At The Ryde School ‘British Values’ are embedded throughout every aspect of school life.
‘British Values’ form part of the core of our philosophy of learning, where each child is valued as an individual and every child is listened to. We encourage self-regulation and consideration of others and their views, beliefs and opinions.
At The Ryde School every member of staff, governor and visitor is expected to actively support these values and attitudes.
‘British Values’ are broadly defined as:
Democracy
All children and adults at The Ryde School are encouraged to actively contribute to the development and progress of our school. We ensure that children develop the skills of communication over time and become skilled debaters and decision makers by Upper Key Stage Two. Children are encouraged to express their views and to listen to other’s views too. The School Council holds regular meetings, that are minuted and an agreed process is followed that is fair and gives all participants an opportunity to express views and opinions. Decisions are made democratically about the curriculum, supporting charities, engaging with the local community and local government.
The Eco School Committee also meets regularly, keeps minutes of meetings, and makes important decisions on financial matters, ethical issues and the development of the school grounds and curriculum. All processes are carried out democratically, with every child having an opportunity to contribute to ideas and decisions.
Rule of Law
Children understand the benefits of having rules for everyone to abide by and that rules are made for reasons. Children take part in discussions about behaviour in the school and local area. Children are encouraged and supported to self-regulate their behaviour in line with the school’s Behaviour Policy.
All staff and governors are committed to ensure there is a calm, purposeful and consistent environment within the school and its boundaries. Children learn the links between right and wrong, actions and consequences, rewards and sanctions. This creates a safe and secure environment in which each child can thrive.
Individual Liberty
The children at The Ryde School are encouraged to become good and valued citizens who are respected both in our school and in its local community. All children are supported to become as independent as possible through opportunities and experiences offered throughout their time at The Ryde School. Children are taught that every individual has certain rights, but with these rights come responsibilities. All children are offered opportunities to have responsibilities to carry out.
Learning to carry out duties independently and reliably are important life skills and ones that enable children to understand themselves and their qualities. Over time the children at The Ryde School become caring confident citizens that are concerned, not only for themselves and the school community, but for the wider community beyond Hatfield and England.
Mutual Respect
At The Ryde School children are taught and encouraged to respect each other and listen to views and opinions of others. Although children may have differing views and opinions, they are taught and encouraged to know how to be able to discuss and debate differences with respect and to understand that some differences may always exist and that sometimes tolerance needs to be shown.
Children in Key Stage Two have opportunities in the curriculum to see how public institutions and services operate in England. Every child has the opportunity to take part in workshops to understand how the legal system works, to correspond with the local council and other local and global organisations. Children are taught about democracy, the fairness of elections and how Parliament operates.
Children at The Ryde School have opportunities to work alongside, or compete with, children from other schools.
Tolerance of Different Faiths and Beliefs
At The Ryde School we have a multi-faith community where every family is valued and respected.
Through our Religious Education curriculum children learn about the major religions of the world. They enjoy visits to places of worship and enjoy visits from a range of cultural representatives.
These experiences encourage the children to develop understanding and respect of different faiths and beliefs.
Social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is at the core of The Ryde School’s ethos and values. Children are taught the skills of tolerance and appreciation of other beliefs and values. They have opportunities to learn and understand the cultures and beliefs of others.
The children are supported to find out about themselves and their beliefs and opinions and how they connect to both their local community and wider communities nationally and globally.