"The beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people."

Anon

British Values 

We actively promote British Values, as defined under the Ofsted guidance 2014, to prepare our children for life in modern Britain.

The Department for Education states that schools have a duty 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.'

We value the diverse backgrounds of all pupils and families and undertake a variety of events and lessons to celebrate these. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind rules and laws. They are also taught to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences for themselves and others if rules and laws are broken. Our positive behaviour policy encourages tolerance and mutual respect. At Bowness, British Values run through everything we do.

Democracy

Democracy is embedded at our school. As our pupils progress through the school our curriculum emphasises many aspects of democracy. In Key Stage 2 our pupils learn about Ancient Greece, the founding civilisation of democracy. Pupils learn about the Victorians and important reforms of that time and they study World War II and learn how Britain stood up to safeguard freedom and democracy.

Pupils are always listened to by adults and are taught to listen to and acknowledge different opinions through Speaking and Listening activities. Pupils also can give opinions and ideas through our School Council.  The elections of the School Council members and School General Elections are based solely on pupil votes, reflecting our British electoral system and demonstrating democracy in action.

The school council meets regularly under the supervision of a teacher to discuss issues raised by individuals and classes. The council is genuinely able to influence change within the school.

Rule of Law

The importance of rules and laws for the class, the school or the country, are reinforced. All rules are clearly understood so that all children can learn in a safe and happy environment. 

Our school has four simple rules: To be ready, to be resilient, be respectful and to be safe. These four school rules are further explored and explicitly taught in class, assemblies and other school experiences. Teachers begin each new year by revising the ‘Bowness Way’ which is displayed on the wall of the classroom. In this way, every child knows the standard of behaviour that we expect in our school.   

The school manages behaviour very positively and our main principle is that whenever possible intervention should be on the basis of reward rather than punishment. As a school, we ensured that children are praised publicly and reprimanded in private. We use a range of rewards, such as praise, recognition boards, certificates and hot chocolate Fridays. 

Also, within our computing curriculum is a strong emphasis on E-Safety which as part of it teaches how to be respectful to other users of the Internet. The use of E-Safety has also been spoken of to parents within our community.

Individual Liberty

At Bowness, we take collective responsibility to ensure that individual liberties are respected. We run a comprehensive range of interventions to ensure all learners can achieve their potential and allow our pupils into class ten minutes before the start of the school day to start their learning. 

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 our pupils to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and an empowering education. Our pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely; examples of this can be clearly seen in our clubs, overnight residential visits, e-safety and SRE, P.S.H.E. lessons.

Mutual Respect

Respect is one of the core values of our school and it is deeply embedded in our class rules and all that we do at the school. The pupils know and understand that it is expected and imperative that respect is shown to everyone, whatever differences we may have.

Each week we have a ‘Celebration Assembly’ within which we recognise achievements. We also award Bowness values, pupils are praised for their resilience, respect, readiness and for actively being safe. 

Our pupils take on a broad range of responsibilities; from School Councillors to Digital leaders, to Sports leaders and Librarians. In upper Key Stage 2, we also have Road Safety ambassadors and Faith Council. Our prefects and Reading Buddies have the important role of supporting our youngest pupils.

Tolerance

At Bowness, we educate pupils from a range of backgrounds from many different places. We are a caring community, whose values are built on mutual trust and respect for all. We aim to promote an environment where everyone feels happy, safe and secure.

We promote good relationships, so that people can work together with the common purpose of helping everyone to learn. Every member of the school community behaves in a considerate way towards others.

We treat all children equally and aim to help children to grow in a safe and secure environment, and to become positive, responsible and increasingly independent members of the school community.
 

We enhance pupils understanding of different faiths and beliefs through religious education studies.  Beliefs, traditions and customs will be studied in depth, with visitors being invited in to our school to enrich and extend understanding.  Through this our pupils gain an enhanced understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society.