At De Lacy Primary School, the personal development of all our pupils is at the heart of what we do. This involves developing the knowledge, attitudes, skills, relationships and behaviour that our pupils can utilise in and outside the classroom. We achieve this through our curriculum and the school’s character and wider development work which supports learners in building character- this includes their resilience, confidence and independence as well as helping them to understand how to keep physically active and mentally healthy. In addition, we have a high focus on pupils SMSC development (spiritual, moral, social and cultural) and understanding of the fundamental British Values and the world main religions to equip them to be responsible, respectful and active citizens who contribute positively to society.
Democracy:
We ensure that children are given a voice. They are empowered by being given opportunities to make choices about things they believe are important. Our school Behaviour systems encourages pupils to respect the idea of democracy and respect the views of others.
Our school council as an opportunity to experience representation through a voting process. The pupils who are part of the School Council are involved in many aspects of decision-making processes such as deciding whole school behaviour celebrations, Meeting the designers of our new playground Trim Trail and meeting with the Chair of our School Governance committee.
Rule of Law:
Children are taught to understand the principles of rules, which enable a community – like a school – to work well. This is supported by our Community Police Officer. Children understand our behaviour systems and the rules we must follow, this helps pupils to make decisions and choices that are acceptable to the school community and society at large. We help pupils learn to manage their behaviour and take responsibility for their actions. We teach them to recognise right from wrong and why we have rules in school and society.
Individual Liberty:
We encourage pupils to become good and valued citizens. We do this by supporting each pupil to become as independent as possible. Some pupils will be able to take responsibility for particular roles, such as Junior Librarians, School Council Representatives or playground leaders. They understand that with certain rights comes a level of responsibility.
We celebrate achievements in assemblies and with certificates. We encourage children to be proud of their achievements, both in and out of school. We encourage children to take responsibility for their behaviour, to challenge stereotypes and to spread an anti-bullying culture.
The school motto of ‘Widening Horizons’ is embodied in all we do – this includes removing any barriers to the liberty offered by lifelong learning and employment.
Mutual Respect:
The first and principle statement on our School Rules is to ‘Be respectful – to others, to the environment and to myself.’ Pupils know this and understand how to be respectful and to look after each other as well as our school and wider community. We promote each pupil’s inclusion in a range of activities, settings and locations. Our pupils go into the community to meet with a range of people in a variety of situations which include sports events, community events and shared participation with other schools. It is important for our school to be part of the community as the pupils, families and staff have much to offer in the development of community cohesion.
Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs:
As we live in a multi-faith society we promote the belief that each person is respected and valued equally without regard to ability, gender, faith, heritage or race. Cultural appreciation and development forms part of our curriculum. We celebrate faiths throughout the year with assemblies and workshops, where parents are actively encouraged to participate. We celebrate our differences and pupils are mutually respectful of these.
We teach Religious Education (RE) in each year group at De Lacy. Our RE curriculum offers a broad and balanced education on a range of faiths, religions and cultures. We have monthly visits and collective worship led by the vicar of All Saints Pontefract.
We help children develop critical thinking skills to challenge prejudice and discrimination of all kinds.
Throughout school we encourage children to discuss the differences between people, such as their faith, ethnicity, disability, gender and sexuality. We also help them to explore different kinds of