What are Fundamental British Values?

British values can be defined as:

• democracy; 
• the rule of law; 
• individual liberty; 
• mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith

St Francis Xavier's School is a Catholic School which seeks to live out the gospel values of Jesus Christ. We promote these values by our words and our deeds, and our Catholic doctrine and practice therefore permeates every aspect of the school's activity. We provide a Catholic curriculum which is broad and balanced, recognising that every pupil is unique and is created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Our curriculum is designed to enable ever pupil to grow in the love of Jesus, share that love with one another and be tolerant, show respect and excel in their citizenship. Catholic Religious Education is the 'core of the core curriculum' (Pope John Paul 11) and the foundation of the entire educational process. 

At St Francis Xavier's School, some of the many ways we promote British Values in our school include:

• Respect and Tolerance week where children learn about significant figures including Emmeline Pankhurst and Martin Luther King
• Termly Behaviour Ambassadors 
• Class termly rules elected by each class
• Head and Deputy Boy and Girl (elected by Year 6 pupils)
• School and Eco council 
• Mayor's Chamber Visits 
• Digital Leaders
• Philosophy for children 
• Elected House Captains 

Interview with the house captains from Year Five children

Year 5: What are your main roles and responsibilities?

St Theresa captain: We collect all the house points for our houses on a weekly basis and total them up. We then share this information with Mrs Pearce. We also present the certificates to the children during House Assemblies on Friday afternoons. 

St Vincent captain: We try to encourage other children within our house in everything they do! For example, at sports day we cheer on the children in our houses to encourage them to do their best. 

Year 5: What do you like about being a house captain?

St Theresa captain: I enjoy being a positive role model to other children in the school

St Vincent captain: I enjoy having responsibilities and talking in house assemblies 

Year 5: How were you elected to be a house captain?

St Theresa captain: We wrote a speech of why we would like to be a house captain and we read it out to the people in our house.

St Vincent captain: We went out of the room and the people in our house voted for a girl and a boy that they thought would be a good house captain. The children in our houses then voted... it was a bit scary but I had a really nice feeling when I was elected. I knew if I would be down-hearted if no one voted for me so it was great! 

Equality 

During our R.E topic of "Mission", Year 5 have been learning about equality. We discussed how all the things which make us different, including our skin colour, beliefs and personalities should be celebrated! We are very happy we are all unique and enjoy learning from each other.  We created some fantastic art work about what Equality means to us. 

Respect and Tolerance Week 

As part of our annual 'Respect and Tolerance Week', each class completed a range of activities about an inspirational historical or current figure. 

In Year five, children learned about Emmeline Pankhurst, a political activist who campaigned about equal rights for women. The children produced some beautiful and thoughtful fact files after researching all about significant events in her life. 

Volunteering within the Community 

Year 5 and Year 6 visited local care homes to share some Christmas cheer. The children sang a range of carols and shared some artwork which they had made for the residents. The residents even sang the children some of their favourite songs back to say thank you!