Ethos & British Values

Ethos

Kindness, courtesy, respect, good manners and consideration for others, together with self-discipline, are important aspects of a child’s education and form a key part of our Kyson ethos and culture. Children are encouraged to treat others as they would wish to be treated themselves.

At Kyson, all our staff are committed to developing the children’s characters so that they are ready to contribute to, and succeed, in the world they live in.

Kyson is a school built on strong moral values where relationships across the school are highly regarded. We have a positive and purposeful environment that values the individuality of each child and celebrates their achievements.

Our curriculum is designed to help Kyson children succeed in The National Curriculum and beyond and is summarised by our vision ‘give them roots to grow and wings to fly’.

Happy, confident children make the most of the learning process and remain motivated to learn throughout their lives.

Our Kyson logo which was designed by some of our children, reflects that each day is a new and exciting day during which we all hope to fly high with our learning.

Kyson Values

We are Kind: Behaviours we want to see

· Being there for each other.

· Being caring and kind towards others.

· Making time to listen to others.

· Making time for each other when needed.

· Providing others with safety and security.

· Being willing to help others.

· Caring about other members of our school community.

· Thinking about how other people feel and what they need.

· Getting to know people and how to get the best from them.

· Being positive and bringing a positive approach to others.

· Smiling at people to brighten their day.

We are Courteous: Behaviours we want to see:

· Saying “thank you” and “please”

· Greeting and say goodbye to others.

· Welcoming visitors into your classroom and in our school.

· Asking for help or assist someone kindly.

· Cleaning up after yourselves.

· Speaking in a voice appropriate to the situation.

· Be patient while waiting your turn.

· Holding the door for others.

· Offering to get something (a drink, a pencil) for those seated nearby when you get one for yourself.

· Smiling.

· Listening before offering your opinion.

· Keeping your work area clean and tidy.

· Making an effort to remember and use people’s names.

· Dressing appropriately for school.

· Respecting everybody

· Sharing.

· Listening carefully.

We respect ourselves and others: Behaviours we want to see

· Taking responsibility and being accountable for your actions.

· Respecting and celebrating difference and individuality.

· Welcoming people with different beliefs, backgrounds and ambitions.

· Teaching and encouraging others to develop good strategies and behaviours.

· Having positive, respectful relationships with staff, pupils and families.

· Being a role model to others in the way in which you behave.

· Thinking about the impact of your actions on others and always striving to do better.

· Putting others first where appropriate.

· Listening to other’s ideas and opinions and valuing their input.

· Being aware of and concerned about the wellbeing of each other.

· Being inclusive and supporting each other in overcoming barriers.

· Recognising our emotions and thinking about the impact on others.

· Being authentic, warm and honest with people.

British Values

At Kyson, British values are promoted in lots of what we do. During assemblies, Religious Education (RE) lessons, Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) lessons, and through Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural (SMSC) learning opportunities.

All these aspects of learning shape our ethos and values.

As well as actively promoting British values, the opposite also applies. We actively challenge children, staff or parents expressing opinions that are contrary to fundamental values including “extremist” views.

Being Part of Britain

We celebrate a pattern of traditions and festivals across the year. Humanities topics such as:

World War II
Local area studies
Homes and Habitats
Anglo Saxons
Water
Famous Britons
Ancient Egypt
Windrush
Christmas and Easter
Lunar New Year
School “theme days”

…… enable our children to look at natural features of the British landscape, famous British people and aspects of British life both past and present.

Democracy

We place importance on hearing and understanding the views children, staff, parents & carers, and other key stakeholders, and try to ensure we provide opportunities for this to happen regularly.

Among the children, the School Council and Eco Team are elected in a democratic way with each candidate making a speech to voters who need to recognise the characteristics that make good representatives. This is then followed by a secret ballot or vote. Both the School Council and Eco Team influence, challenge and change aspects of school life for example school menus.

Each class has input in deciding its own rules using our 7 Cs Charter to ensure their room is a happy, respectful, constructive and safe place in which to learn.

Rules and Laws

The importance of rules and laws, whether they be those that govern our country or school are referred to and reinforced often. Class rules and school rules ensure a safe and orderly work place. Roles of responsibility enable the children to reflect on how to make a contribution and our behaviour expectations challenge the children to consistently make positive behaviour choices.

Individual Liberty

We promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs. We provide sensible boundaries within which our children can make choices for themselves. All adults within our school community pro-actively build trusting, respectful relationships with all children to boost self-esteem and enable children to confidently make good choices.

Some of the situations in which children will make their own choices:

Whether to tackle a next step challenge
How best to record their thinking
Choices in extra-curricular opportunities
How to think, reason, debate and justify views in oracy lessons
How to respectfully disagree with another's view
How to resolve a conflict appropriately

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Kyson prides itself on an inclusive ethos - and a curriculum that reflects this. Children learn about and celebrate diversity at our school from a young age. Through age -appropriate PSHE lessons they explore equality, with particular reference to the protected characteristics. As a school we warmly welcome diverse learning opportunities and experiences for the children. These are so important in preparing them both now and in later life to make positive contributions to the world.

The children develop understanding of the richness and diversity of differing cultures through:

SMSC - spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
RE – the beliefs, festivals and celebrations of religions
PSHE – understanding community and our response to people and situations
English fiction and non-fiction texts
Art stimuli
Famous people from across the globe
Theme days – learning about a major world event eg. Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Life in a different country/continent, Natural wonders of the world.