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Values

The Value of Values: Helping our Primary School Shine

St Martin's Primary School reflected upon its core beliefs and the character education it wanted to promote.  Months of analysing parental survey responses and listening to pupil voice about what makes the school so special resulted in a series of staff meetings where the staff team considered the ways in which it lives out its tagline, "Being different, succeeding together".

Together, staff considered words and phrases that encompass all that the school does.  From a long list of some forty words, the team managed to whittle these down to five important values that were shared.  This was no mean feat!  Each of these values was then illustrated through the actions of our school mascot, Malcolm.  Our talented artist, Mrs Caroline Cummins, produced depictions of this popular character and these can be seen throughout this article.  So what values did the school community choose?

Respect was chosen as our first value as this reflects our gold Rights Respecting School status.  Children's rights are at the core of everything the school does.  Pupils quickly become familiar with articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and empathise with children across the world who are unable to access their rights.  It also reminds us of your 'St Martin's Six', an easy to remember set of behaviour rules that the children and staff use every day.  We asked a range of children how they see respect in the school.  They said: listening to rules, letting others learn and concentrate, giving everyone a voice and respecting our environment.

The second choice was Aiming High.  We want every child to leave our school with the skills and positive attitudes to succeed in life and to support others as a global citizen.  Children identify this as requiring themselves to be the best version of themselves and persevering.  One contributor said, "No matter if you get questions wrong, you should still try.  Never give up".  Learning dispositions and a positive attitude to learning are celebrated through another St Martin's symbol, our pufflings.  Children earn stamps when they demonstrate one of our learning powers.  These stamps lead to certificates and an annual badge which can be achieved by showing these puffling powers. 

 

Thirdly, inclusion was chosen as a value.  Our tagline, "Being different, succeeding together", shows that we want everyone to belong and this mirrors Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (right to feel included and not discriminated against) and Article 29 (being the best we can be).   Children echo this in their thinking: "We do not leave anyone out, and we are respectful of people's differences".  Such mature responses give us hope for the future.  "We all work together, believe in Article 2, and aim to achieve great things as a team".
Our fourth value, kindness, needs little explanation and also reminds us of the kindness of St Martin, who shared his cloak with a shivering beggar.  Kindness permeates everything the school does.  Pupils see it as their duty to help others.  Examples given by our children include helping others who have fallen over at playtime; picking up litter to make our world better for everyone to enjoy; supporting charities such as the Rotary Christmas Shoebox appeal, Children in Need and disaster appeals.  World Children's Day and Anti-Bullying Week are also important fixtures in the school calendar.

Our final value of co-operation is essential to us because teamwork is everything at St Martin's Primary School.  Children see this as supporting one another in class and working in Kagan teams to achieve great things together.  They also believe strongly that no one should be left out or feel lonely, and that when learning, we help each other "fill the gaps" in our knowledge and improve as a consequence.

When the values were chosen, we created an acrostic to help us remember the five beliefs we have.  As you read down the list of words and phrases: respect, aim high, inclusion, kindness and co-operation, the word SHINE is revealed.  In our celebration assemblies and through our celebration of puffling points and other awards, we are encouraging everyone at our school to shine.  When you come to school, please have a look at our many display boards promoting this character education.  We aim to be a shining example in our parish, in our island and in our world.