Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School offers distinctive education within a caring Christian community where everyone can feel valued, confident and secure. We believe that each person is gifted, unique and loved by God. By working in partnership we aim to create a challenging, stimulating and effective learning environment where Christ is our inspiration.
Our Values
This is a Catholic school which seeks to live out the values of Jesus Christ. We promote these values by our words and deeds, and 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 every pupil to discern their vocation and to be well-equipped to follow it as active citizens in service to the world. Catholic Religious Education is the “core of the core curriculum” (Pope St John Paul II) and the foundation of the entire educational process. We also provide a wide range of extra-curricular activities and strong pastoral support. We incorporate democratic principles, value the rule of law, support individual liberty and foster a community in which different faiths and beliefs are respected.”
At Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School we uphold and teach pupils about British Values which are defined as:
- Democracy
- Rule of law
- Individual liberty
- Mutual respect
- Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
These values are taught explicitly through Personal, Social, Health and Emotional (PSHE), and Religious Education (RE). We also teach British Values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum.
The school takes opportunities to actively promote British Values through daily collective worship and whole school systems and structures such as electing and running a successful School Council, Mini-SVP, Playground Leaders Team and ECO Group. We also actively promote British values through ensuring that our curriculum planning and delivery includes real opportunities for exploring these values.
At Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School, these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:
Democracy
Democracy is an important value at our school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council. The elections of members of the School Council are based on pupil votes.
The Rule of Law
The importance of laws and rules, whether they are those that govern the class, the school or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days. Our system for behaviour is aligned to an agreed set of codes and if children are given verbal warnings this is always set against the agreed school behaviour code.
Children are asked to identify which aspect of the code they have broken to ensure that this connection is made and understood. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Visits from authorities such as the police, fire service etc. are regular parts of our calendar and help reinforce this message.
To encourage and promote good behaviour, attitude and work, we have devised a reward system which is consistently followed throughout the school.
We are committed to praising children’s efforts. We endeavour to praise the children informally, individually, during group work, in front of the whole class and the whole school. Children are rewarded not only for achievement in curriculum areas, but for behaviour and general adherence to the School’s Behaviour Management policy.
Rewards are given in the form of stickers, house points and certificates. Children’s achievements are also recognised during Celebration Assemblies.
Individual Liberty
Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at our school, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we provide boundaries for our children to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and planned curriculum. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our e-Safety teaching. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs.
Mutual Respect
Part of our school ethos and behaviour policy are based around core Christian values such as ‘respect’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘reconciliation’ and these values determine how we live as a community at OLSotS Primary School. Collective Worship is based on ‘Christian Values for Life’ which are central to how we expect everyone to go about their life at our school.
Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs
This is achieved through enhancing pupils’ understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity in our local community which is by large white British. Collective Worship and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and PSHE. We use opportunities such as the Olympics and World Cup to study and learn about life and culture in countries such as Brazil.
We have termly World Faith Celebration Weeks where we study another world faith and learn about their customs, practises and celebrations. We invite guest speakers and run workshops to give the children a real experience of a different belief system.
