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Achieve/PSHE 

British values are embedded throughout the Achieve/PSHE curriculum. Students examine and identify strategies to deal with a range of pertinent issues to develop and maintain a strong and healthy self-esteem. Through the development of the students’ personal wellbeing, including mental health and growth mind-sets, the students develop resilience. As students learn to respect themselves, it makes them more able to treat others with mutual respect.

 

The curriculum enables students to understand and appreciate the role of rules and laws in our society and to appreciate both their individual liberties and the liberty of others generating tolerance and understanding. Students learn about the nature of democracy and ways in which they can participate in the democratic process.

 

The curriculum equips students with the information and strategies they need to become fulfilled and active citizens in our diverse society.

 

PE

Within the PE curriculum, mutual respect, teamwork and resilience are essential for success on all levels. Students need to demonstrate respectful attitudes towards their peers in all aspects of PE lessons and Sport and this forms the basis of sportsmanship and good teamwork in order to succeed. Mutual respect is important not only for the people on your team, but also mutual respect with your opponents or opposition. This also means being gracious in defeat and showing

sportsmanship and respect both on and off the pitch.

 

Resilience and self-esteem are developed on a lesson-by-lesson basis, with the development of new skills only being enhanced by new experiences and learning to try again if at first you don’t succeed. Rule of the law and democracy are essential in PE and sport as you have to play by the rules and for our students this means being able to follow rules and laws in order to allow progress and flow within a sporting environment.

 

Humanities Subjects

Students learn about British values through lessons on people and places, rights, responsibilities, decisions and consequences, duties and freedoms, government, laws, justice, democracy and totalitarianism as well as studying moral and ethical issues. Students explore diverse beliefs, cultures and identities and the values we share as UK and global citizens. These values are also encouraged and rewarded in our day-to-day teaching, showing that tolerance, mutual respect, teamwork and resilience are valued as we aim to build students’ self-esteem.

 

This includes, for example, respecting each other and following the rules as well as adhering to the spirit of fair play when taking part in quizzes and other competitions in lessons. Many of the values are studied explicitly as religious and non-religious concepts across the key stages in RE.

 

In our lessons we aim to foster mutual respect through structured debate and discussion. Students are encouraged to question and explore sensitive and controversial issues, whilst maintaining tolerance and respect for the views and beliefs of others.

 

Much of the RE curriculum is focused on understanding the beliefs and world-views of different people all over the world and through understanding, true tolerance develops.

 

Through group tasks and projects students build confidence and develop their ability to work as part of a team. Being able to hold a debate, explain one’s own view and the views of others clearly is key to building resilience of character and conviction. Students also develop practical values of self-esteem through these debates. At both GCSE and A-Level issues related to moral agency and liberty of the individual and our responsibility as citizens is explored through ethical issues and theories.

Through these courses, students are also encouraged to consider the philosophical religious foundations on which concepts of democracy and liberty are built.

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Music

The music curriculum promotes teamwork as a vital part of all lessons through the use of ensemble performance and composition. Mutual respect and tolerance are fundamental parts of our ethos regarding audience etiquette. Resilience and the building of self-esteem are incorporated via the requirement to perform in front of peers and the opportunity to perform in front of wider audiences.

 

English

Within English, British values are promoted and explored in a variety of ways. The study of non-fiction texts provides students and teachers with the opportunity to address topical issues and consider different social, political, religious and cultural attitudes and contexts. The department ethos is always to respect the views of individuals and provide a learning environment in which students feel able to express themselves freely yet respectfully.

 

The study of literature goes hand-in-hand with exploration of different people, places and social groups and as such promotes understanding and tolerance. Being able to empathise with others and examine situations and settings outside of our individual experience is an explicitly taught skill.

 

In addition to curriculum content, the methods employed in English lessons encourage tolerance and respect. Students are expected to listen to and respect each other during group discussions and debate, and to work co- operatively in pursuit of common goals.

 

Maths

The Mathematics curriculum promotes the British values of tolerance and resilience on a daily basis through problem solving and understanding of complex concepts, encouraging students to persevere and try different methods to arrive at a correct solution.

 

Teamwork through peer assessment and group work underpins the schemes of learning in the Maths faculty. Students work together in all areas of the Maths curriculum to support each other and build mutual respect for one another.

Students are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them in all maths lessons. This fosters confidence and builds self-esteem, it encourages students to take risks and become lifelong learners whilst using their mathematical skills in all aspects of life.

 

Science

Individual liberty of views, tolerance, mutual respect and listening to others’ views is taught through the topics where different views / ethics are involved. For example in topics such as evolution versus creation, genetic modification, selective breeding, stem cell research and animal testing.

 

Rule of law relates to:

• Students following laboratory rules for the safety of all understanding of the need to have speed limits (speed, force, change of momentum)

• Practical activities in Science require students to engage in team work and show mutual respect for each other.

