The Templars Way – British Values

Every child, every day, every chance.

The fundamental British values of: democracy; the rule of law; individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs are prioritised at Templars Primary School as are key elements of Britain’s culture, history and society.

The concept of belonging underpins our school aims and ethos, motto and curriculum intent, reflecting our commitment to developing the self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence of our pupils in a way which goes way beyond PSHE lessons.

The three school values of Care, Respect and Honesty underpin our restorative approach to behaviour and anti-bullying approach which unequivocally encourage pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour.

Furthermore, the Templars No Outsiders Statement – written by our pupil, anti-bullying ambassadors- reflects our commitment to all British values.  

The School Council, Pupil School Improvement Team, Anti-Bullying Ambassador scheme, Digital Leaders and PE Leadership programme enable pupils to show initiative and to understand how they can contribute positively to the life of the school. These positions are highly sought after and are applied for through a fair and democratic application process. An excellent mentoring programme involving all members of staff is embedded to support our most vulnerable learners and their families.

Pupils and staff also take part in a range of initiatives to improve the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely. Activities in recent years include an annual community ‘Be Our Guest’ events to showcase our learning; litter picks at Coventry Cathedral; Macmillan Coffee morning; Christmas carols at local care homes; supported work placements for pupils from our neighbouring Hereward College and a host of other examples. Please visit our Community Tab which is maintained by our leader for Parental Engagement and Community Liaison.

Pupils are positively prepared for life in modern Britain following their immersion in our unique curriculum which has been created in a completely collaborative exercise involving all stakeholders including Templar’s Junior Leadership Team who have written the Curriculum Subject Locators which are routinely referred to in lessons.

RE and PSHE are prioritised in our school timetables but the teaching of values and SMSC education permeates all subjects at Templars. Subject leaders have annotated curriculum intent documents for each subject to remind teachers of opportunities to explicitly refer to British values

within knowledge statements. For example:

Year 5 (RE)

To know that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law

Year 6 (PSHE/History)

To know that the law of the land is different to a religious law 

Many examples of how British values are embedded in the curriculum can be found in year group pages and curriculum introductions. ‘Carefully selected teaching pedagogy ensures that all children, regardless of their differences, know that Templars is the place where they can contribute, where they can be heard, where they belong; Every child, every day, every chance.’ Curriculum leaders regularly revise documents, most recently for diversity, for example reading resources have been updated and refreshed with aim of all of our pupils being able to see themselves and each other reflected in texts.

Flexible long term planning allows Templars to include a number of whole-school initiatives to reflect British values and cultural heritage and to celebrate different cultural traditions to enable pupils to acquire and appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures.

Educational trips have been carefully selected to provide exposure to a range of cultural experiences linked to pupil’s learning reflecting both British heritage and diversity including a castle, stately home, pantomime, fort, farm, zoo, the seaside, camping, a refugee restaurant. Visitors too are selected with particular reference to cultural capital, diversity and SMSC links including the regular visits from the police, our MP and local Magistrates.

Our exciting but balanced approach to RE, is more than supplemented by a rounded assembly programme covering PSHE themed assemblies,  our No-Outsiders agenda, a celebration of a range of cultural and religious festivals from a variety of religious and non-religious choices and a responsive mix of current affairs.

Finally, British values are evident at Templars through many of our policies particularly on safeguarding, equalities and governance and in our transparent and accountable recruitment processes. Actively promoting British Values also means challenging pupils, staff or parents and visitors to the school who are expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including ‘extremist’ views. The deputy headteacher is the designated member of staff - please refer to Templars Guidance for Radicalisation and Extremism available on request. 

Coventry's Lord Mayor awarding Templars the prestigious Peace Prize