Democracy means ‘rule by the people’ and it allows people to participate in decisions that affect their lives. Democracy provides all citizens with some basic rights through which they can give their opinion. It gives people a way of choosing and replacing their representatives through free and fair elections.

Democracy is important at Oaklands. The children have many opportunities to explore this topic in taught sessions across the school, through debates and pupil voice.

Throughout school, we show the value of democracy by:

• Having a School Council, House Captains and Sports Leaders.
• Voting for class representatives to the School Council.
• ‘Big question of the week’ for children to debate.
• Raising awareness of current affairs at an age appropriate level.
• Pupils having the opportunity to select charities for whom we raise money.
• During the National Election, children participated in a school election reflecting our British electoral system and demonstrating democracy in action. The winning party effected change throughout the school in line with their manifesto.

The Rule of Law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country are accountable to the same laws. The creation of laws and their enforcement are legally regulated so that no one is above the law.

At Oaklands we have a clear, comprehensive Behaviour Policy. This clarifies behaviour expectations across the school and ensures that the school’s stakeholders understand high expectations. This ensures the safety and wellbeing of all of our school community whilst supporting them to understand the Rule of Law.

At the start of every year, class teachers remind children of the school rules and values. Together, the class create their own Class Charter which is displayed in each classroom. This is a system of rules to abide by throughout the year. Pupils are taught that it is important to have rules to ensure fairness and safety for everyone. They understand their responsibility to obey rules within school and that there may be consequences if they are not followed. Children understand that rules and laws apply equally to everyone, and they see this in action in school every day. Children are taught to respect authority, and are given the opportunity to learn about the roles of authority figures within our society.

Mutual respect is an understanding that we do not all share the same beliefs and values. We respect the values, ideas and beliefs of others whilst not imposing our own.

At Oaklands, mutual respect is at the heart of our values and every member of our school community is treated with equal respect. This is promoted through modelling behaviour, RE lessons, assemblies and welcoming visitors of different faiths to our classrooms. We accept and celebrate that each and every one of us has individual needs and brings unique qualities to our community. Our school provision ensures that the curriculum is tailored to meet the needs of everyone. Children learn to become tolerant and respectful members of society; they are taught to celebrate diversity, understand what it is to feel empathy and to embrace our differences. We promote awareness of religions, traditions, cultural heritage and preferences. We tackle stereotypes, body image, prejudice, sexual and racial discrimination. We promote mutual respect by being a close community where we celebrate each other’s successes and acknowledge the accomplishments of others in and out of school during a weekly celebration assembly.

Individual liberty means each of us having the freedom to make our own choices and do what we want – within reason. As long as we respect the other British Values and the rights of others, then we are free to pursue our ambitions and follow our own will.

Within school, our children are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school, we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make the correct choices safely through provision of a safe and empowering education. Children are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedom. They are provided with advice on how to exercise these safely, for example, when using the internet or making informed choices about a healthy lifestyle. Our children are provided with many opportunities to make independent choices, e.g. use of technology, a broad choice of playtime activities, making their own healthy dinner choice and with extracurricular clubs. They participate in School Council, act as House Captains and are members of our Sports Crew. Taught sessions help to develop their understanding of their rights, responsibility and self-worth within the wider world linked to UNCRC. They think about ways they can achieve their goals and how the decisions people make affect their lives. Our assemblies promote children’s achievements, ranging from sport to smaller personal goals which instil in them a sense of worth and create ambitious pupils who believe in themselves.

Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs is the idea that we understand that people in our community may believe different things to us, but we accept their right to believe in what they want to believe in, and we do not impose our own beliefs on them.

At Oaklands, we consider that diversity is a strength, and we address it in cross-curricular sessions about different faiths and cultures. We aim to promote this value by:

• Reinforcing messages of tolerance and respect for others.
• Learning about other faiths, cultures and traditions, families, communities and ways of life.
• School visits to places of worship, and visits by members of different faiths.
• Providing opportunities for the children to make links with the wider community, for example, outings to local places, inviting family members to visit and making links with a local charity.
• Encouraging children to share their experiences with the class and allowing children to recognise similarities and differences between themselves and others. For example, festivals and special days, different types of families, occupations, traditions and beliefs from around the world.
• Encouraging children to have an awareness of local, national and global issues.
• Visiting the school library, which provides ethnically diverse reading material.