British Values
British Values
Our Values Statement
We promote ‘British Values’ at Montsaye Academy through our spiritual, moral, social and cultural education which permeates through the school’s curriculum and supports the development of the young person as whole.
We recognise that such development is most successful when those values and attitudes are promoted by all the staff and provide a model of behaviour for our pupils.
The curriculum in all phases offers broad and balanced opportunities which are complemented by activities planned for form times, assemblies and our biannual ERA days for each year group.
‘British Values’ have been identified as:
Democracy:
We ensure that pupils are given a ‘voice’ to communicate. This ‘voice’ could be through student voice activities, being a form representative or participating in surveys and reviews. We have also held a mock referendum and several mock elections in recent years. As part of these we have held a hustings where all the local Kettering candidates came in to debate subjects important to the students.
We empower our pupils by giving them opportunities to make choices about the things that they believe to be important. By valuing each ‘voice’ and by listening and responding to that voice we demonstrate that we support democracy and liberty.
Rule of Law:
We involve pupils in making decisions and choices that are acceptable to the school community and society at large.
Pupils are helped to learn to manage their behaviour and take responsibility for their actions. Staff are committed to providing a consistent and predictable environment within the school and beyond. We can help pupils to understand the connection between actions and consequences. This type of environment enables pupils to feel safe and secure; this in turn, promotes the optimum conditions for learning to take place. In addition to working on this every day, it is also planned into the themes of thought for the week and assemblies.
Individual Liberty:
Pupils are encouraged to become good and valued citizens. We do this by supporting each pupil to become as independent as possible. We endeavour to demonstrate that everyone has rights. Some pupils will be able to take responsibility for particular roles and to understand that with certain rights comes a level of responsibility. We support others by participating in charitable events such as, Red Nose Day/Comic Relief and Children in Need. Students demonstrate this through catering, planning, volunteering, donating and engaging in many other activities to support others. We believe that engendering a caring and helpful environment and guiding students to be independent can boost and nurture a healthy self-esteem. Our cadets particularly demonstrate leadership and exemplify this value in all they do. We also create opportunities for peer mentoring to occur which helps younger students gain independence.
Mutual Respect:
Within school, pupils work with a range of people and interactions with others are always positively promoted on a personalised basis for each individual. As well as promoting respect within the school, contact with members of the community is encouraged and students have contact with a range of people from different age groups and backgrounds. These can include: sports events, community events and shared participation with other schools/colleges.
We believe it is important to facilitate opportunities to be part of the community as the pupils, families and staff have much to offer in the development of community cohesion.
Our PSHE programme supports respect for all and we focus on removing discrimination all year round, but with particular focus during Pride month, International Women’s day, Black History month. We also have an LGBTQ club and a boys wellbeing group as well as daily lunch clubs for those who need it.
Tolerance of different faiths and beliefs:
We are part of a school and local community where each person is respected and valued equally without regard to ability, gender, faith, heritage or race.
Cultural appreciation and development forms part of our curriculum. We place great emphasis on providing encounters and participation in events and celebrations to broaden all pupils’ experiences and awareness of others.
Our Assemblies help all pupils to find out about themselves and others linking their lives to the communities in which they belong. The themes cover areas such as: friendships, helping others and celebrations from a range of faiths and world events.
Pupils are encouraged to experience British Culture through our curriculum themes. For example, pupils have visited many local places. As a school, we take part in sporting activities which helps to instil ‘fair play’ and engender a ’team spirit’.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC)
Montsaye Academy has a strong commitment to the personal and social development of all pupils. The school vision and values, put together by all the staff, supports spiritual, moral, social and cultural characteristics in all pupils.
What is SMSC – Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development?
Here is a summary to explain SMSC – it is personalised for all our students in The Bridge.
Spiritual development is when we:
Explore beliefs and experience; respect faiths, feelings and values; enjoy learning about oneself, others and the surrounding world; use imagination and creativity; reflect.
Moral development is when we:
Recognise right and wrong; respect the law; understand consequences; investigate moral and ethical issues; offer reasoned views.
Social development is when we:
Use a range of social skills; participate in the local community; appreciate diverse viewpoints; participate, volunteer and cooperate; resolve conflict; engage with the 'British values' of democracy, the rule of law, liberty, respect and tolerance.
Cultural development is when we:
Appreciate cultural influences; appreciate the role of Britain's parliamentary system; participate in culture opportunities; understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity.
In our school pupil’s SMSC development is seen for example in:
- Taking part in a range of activities regarding social skills
- Developing an awareness and respect for diversity
- Developing and appreciation of theatre
- Developing an understanding of right and wrong
- Developing the communication skills to make choices about likes/dislikes in school then in wider community visits
- Taking part in sporting opportunities
- Taking part in cultural opportunities
- Taking part in artistic opportunities.
SMSC is embedded throughout the curriculum. This integrated approach ensures that aspects of SMSC is considered in all subject areas. The senior leadership team audits SMSC and Governors monitor it across school.
Beyond the Curriculum
We are also committed as a school to developing SMSC beyond the curriculum. This is done through:
- Arts, Music and Cultural Specialists visits to school over the year
- Assemblies give pupils an opportunity to explore aspects of SMSC
- Our ERA days include theatre, wellbeing, community, creative and musical activities all designed to develop SMSC at Montsaye.
Impact
In order to reflect further on the impact of all our work on SMSC:
- We engage governors, families and community
- Hear our student voice
- Observe staff and pupil interactions
- Support Social Behaviour
- Complete learning walks reflecting on resources and practices.