British Values

Our school reflects British Values in all that we do.  We aim to nurture our children on their journey through life so they can grow into safe, caring, democratic, responsible and tolerant citizens who make a positive difference to British society and to the world.  We encourage our children to be creative, unique, open-minded and independent individuals, respectful of themselves and of others in our school, our local community and the wider world.

At Herne Junior School, we actively promote British Values in the following ways:

Democracy

• All children vote on who they wish to be their class School Council Representatives each year.
• The School Council meet to discuss changes they would like to make within school.
• The School Council visited Canterbury Guildhall (Oct 2022) where they learnt about the role of the Lord Mayor and the democratic system involved in the local council.
• The School Council has input into the school lunch menu, having meetings with the lunches Provider to say which menus are popular and which need altering.
• School Council attends a ‘Schools Parliament’ where they discuss and debate a given topic with members of school councils from other local schools.
• Subject Leaders often conduct a ‘Pupil Voice’ for their subjects in order to gather children’s thoughts.  This is then used to inform future planning and changes to school life.
• House Captains are voted for by all members of staff.
• The children of each year group vote for their chosen charity and fund-raising activities for Charity Week.
• In History lessons, children learn about Crime and Punishment through the ages.

Rule of Law

• The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced.
• School rules and expectations are clear, fair, consistent and regularly promoted.  As soon as pupils join our school, they are taught our school behaviour system of Gold, Silver, Bronze and the rewards and consequences associated with it.
• Our Community Police Warden comes into our school regularly to meet with the children.
• Police officers visit the school, helping Year 6 pupils understand the required behaviour when moving to Secondary school.
• The Fire Brigade come into school to teach children about fire safety.
• All children receive NSPCC education where they learn about the rights of a child.
• Children take part in road safety workshops.
• Year 6 children can participate in the ‘Bikeability’ programme, learning about the laws of the road in order to keep themselves, and others, safe.
• Year 5 participate in the ‘Litter Angels’ project, promoting the importance of not littering while participating in their annual poster competition.
• Pupils are supported in using a restorative justice approach to resolve conflicts.

Individual Liberty

• Children are encouraged to make their own choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment.  For example, they choose their own level of challenge for many lessons, they may choose what they would like to eat for lunch each day and they can choose to participate in extra-curricular clubs and opportunities. During our SMSC week, children also choose what activity they would like to participate in.
• Children are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advise how to exercise these safely, for example through our E-Safety and PSHE lessons.
• Children know that they have the right to respectfully express their views and beliefs and they know that they are valued as individuals, each with a God-given talent.

Mutual Respect

• Our school mission statement of, ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself’ supports and underpins the idea of respect. 
• We have a group of ‘Equality Ambassadors’ whose role is to celebrate our unique community, where our differences are embraced within the security of God’s love.
• Pupils contribute positively to the lives of those living in the locality of the school through singing at local care homes and taking worships to centres such as ‘Help the Aged’.
• Children are taught to value all members of staff equally.
• The staff in the school model respect between each other to the children.
• During Black History month, children learn about some extraordinary people who have helped shaped our world for the better.
• During Languages Week, children learn about different countries - their language, customs, culture, geography – and discuss the wonderful similarities and differences between countries. 
• Children regularly attend church services where they demonstrate respect.
• Children regularly participate in litter picking around the school grounds, showing respect to their environment.
• Children engage in activities during Anti-bullying week each year.

Tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs

• During worship, prayer is invitational, allowing children to decide whether they wish to take part in the prayer.
• Our local Reverend leads worship on a regular basis.
• Each year group has two books to read which cover a range of diversities such as faiths, disabilities and cultures.
• The texts that are used for English lessons are written by a diverse range of authors and cover a diverse range of subjects.
• In RE lessons, children learn about different religions which gives them an understanding leading to a respect of other religions and beliefs.