BRITISH VALUES, GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP and P4C

AT NEWLANDS PRIMARY SCHOOL

At Newlands Primary School we believe in a learning culture where everyone feels excited, valued and respected.

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

The Government set out its definition of British Values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy, and these values were reiterated in 2014. At Newlands these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways.......

Democracy

• All children are involved in the democratic process of choosing, by voting, class representatives each year. 
• All children are also involved in the process of selecting their class representative for the Global Ambassador group.
• Prefects, Sports Ambassadors and House Captains apply for the post and, once appointed, democratically make decisions.
• Each class will vote on their ARC Values Treat Reward.
• Within the curriculum, the Year 5 topic on Ancient Greece examines the origins of Democracy.
• Assemblies on General and Local Elections.
• The use of P4C to develop the ability to express their opinions. 

Individual Liberty

• Children at Newlands are encouraged to make choices in a safe, secure and supportive environment.
• The PSHE curriculum teaches awareness about making choices.
• Children are given freedom to make choices including the lunch menu, extra-curricular clubs after school as well as involvement in the Performing Arts Showcase.
• The use of P4C to develop the ability to express their opinions.
• The curriculum is created to ensure that the children can make choices about their own learning, for example level of learning challenge, how they record their work, the methods they use to solve a problem, choice of homework activity.

The Rule of Law

• The School Behaviour Policy: this includes explaining to the children their rights, responsibilities and the consequences when the Policy is not adhered to.
• Newlands is a UNICEF Rights Respecting School which means that the children are taught about the rights of the child and how that is implemented in law. Class Charters reflect these rights.
• Children are taught to have a knowledge of and respect of the School Rules, including Playground Rules and E-Safety Rules.
• Visits from the fire, ambulance and police service promote knowledge and understanding of the rule of law within Britain.
• The RSHE and Science curriculum includes specific knowledge concerning smoking, drugs and healthy living and the laws around these areas.
• Prefects act as positive role models, as do KS1 'Yellow Jackets' at playtimes.

Mutual Respect

• As a Rights Respecting School, mutual respect is at the heart of our values and this is reflected in our school rules.
• Newlands has an Inclusive Ethos.
• Staff, Prefects, House Captains and Sports Ambassadors act as role models to the wider school community.
• The use of P4C to develop the children’s abilities to respect the rights of others to express a different opinion.
• JIGSAW is taught across all year groups as our PSHE curriculum.
• The work of the Global Ambassadors promotes respect for our community, different cultures and the wider environment.

Tolerance of Those with Different Faiths and Beliefs and Those with No Faith

• Different faiths and beliefs are explored and celebrated through assemblies and the RE curriculum.
• Assemblies and the RE curriculum include festivals from a wide variety of faiths and cultures.
• Members of different faiths and religions are encouraged to share their knowledge to enhance learning within classes and the school.
• Arts & Global Week celebrates diversity, including different cultures and religions.
• The Music Curriculum celebrates diversity.
• JIGSAW, our School of Sanctuary role and P4C actively promote respect and tolerance for others.

Our vision at Newlands Primary School is ’No Child Left Behind’ and our aims state that we want our children to become positive role models and productive members of the local and global communities. We believe that Global Citizenship is an integral part of our school and that it is essential if we are to equip our children for life in Modern Britain. At Newlands we teach the children that what happens in the rest of the world has an impact on them, but also, what they do has an impact on the rest of the world.

Outlined below are some of the ways in which we promote Global Citizenship….

Global Ambassadors

Each of the Key Stage 2 classes has a Global Ambassador.  They are elected every year. The role of the Global Ambassador is to promote Global Learning/Citizenship within the school. They meet each half term to decide and discuss current initiatives.  

Global Goals

In 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 goals for a better world in 2030. These goals have the power to end poverty, fight inequality and address the urgency of climate change.

At Newlands we have decided to focus on two Global Goals: 3 Good Health and Well Being and 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. These 2 goals have linked to many of our initiatives, including Growth Mindset, Healthy High Five Award, Marvellous Me, the Sensory Garden. Rights Respecting Schools Award and the School of Sanctuary Award.

School of Sanctuary Award

Southampton is a city of Sanctuary. In June 2018 we were awarded School of Sanctuary Status. There are currently 2 secondary schools and 20 primary schools within the city that have this status.

