At Holbrook, the British Values run through all areas of school life. Our ethos of mutual respect and tolerance is reinforced in the classroom and on the playground. Our curriculum celebrates diversity and links are made where appropriate to all British Values. Assemblies and diversity weeks help focus children on a range of issues and help them build an understanding of their communities and values. We actively seek ways in which children can have their say so they understand how they make a contribution to their community.

Democracy – what do we do?

• Key questions: each half term, all children are asked to contribute their ideas for a key question such as: what books should we buy for the library? How could we improve playtimes? Children can see that their ideas make a difference to how things are done at Holbrook.
• School Council: Children vote each year for their school councillors. Each half term, class councillors will look at the key question, feedback and decide what changes to implement.

Rule of law – what do we do?

• Ensure school rules and expectations are clear and fair;
• Class rules and celebration of adhering to these rules;
• Help pupils to distinguish right from wrong;
• Help pupils to respect the law and the basis on which it is made;
• Help pupils to understand that living under the rule of law protects individuals;
• Explore within our Personal Development Lessons laws and what to do if peer pressure is trying to persuade children to break these;
• Produce child-friendly documents with our children for key areas such as anti-bullying and complaints.

Individual liberty – what do we do?

• Support pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-confidence;
• Encourage pupils to take responsibility for their behaviour, as well as knowing their rights;
• Lessons and assemblies around the protected characteristics
• Challenge stereotypes;
• Implement a strong anti-bullying culture;
• E-Safety units of work are taught throughout school and parents and staff receive training on these.

Mutual Respect and tolerance of different cultures and religions– what do we do?

• Explore positive role models through our topics who reflect the protected characteristics of the 2010 Equality Act;
• Termly diversity weeks to explore and celebrate a range of communities, including Black History Month and LGBTQ+ week;
• Challenge prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour;
• Focussed work on friendship building through assemblies and in small groups for those who need the most support;
• Children visit a variety of places of worship throughout their time at Holbrook, and celebrate cultures through music, dance, food or festival focussed workshops;
• Our RE scheme ensures that our children have a good understanding of a range of religious beliefs and customs;
• Help pupils to acquire an understanding of, and respect for, their own and other cultures and ways of life;
• All staff are trained to look for signs of extremism and this is included as part of the PSHE and online safety curriculum.