Walton On Trent C of E Primary and Nursery School
Living | Learning | Laughing
British Values
We have a set of six whole school values.
These are:
HONESTY
RESPECT
KINDNESS
COURAGE
AMBITION
PERSEVERANCE
Please see our Vision and Values page on the school website for more information about our ethos and culture around school.
Tolerance of Other Faiths and Beliefs
We have close links to our local church, have daily Collective Worships which explain Christian festivals as well as significant events in the years of other faiths. We regularly support charities and people in need including Oxfam, Save the Children, Children in Need and Comic Relief, as well as promoting understanding of other faiths and beliefs throughout the curriculum from dedicated RE lessons through Geography, History and multicultural stories through English lessons.
We received a visit from seven Masai warriors all the way from Kenya, they spent time in each class and we found out all about where they came from and what their lives were like. We enjoyed learning about their culture through song, dance, storytelling, art and design. We used this as a creative learning opportunity in school. All lessons were themed around their visit, planned by the teachers and children together during the day. We are developing a link with a school in Kenya and will be doing some fundraising for the children at the school in Kenya.
"This is the most awesome assembly ever!" GM
Individual Responsibility and Liberty
We give our pupils a range of responsibilities and jobs around school from personal responsibilities like remembering to bring in homework, reading books and PE kits through to classroom responsibilities and whole-school responsibilities.
Mutual Respect
We promote mutual respect for others throughout everything we do in and out of school, including: a range of visitors to school sharing their experiences such as, fire officers, paramedics and other local professionals; parents with specific knowledge linked to topic areas; daily collective worship and quiet reflection time in classrooms; a consistent school behavior policy including a 'monster point' (Class Dojo) reward system; and welcoming parents to our school for regular open afternoons. We regularly work with and welcome pupils and staff from the local community, including hosting sports events, staff from other schools coming in to share their expertise and sharing our Forest School expertise with other schools.
Rule of Law
This term all of the children are going to receive First Aid training. Our Year Five and Six pupils also had the opportunity to take part in Bikeability training to help them understand the rules of the road. We also discuss how the rules in school relate to rules and laws in the wider-world, including the importance of following and the consequences for breaking these laws. Each class follows the school rules have their own set of rules, created and agreed by the children at the start of the year, which are displayed in every room along with rewards and consequences.
Democracy
We discuss local and national elections and what they mean for the way the country is run. Each class will vote for their Members of Parliament. Classes discuss issues they would like their parliament representatives to raise at school council meetings and have a say in decisions around the school, including which charity we should raise money for and improvements to the school.
Cultural Capital
Every child and family who joins our setting will have their own knowledge and experiences that will link to their culture and wider family. This might include: languages, beliefs, traditions, cultural and family heritage, interests, travel and work.
Research shows that when children and families’ cultures are valued, both the child’s experience of learning and progress can benefit (Husain et al., 2018, p. 4 and Gazzard, E. 2018 in Chalmers, H. and Crisfield, E. 2019)
At Walton, we use Bourdieu's definition of Cultural Capital. Cultural Capital is 'the knowledge, skills, values and experiences that provide advantage and help you to get ahead in life, especially in education. Cultural Capital builds over time'.
Cultural capital gives power. It helps children achieve goals, become successful and rise up the social ladder without necessarily having wealth or financial capital. Cultural capital is having assets that give children the desire to aspire and achieve social mobility whatever their starting point.
Gradually widening children’s experiences as they progress through school is an important step in providing rich and engaging learning across the curriculum. We plan carefully for children to have progressively richer experiences in nursery and beyond. These include: Forest School, awareness days, leadership roles, trips, competitions and residentials.
For a more detailed list of activities that build children at Walton's Cultural Capital in EYFS, KS1 and KS2, please see the documents below.
We worked as a staff group and also with the children to look at what the meaning of SMSC was to our school. We decided to create our own word clouds for each of the areas.
We aim to embed our whole school Christian values through the life and heart of the school, linking these in carefully with the British Values. We believe that our six values of Respect, Honesty and Kindness and Courage, Ambition and Perseverance are embedded in Christianity and being the best person you can be!