LIVING VALUESA Practical Guide to putting values at the heart of our Primary School

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VAlueS:DeciDinG Which OneS

VAlueS: The SchOOl enVirOnmenT

VAlueS: BuilDinG YOur TeAm

VAlueS:GuiDinG PrinciPleS FOr The GOVerninG BODY

VAlueS: inFOrminG POlicY

VAlueS: SPiriTuAl DeVelOPmenT

VAlueS: cOllecTiVe WOrShiP

VAlueS: AcrOSS The curriculum

VAlueS: hOme/SchOOl linkS

VAlueS: The OuTSiDe SPAce

VAlueS: inSPecTiOn

VAlueS: SecOnDArY - PrimArY linkS

reSOurceS AnD SuPPOrT

inTrODucTiOn

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VALUES: The School environmenTPrimary Schools are vibrant, colourful

and interactive learning environments

where those things that are important

in the life of the community are

“visualised” and celebrated in displays

and installations in and around the

building.

At St Andrew’s School in Chedworth the

staff team pays great attention to giving

their core values a high visual profile.

In this chapter Mrs Tina Buck,

headteacher and Mrs Angharad Fitch,

RE Co-ordinator, take us on a tour

around their school.

As every teacher knows the

children in each class have a

variety of different learning styles

and many will be visual learners.

At St Andrew’s we, therefore,

ensure that our displays are bold,

well-designed and interactive to

engage children and encourage

them to reflect on how the value

in focus can be lived out day

by day.

As soon as visitors enter our

school we want them to be

made aware of the particular

The “growing” values display at Cam Hopton School

“...ensure that our displays are bold, well-designed and interactive...”

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This is our version of The Big Party, based on Jesus’ teaching in the Parable of The Great Feast (Luke 14)

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The reverse side of The Big Party taken from Pause to Reflect on Values © Jumping Fish Ltd

values that are special to us as

a christian community. We have

been inspired by a display at

cam hopton Primary School that

shows each value as a flower.

The children there have done

some research and discovered

that different values have a flower

associated with them. We have

decided to base our new entrance

display on this excellent idea. Our

value for this term is Generosity,

so we will ‘plant’ gladioli!

in the shared area between the

classrooms there is always a

reflection station that is used by

everyone – children, staff, parents

and governors – as we take time

to think about and pray for the

people and events that are most

important to us. We often use the

Pause to reflect on Values pack,

published by Jumping Fish, as our

inspiration for these stations. This

one takes the story that Jesus told

about a party to which everyone

is invited. it helps us reflect on

how inclusive we are both as

individuals and as a school.

As children make their way to the

hall for collective worship there

is a reminder of the particular

aspect of the value which is the

theme for the week.

Indira received the Courtesy Cup for showing generosity

to others in the dining hall by helping the younger children

with their lunch.

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mrs Fitch explains that in each

classroom there is a display

or reflection activity which

interprets the value in a way that

is appropriate to the year group.

This term her class created a

GenerosiTree. everyone invented

and made an ‘exotic’ fruit to

hang on the tree. When the fruit

was flipped over the children had

written an example of what life

might be like in the class if we

were all generous to each other.

in another class they have been

thinking about what it means to

give time generously. children

make ’15 minute pledges’ to

lend a hand to family or friends.

The pledge is then signed by

both parties and the hands

on the ‘generosity’ clock are

moved on a quarter of an hour.

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“When the fruit was flipped over the children had written an example of what life might be like in the class if we were all generous to each other.”

Our lunchtime supervisors are

very involved in promoting

positive behaviour in the

playground and reinforcing the

current value in their informal

and incidental conversations with

the children. each week they

nominate a particular child who

has demonstrated the value in an

outstanding way. The courtesy

cup is presented to that pupil

during our celebration worship

a Friday.

The child takes the cup home

for the weekend and returns it

on monday to sit on the worship

table until the following Friday.

children are also invited to

nominate other members of the

school community that they have

witnessed living out our special

value during the week. They do

this by writing names on the

laminated value sheets posted

around the school. This very

simple activity has really helped

children to understand what the

value means in practice. During

our celebration worship, children

are invited to come to the front

and encourage us all by talking

about the positive behaviour that

they have seen and heard around

the school.

Throughout the term we

encourage children and teachers

to look out for both local and

national newspaper reports

of real life examples of people

demonstrating the value of

Generosity in the public domain.

This helps us all to appreciate that

there is a lot of good news in the

world and that there are many

people trying to make the world

a better place.

each time a twelve hour cycle is

completed the whole class has a

fun treat! Some of the pledges

have been very ingenious and

really encouraged children to

think about different types of

generosity, like being patient

when showing younger children

how to play complicated games,

sharing their own stationery with

others or giving generously from

their pocket money towards the

work of our school charity.

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class 3 has responsibility for

caring for part of our spiritual

garden. They have been thinking

about the words of Jesus in the

Gospel of matthew,

“Your giving should be done in

secret. Your Father will see what

is done in secret, and he will

reward you.” (matthew 6 v 4)

each child is invited to plant

a tiny seed, as a symbol of a

secret promise that they make

before God to show generosity

to someone in need. When the

flowers bloom the children will be

reminded that even the smallest

act of kindness can grow into

something beautiful.

For the last two years our school

has taken part in the experience

easter journey, published by

Jumping Fish ltd. One of the

stations is called “The Servant

king” and tells the story of Jesus

taking the towel and washing the

disciples’ feet. At the end, the

children are invited to dip their

fingers in the water and make a

sign of the cross on each palm as

they promise to serve others in

a special way during the easter

festival.

We are a small school and it takes

precious time and energy for

staff to think of lots of creative

ways to engage children visually.

however, we have found that just

talking about good behaviour is

not enough. learning is always

multi-sensory and the school

environment offers so many

opportunities to make the values

thought provoking, relevant,

challenging and fun!