Our Values
Helping our children to learn these key values
At Featherstone Nursery School we believe that the EYFS already provides a solid foundation to encourage a child’s understanding and acceptance that we live in diverse communities with many different cultures and lifestyles.At Featherstone Nursery school we are committed to serving our community and recognise the multi-cultural, multi-faith nature of the United Kingdom today.
We understanding the crucial role our setting plays in promoting the key British values of: mutual respect; democracy; individual liberty; tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs and the rule of law and these are already implicitly embedded in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework which sets out the standards that we must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.
Through our ethos, vision and values we aim to foster a positive, democratic and tolerant environment where we value all of our children and families.
At Featherstone Nursery School we value all of our children and families. We promote mutual respect and are an inclusive setting. We want children to be independent learners so that they can make their own choices and build and develop strong relationships and friendships with lots of people. We expect children to join in and try their best and to follow our simple rules. All of these things are the foundations for growing in to good citizens and promote the ‘British Values’ of democracy, the rule of the law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance.
Mutual Respect
- Children are encouraged to respect themselves and to develop high self-esteem.
- Children learn about other cultures and respect the ideas and practices of their peers.
- Our Behaviour Policy promotes positive behaviour and children learn about ‘kind hands and feet’.
- Our ethos is one of respect which permeates all we do. This is modelled to children by caring, sharing and listening to others. Staff help children to understand how to respect by talking about how actions/words can affect others.
- Children listen to each other and learn to share ideas, take turns and work collaboratively.
Democracy
- Children are given opportunities to make decisions together
- We listen to children’s voices and encourage them to share their ideas and experiences. These ideas are used to plan changes to the learning environment.
- We listen to parents views through our online learning journals, parent consultations, questionnaires, and in daily conversations. parents can become representatives on the school’s Governing body.
Individual Liberty
- Within school, children are actively encouraged to make choices during the day, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment.
- As a Nursery school we educate and provide boundaries for young children to make choices safely, through our provision of a safe environment and empowering teaching. We celebrate children’s individual interests and incorporate them into planning.
- Children are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms.
Tolerance of those of different Faiths and Beliefs
- We promote respect and tolerance for different people, faith, cultures and languages.
- We have positive images reflecting diversity and children learn about how we are all the same and how we are different.
- We ensure we offer children opportunities to learn about their own cultures and the diverse cultures within our community.
- Children celebrate a variety of special days, cultural festivals and events and parents are encouraged to join us when we celebrate events and to be part of the school community.
The Rule of Law
- Our behaviour policy promotes positive behaviour by encouraging the children to follow our Nursery school rules and to understand that rules are made to keep us all safe and remind us of right and wrong. Rules are displayed as reminders.
- Visits from the Police community support officers help children to begin to understand the wider Rules of Law.
Most people agree that everyone should be treated respectfully and fairly. Yet many people still report feeling discriminated against. The reason might be that we’re actually discriminating unintentionally—we do 98% of our thinking in our subconscious mind. And that’s where we collect and store implicit biases.The Love Has No Labels campaign challenges us to open our eyes to our bias and prejudice and work to stop it in ourselves, our friends, our families, and our colleagues.The important thing is to educate ourselves and watch for biases when they surface.
To end bias, we need to become aware of it. And then we need to do everything within our power to stop it. In ourselves, others, and institutions. The world will be a better place for it.