive that exist within it.

Children in Year 5 and 6 are given key roles and responsibilities such as Play leaders, Playground Buddies, Reading Buddies. On a Friday afternoon everyone at Monkleigh School takes part in  “Buddies” , it might be reading, playing or an activity. This is a great time to see our older Children helping/encouraging our younger ones                     

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Through opportunities such as our extra-curricular and Lunch Time clubs, Golden Time and Residential Trips, pupils are given the freedom to make safe choices.

Children at Monkleigh are encouraged to make choices knowing they are in a safe and supportive environment.