A school of Sanctuary is a school that is committed to being as safe and welcoming place for those seeking sanctuary. It is a space for those whose lives were in danger in their own country, who have troubles at home or who are just looking for a space where they can feel safe.

A School of Sanctuary is a school that helps its students, staff and wider community understand what it means to be seeking sanctuary and to extend a welcome to everyone as equal, valued member of the school community. It is a school is proud to be a place of safety and inclusion for all.

Newlands ‘Ready, Respectful and Safe’ ethos mirrors the ethos of a School of Sanctuary and we are extremely proud to be working with other neighbouring schools to allow them to gain the award too.

Global Week

An example of one of our Global Weeks...

This week focused on developing Global Citizenship skills, with each year group focusing on a different country. We also used this week as an opportunity to focus on the issues surrounding refugees. We had a visit from Stash Kozlowski from the charity SWVS on the history of immigration in Southampton. This week also saw the launch of the Newlands Global Family Book.

Newlands Global Family Book

As part of our Global Week, we asked children to investigate their connections with places in the world. We were overwhelmed by the responses. We have now created our first edition of our Newlands Global Family Book to show how our school has connections with the world.

Links to Hope School, Jordan

During our Global Week in 2018, the Global Ambassadors decided that they would like to raise money for a school for Syrian refugees in Jordan called Hope School. They found out about this school having read a book called ‘Welcome to Nowhere’ by Elizabeth Laird. One of our teachers visited the Hope School in April 2019 and was able to give them further donations as well as bring back a message of thanks from the children.

Children’s Research Group

4 children from Key Stage 2  (2 Global Ambassadors and 2 School Council representatives) were involved in working with the Open University’s Dr Liz Chamberlain from the Children’s Research Centre during the last academic year.

They presented the findings of their research to the school, their parents and representatives from Amnesty International. Their research will be used to inform writers and illustrators who are collaborating on a book about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that will be published in 2021.

Good News Board

Our latest initiative from our Global Ambassadors is to create a Good News board. We have asked children to look out for good news about Southampton, Britain or the rest of the world in newspapers and to bring them in to school. Please do send in your contributions and come and look at our display board by the hall.

You may have heard your children talking about their Philosophy or P4C sessions. This section of the website explains what they are talking about!

Philosophy for Children (P4C) is a tool which allows children to develop their creative thinking skills, in particular their reasoning and arguing skills.

Why use P4C?

• To prepare children for jobs, technologies and problems that do not currently exist.
• To teach children to question the world around them whilst developing the ability to respectfully agree and disagree
• To be able to analyse and construct ideas.
• To develop the skills to be more tolerant, more open-minded, more reasonable
• P4C develops skills for life

Key Skills involved in P4C

• Speaking and Listening
• Observation and Memory
• Turn taking and Patience
• Respecting Others
• Making Connections or Distinctions
• Making Choices
• Offering Reasons
• Categorising
• Asking Open Questions

Development of P4C

• During the Foundation Stage and KS1 the children are introduced to and begin to develop the key skills that they will need to be able to take part in an enquiry.
• In Years 3 and 4 the enquiry process is built up, in particular, the ability to create philosophical questions.
• In Years 5 and 6 it is expected that the children will have the skills to take place in a P4C enquiry. This will include the ability to develop philosophical question.

Philosophical Questions

What makes a good philosophical question?

A philosophical question:

• Is about or will make us think about a big idea (concept e.g. love, family, fear, hope)
• Applies to lots of people in lots of different situations
• Everyone in the room will be able to talk about it
• By discussing it we will move towards what we think is the truth (although we may not all think the same or know the answer for certain  and out ideas may change over time)
• A quarrelsome question – we don’t want everyone to agree as this doesn’t make for a very interesting discussion!

The Enquiry Process

A P4C enquiry or debate generally includes 10 steps, but it may be adjusted to the needs and skills of the group. In general, it involves the children being given a stimulus or warm up activity before they create a philosophical question that they discuss. At times the question may be given by the Class Teacher or it may be that the  ‘big idea’ or concept for the question may be given, especially when links are made to the curriculum. For example, in RE in Year 5 the concept is ‘ritual’ and one of the final RE sessions involves a P4C enquiry in which the children are asked to create a question based around this concept of ‘ritual’.

In conclusion

To reiterate, P4C is used within Newlands Primary School as a tool to develop our children’s abilty to question the world around them in a curious, critical and respectful way.