At Randlay Primary School we take very seriously our responsibility to prepare our students for life in modern Britain. We ensure that the fundamental British Values are introduced, discussed, taught and lived out through our school. All curriculum areas provide a vehicle for furthering student’s understanding of these concepts and, in particular, our PSHE and RE curriculum provide excellent opportunities to deepen and develop understanding of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and mutual respect.
Our school makes considerable efforts to ensure students have exposure to a wide range of experiences beyond the school environment during which these concepts are reinforced.
The following examples are some of the many ways we seek to promote British Values at Randlay Primary School:
Cultural Capital
"Cultural Capital" refers to the values, beliefs, norms, skills, tastes, knowledge, understanding and status that we all acquire through being part of a particular social class or cultural group. It is the essential knowledge that our children at Randlay Primary School need to become educated citizens. Expanding their cultural capital is all about providing them all with a diverse range of rich and relevant experiences in school to take on with them into adult life. This is intrinsically tied in with the acquisition of formal and extensive language and vocabulary, so that they can widen their ability to express ideas and arguments, and improve their ability to transmit the content of what they read.
Cultural Capital sits well within our school ethos and creative curriculum, from EYFS onwards, where learning and development activities are always planned around the needs and interests of the children.
Increasing children’s Cultural Capital requires that our school has a clear understanding of:
A child’s culture and community
What experiences they have at home
What is important to them and their families
Parental partnerships and home links
Any barriers or challenges to participation in learning.
We pride ourselves that this is a particular strength of Randlay Primary School.
The development of Cultural Capital is about giving children the best possible start to their early education, and we feel that we do that well!