We aim for all children to leave Coleridge well prepared for secondary school, the next stage in their education and for life in modern Britain. The British values of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs are embedded within our curriculum. These values are particularly linked to our school values:

• Creative
• Caring
• Resilient

Our school values are promoted through all areas of school life; they are modelled by staff and reflected in displays throughout the school. The school’s reward system is based on the promotion of these values, praising children when they demonstrate one of the values through their approach to learning, behaviour around school and how they treat members of the school community and wider community. Children have ‘Tea with Mr C’ where they have the opportunity to discuss their views on the school and what they like and would like to change. Pupils also learn about the values through assemblies, class PSHE lesson, Circle Time, RE and P4C (Philosophy for Children) sessions.

At Coleridge Primary we promote the development of self-confidence, self-worth and a sense of identity. We allow pupils opportunities to reflect on and discuss different lifestyles and facets of identity, as well as being able to ask questions, to challenge inappropriate and harmful ideologies, and stand up for what they believe is right. Children are actively encouraged to make choices knowing they are in a safe and supportive environment.

Children have the opportunity to be involved in the importance of law when they first join Coleridge Primary by agreeing and establishing their class rules and understanding the importance of following the rules.

Challenging Discrimination

As a school that serves a richly diverse community, we take our responsibility to promote community cohesion, generate a respect for difference and individual rights seriously. Our challenging curriculum enables pupils to recognise the valuable role that they play as emerging citizens in British society. We aim to ensure that no-one is unfairly or illegally disadvantaged as a consequence of their age, disability, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnic or national origin, disability or religious beliefs.

We plan assemblies and lessons to teach the children about the school values, respecting similarities and differences, tackling stereotypes and discrimination and understanding why some people discriminate. We aim to empower children to have a voice and to stand up against discrimination, valuing equality, tolerance and mutual respect.

Assemblies cover many topics and link to our core values. Recent assemblies have focused on World War 2, Remembrance Sunday, a community event aimed at raising awareness of leukaemia and encouraging adults to be swabbed to see if they are a match for bone marrow, the Holocaust, anti- bullying week, e- safety, Black History and a local police officer visiting school and examples of children and adults demonstrating the core values.

We have worked with the organisation Stonewall and are involved with their Education for All campaign – Stonewall’s campaign against homophobic bullying. We are also planning workshops by the organisation Diversity Role Models who actively seeks to prevent homophobic and transphobic bullying in UK schools. The aim is to stop bullying before it happens by educating young people about difference, challenging stereotypes and addressing the misuse of language.

Cultures of Coleridge – we will be celebrating the diversity of cultures we have at Coleridge with a Curriculum Week in May involving parents, children and the local community.

The Red Cross – we worked with the charity the Red Cross to collect food for asylum seekers and refugees. There were assemblies to explain the work of the Red Cross and explaining more about the poverty some people can face, also the reasons why some people need to leave their home country due to their political or religious beliefs and discrimination.

Curriculum

We deliver a rich curriculum that has been adapted to meet the requirements of the New Primary Curriculum. Our International Primary Curriculum and teaching of RE enables pupils to learn that there are many differing views and experiences in the world outside of their own. Our school is enriched by the faith of our school community, and we teach an inclusive Religious Education curriculum that teaches pupils about the beliefs and practices of all major religious groups, and the shared values that religion can promote in synchrony with core British values.

The topics and lessons in the school’s curriculum are designed carefully and planned by teachers to provide a rich learning experience that will have a positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Whilst focusing on all children developing good skills in English and Maths and all subjects, we ensure they experience extra-curricular clubs such as music, a variety of sports, the arts, outdoor learning and experiencing Forest School. Trips and visits are planned linking with the class topic to provide children with further understanding of the world they live in. We also link with other schools to take part in dance, singing, science & sports competitions. Such competitions provide the opportunity for children to meet other children from different schools whilst experiencing the process of decision making and understanding rules and fairness.

At Coleridge Primary School we want our children to value the importance of democracy and for our children to take a democratic approach in all aspects of school life. Moreover, at Coleridge Primary we take a democratic approach to teaching and learning; whereby students are given the power to make decisions about their own learning, often with the objective of the lesson being ‘discovered’ within the lesson itself rather than imparted on the children initially. A democratic approach to education at Coleridge Primary encourages a realisation in pupils that they are valued as people, and that they have a positive role to play in creating a caring community within the school. Relationships between pupils and teachers are excellent as they work democratically together to create a positive environment. We ensure that the benefits of a democratic society are also addressed through our P4C sessions, RE lessons, and IPC curriculum, which includes topics entitled ‘Rulers and Governments’ and ‘Current Affairs.’ We also teach our children about other forms of governance and political systems within these topic areas. Children are encouraged to vote on decisions that affect the school and feed their views into the School Council and newspaper to ensure that their voices are heard.

Pupil Voice

‘The Coleridge’ – this is the school newspaper that is written by children from Year 5 and Year 6 with support from three members of staff. The children make decisions about the content of the newspaper and the style of reporting they use. They ensure the newspaper is accessible to their entire readership (children and adults) and that it is a true representation of the school. Copies of The Coleridge are distributed to each class and a copy is posted on the school website.

All children at Coleridge Primary are involved in class assemblies where they have the opportunity to share their learning, often through drama, dance and narrative. The children 4 are encouraged to take ownership of their assembly by writing scripts, agreeing on how they present information and supporting each other through the performance.

The school has had a School Council for many years and in the past it has been an active and thriving group. However, now we are a school with four classes in each year group we are currently in the process of creating a new School Council. The School Council will encourage and enable the pupil voice and provide children with a practical understanding of democracy and how they can influence decision making. The School Council will apply and demonstrate our core values and encourage their application across the school and wider community.

We are looking at becoming a UNICEF “Rights Respecting School” which recognises putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart of a school’s planning, policies, practice and ethos. We would like to link with the local secondary school and observe their debating society with the possibility of setting up a group at Coleridge Primary school.

The school will be holding a mock election at a similar time as the General Election to further their understanding of the democratic process. We will be linking with The Electoral Reform and a member of their staff will talk to the children about their work.

Extremism

The school is aware of the need to be vigilant when it comes to any extremist attitudes or behaviour and appropriate actions will be taken accordingly. All staff are aware of the need to alert the Senior Leadership Team and Governing Body if they have any concerns of this nature.

Our overriding aim is to teach children to be resilient to extremism. This involves pupils being taught how to ask probing questions and make sound judgements for themselves about what is right and wrong. Our International Primary Curriculum and teaching of RE enables pupils to learn that there are many differing views and experiences in the world outside of their own.