We feel our school should be a place where:

• Everyone feels valued, safe, happy and secure.
• Everyone feels free from harassment and racial discrimination.
• Everyone has equality of opportunity.
• Positive relationships are promoted between everyone.
• Everyone is treated as an individual and their self-esteem is encouraged.
• All children are enabled to make progress to the best of their ability.
• Good and appropriate behaviour is promoted at all times.
• Everyone participates in a curriculum that takes full account of the richness and diversity of the worlds cultures so that they can develop understanding of and respect of people of different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

In order to achieve these aims the school has adopted a whole-school community code, known as The 5 B's. The 5 B's are based on the core values that we aspire to and these are promoted throughout the school.

Our core values are:

• Be Yourself
• Be Caring and Kind
• Be Thoughtful and Fair
• Be Honest and Helpful
• Be your Best

We feel it is very important to consider the views of parents, pupils and the wider school community.  Parents are represented on our Governing Body and each class has a parent representative who attends regular Parent Voice meetings. The views of pupils are represented in regular Learning Forum discussions in class and an elected pupil representative from each class forms part of the School Council.  In addition, pupils are given the opportunity to vote for Year 6 pupils to act as House Captains representing each of the school houses, Ash, Birch, Lime and Maple. 

British Values

The DfE have recently reinforced the need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”

At The Abbey Primary School these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:

Democracy:

Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and Pupil Interviews. The elections of the House Captains are based solely on pupil votes.

The Rule of Law:

The importance of rules, whether they are those that govern the class, the school or the country are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through school assemblies. Pupils are taught the values and reasons behind rules and how they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when rules are broken. Visits from authorities such as the Police and Fire Service are regular parts of our calendar and help to reinforce this message.

Individual Liberty:

Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safely, through our provision of a safe environment and through our Community Code. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our Online-Safety and PSHE Curriculum.

Mutual Respect:

Our school ethos and behaviour policy has evolved from our Community Code and our 5Bs. These are a focus for our class discussions and assemblies showing what these mean and how they relate to our daily lives. Our ethos promotes respect for others and this is reiterated through our school rules and our behaviour policy.

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs:

This is achieved through enhancing pupils’ understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity. Assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by PSHE Curriculum and RSE Curriculum.