Our Christian Values & RRSA

Haresfield School is a Church of England School and as part of the Gloucester Diocese we use the ‘Values for life’ resource in Collective Worship and throughout the curriculum, especially in PHSE. This aims to promote Christian values and understanding throughout all aspects of school life. Taking a value from a Christian perspective we explore it using Bible stories and stories from different religions to illustrate it. Our school values are firmly based on the teachings of Jesus and have their roots in the Bible.

We want these key Values to help us actively live out our Vision. They colour and shape our aims, our character, our ethos and subsequently the experience of learning and school that all our children have here.

Although we’re always mindful of all 12 values, each term we focus on one in particular. Each term’s value is especially evident in our Collective Worship, but will also be explored and celebrated further in PSHE, Art, Music, RE and wherever opportunities arise in other curriculum areas.

To understand more about our school values please look through the presentations below.
 
Value this term

Our value we are looking at this term is Perseverance.

‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ (Galatians 6:9)

Endurance is needed when standing firm in the face of any difficulty. It is the special gift that we have when life is difficult or painful that helps us not to give up. Difficulties might include hardship, persecution or scorn, although we hope these difficulties do not arise in our school. We use it more in the context of ‘keeping going’ and ‘not giving up’. One of school council’s learning goals is to never give up, we have Timmy the tortoise to help us remember this goal.

Help at home! Talk about perseverance together…

  • How can we show perseverance in school?
  • How can we show perseverance in home, or in other situations?
  • Who do you know that shows lots of perseverance?
  • What does perseverance look like to you?
  • Tell me about a time when you showed perseverance.

We have a Home school Values resource that gives parents more information about the value for the term, some stories to share, puzzles and an idea for a craft activity to bring back into school.
UNICEF & Rights Respecting Schools Award
We explore the UNICEF Rights for Children Charter alongside our Christian Values. We are working towards the Stage 1 Award of the Rights Respecting School Award and considering how we can, as a whole school community, incorporate its elements into our practice.

In relation to the Value of Service we are focussing on Article 5 and 18 – parental guidance and responsibilities of parents and other adults and Article 28 – children’s right to an education. Our responsibility is to keep these Articles.
Rights Respecting Schools Award

UNICEF UK is pioneering an initiative in UK schools called the Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA). The award scheme started in 2004 and is running in more than 1600 primary and secondary schools in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. UNICEF UK’s RRSA initiative helps schools to use the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as the values framework.

A values framework for schools

The RRSA provides a coherent values framework which shapes the ethos of the school and unifies what can often be seen as a range of disparate educational initiatives and government priorities in all UK jurisdictions; the global dimension, SEAL (social and emotional aspects of learning), sustainable development, and community cohesion. Pupils develop a stronger sense of the need to act for global justice. The universality of the CRC provides a clear link between building up their rights-respecting school and the need for children’s rights to be realised everywhere.
What are the benefits?

When the principles and values of the CRC are introduced and reinforced throughout school life, children and the wider school community benefit.
As schools implement the RRSA standards they enable children and young people to make informed decisions and to grow into confident, active and responsible citizens.
The pattern emerging from self-evaluation by schools and local authorities, by RRSA education officers and assessors and by external researchers is consistent for all types of schools in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The main areas of impact are:

  1. Improved self-esteem and well-being
  2. Improved relationships and behaviour (reductions in bullying and exclusions and improved attendance)
  3. Improved engagement in learning
  4. Positive attitudes towards diversity in society and the reduction of prejudice
  5. Children and young people’s enhanced moral understanding
  6. Children and young people’s support for global justice
  7. Children and young people become more involved in decision-making in schools
  8. Parents have also reported support for the values and principles of the CRC. This is based on the beneficial impact they see on their children when they adopt rights-respecting language and behaviour.