British Values

The importance of laws, whether they are those that govern the class, the academy, the Trust, or the country, is consistently reinforced throughout every day, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through Acts of Worship. The curriculum is designed to ensure students are taught the values and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken.

Students are actively encouraged to make independent choices knowing that they are in a safe, secure and supportive environment. We educate and provide boundaries for students to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and an empowering education. We encourage students to see themselves as unique individuals able to make a unique contribution to building community. Students are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights, responsibilities and personal freedoms and receive advice about how to exercise these safely.

Respect is a core value for each of our academies and is modelled by pupils and staff alike. We promote respect for others and this is reiterated through our classroom and learning environments as well as extra-curricular activities such as sport. In line with our commitment to democracy, students are always able to voice their opinions as we foster an environment where pupils can debate ideas and are safe to disagree with each other. We encourage students to substantiate opinions and to realise the value of co-operation and consensus as well as decision making through voting. Our emphasis on ethics, fairness and justice means that we ask our students to ensure that they look out for those who might be marginalised and disadvantaged. We take a strong stance on social inclusion and anti-bullying through an explicit focus on strategies to enable respect for difference.

This is achieved through equipping students with the ability to develop positive values, understand their own beliefs and their place in a culturally diverse society. We give our students opportunities to experience such diversity within the Academy Trust community and within the wider community. All students experience a connection with other cultures and beliefs through our Religious Education programme Our Religious Studies curriculum follows the teaching of the Church in providing a broad and balanced education, which includes an understanding of and respect for people of other faiths or none and other religions, cultures and lifestyles.

The children and staff had a great day to mark the Queen’s 70 year reign as our monarch. The children sang the National Anthem and enjoyed activities and a slice of Jubilee cake.

We had a great day learning about King George V and King Edward VIII, who abdicated after less than a year. This meant that his younger brother George became King George VI. We learnt that he is the Queen’s dad and that if King Edward VIII had not abdicated, we wouldn’t have the Royal Family we have today. We learnt the meaning of specific words; abdicated, coronated, reign, monarch and had a fantastic day learning all about The Royal Family.

Class 1 presented an assembly all about the Queen’s 90th Birthday and Saint George’s Day.  The whole school and their parents listened to what they had been learning about. They also sang a song about respecting everyone.

Holy Cross celebrate and mark the Queen’s 90th Birthday by:

• dressing in red, white and blue
• having a picnic for lunch
• standing for The National Anthem during assembly
• making a finger print collage for our display

We wrote to the Queen to find out how she celebrates her birthday and St. George’s Day and were very excited to receive a reply from The Lady in Waiting.

Every year, we mark Remembrance Day with an assembly or liturgy. We write prayers to thank those who have died for us but also those who have fought to bring peace and harmony to the world that we live in. As a mark of respect, we hold a 2 minutes silence on the 11th day of 11th hour of the 11th month.

We celebrate Chinese New Year annually in school.

To celebrate VE Day 75th anniversary, our children made flower bouquets and delivered these to the neighbours around our local school community.