Faith & PSHE

At St Michael & St John's Roman Catholic Primary School (SSMJ) we believe that PSHE helps to give pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives, in order to become informed, active and responsible citizens in God's world. Most of our PSHE is taught through our Catholic Socialist Teaching topics, The Dignity of the Human, Families and the Community, Solidarity and the Common Good, Rights and Responsibilities, Poor and Vulnerable, The dignity of Work and Stewardship. 

 We  value and reflect British values in all that we do.  We aim to nurture our children on their journey through life so they can grow into safe, caring, democratic, responsible and tolerant adults who make a positive difference to British society and to the world. We encourage our children to be creative, unique, open-minded and independent individuals, respectful of themselves and of others in our school, our local community and the wider world.  We recognise the diversity of backgrounds of all pupils, families and wider school community and encourage our pupils to live and learn through our school values of love, compassion and respect.

The Department for Education states that all schools should promote fundamental British values.  The definition of these British values is taken from the Home Office’s Prevent Strategy and are defined as:

• Democracy: Respect for democracy and support or participation in the democratic process.
• The rule of law: Respect for the basis on which the law is made and applies in England.
• Individual liberty: Support for equality of opportunity for all.
• Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs: Respect for and tolerance of different faiths and religions and other beliefs.
• Individual liberty: Support for equality of opportunity for all.
• Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs: Respect for and tolerance of different faiths and religions and other beliefs.

In response to recommendations from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), British values are not taught as individual lessons, but are embodied within the ethos and culture of our school and reflected within our School Mission Statement and Class Rules, which are there for the benefit of everyone within our school community. They are embedded through our Catholic Socialist Teaching/PSHE/RSE Curriculum and other topic days or visits. 

At SSMJ we recognise the close relationship Catholic Socialist Teaching has with British Values.(The Dignity of the Human, Families and the Community, Solidarity and the Common Good, Rights and Responsibilities, Poor and Vulnerable, The dignity of Work and Stewardship). This allows children to see the links within their faith and how British values are embedded within our society. It underpins our strong Catholic ethos.