 

Democracy is taught through student debates on issues such as where to place limestone quarries and examining issues such as whether smoking and drinking should be made illegal.

Resilience and self-esteem are not written into the Science curriculum per se but are developed through students building independent learning skills, experiencing getting answers wrong and learning how to formulate the correct response, responding to target questions etc.

 

MFL

The MFL department at Ellowes actively promotes the key values of mutual respect, diversity and plurality.

By gaining an appreciation of the countries where the language the students are studying is spoken, they are encouraged to reflect on other cultures and ways of life and embrace socio-cultural and economic differences and contexts. This ensures that they remain open to the world around them and have a better grasp of the links and connections between countries and societies, this also emphasises the need for tolerance and justice.

 

Through their studies, our students come to value the rule of law and democratic systems across Europe and countries further afield despite the varied customs, festivals and national characteristics that makes every society so unique.

 

Drama

The Drama curriculum develops teamwork as individuals work together to devise performances and concepts. This in turn fosters tolerance and mutual respect. The students also develop resilience through performing in front of their peers and using the peer assessment feedback provided to further develop their devised pieces. Self-esteem is built through performance and peer encouragement.

 

Computing

The Computing curriculum promotes e-safety and helps prepare students for the digital world; both inside and outside of the school environment. At the start of each academic year we deliver a range of engaging and intuitive lessons which address the every growing and every changing landscape of e-safety. We discuss with students the impact of social media, how to be responsible online, awareness of their digital footprint and how to respond to cyber-bullying.

 

Design & Technology

Design & Technology is a practical and valuable subject. It enables children and young people to actively contribute to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of themselves, their nation and the rich history of the Black Country. It teaches how to take risks and so become more resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable. Students develop a critical understanding of the impact of Design & Technology on daily life and the wider world. Additionally, it provides excellent opportunities for students to develop and apply value judgements of an aesthetic, economic, moral, social, and technical nature both in their own designing and when evaluating the work of others.

 

The opportunities for students to develop their self-esteem and self-confidence are richly embedded in the open ended projects given to students at all key stages. The projects allow students to discover themselves through encouraging creative and innovative solutions to design and make problems.

Students develop an awareness of health & safety for themselves and others within each work area. Students are taught the social skills around behaviour self-regulation to ensure collective responsibility for a safe and efficient working environment. They are taught to challenge each other’s behaviour or practices if they fall short of the collective expectations of the group.

Exploring how products contribute to lifestyle and consumer choices. Understanding how products evolve according to users’ and designers’ needs, beliefs, ethics and values. Product Design students study iconic British designers and design movements. 

We use evaluating through peer and self-assessment to build foundations of mutual respect. We focus on the learning habits to build self-confidence and allow students to not be scared to fail. We carry out product analysis in all areas and give students the opportunity to maturely critique each other’s work.

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Food & Nutrition 

Students begin the course by looking at the importance of legislation in the kitchen and the importance of safe working practices, as a result, students respect the fact they are in a catering kitchen and understand the importance of working together to support one another and ensure each other is safe. Multicultural projects are completed in all year groups. Multicultural foods are taught through KS4 regardless of the exam board brief. Students who do not eat specific foods due to religious reasons are always considered and an alternative suggestion for the recipe is provided for them. Religion is a key part of the food course and through class discussion we dispel any misconceptions that students have of other cultures or religions and their beliefs with regards to food. It is important for students to build their confidence in the kitchen, students are given the opportunity to create their own dishes and experiment with flavours and textures. This is turn develops a passion for food in students and opens up discussion with regards to what each student has created and how it has turned out. Students also consider the environmental issues that our consumption of food can have including; increasing our carbon footprint, the amount of food we throw away, recycling, fair trade and the importance of seasonality.

 

Art and Design

Within Art and Design, British values are promoted and explored through the study of artists, craftspeople, cultures and designers from Britain and the wider world. Students and teachers discuss and consider different social, political, religious and cultural groups within an Art and Design context. The study of art history allows students to understand a range of cultures and historic events that expands their understanding of the beliefs of others.  Students learn how artworks can capture imaginations, record events and influence others.

 

The department ethos is to always to respect the views of individuals and provide a learning environment in which students feel able to express themselves freely and respectfully using a broad range of visual media.

 

The study of different cultures and places promotes understanding and tolerance. Studying artists with spiritual or religious themes and issues raised by artists which concerns ethical issues, such as war or tribal painting (and others when appropriate) are encouraged and foster empathy through a greater understanding of the world around us.

 

Students are expected to listen to and respect each other during group discussions and work critiques. They develop aesthetic appreciation and the ability to reflect on the relationship between Art and their community, nature, their environment and surroundings.