School Values

Our school values are at the core of everything we do. They underpin our teaching and learning, and provide an environment which prepares our pupils as confident, happy citizens.

At Riverside School we promote the British Values as listed both in a specific way during our lessons in RE and PSHE as well as through assemblies, other lessons across the curriculum and in the way that adults act as an example to students.

For example, we explain to students why we have particular rules in place for both safety and respect of the feelings of others and their property. We encourage children both to take turns in discussion and to express their views as well as listen to those of others. Our School Council meets together as a form of democratic decision making. We specifically teach about respect and religious tolerance in lessons as well as developing awareness of other cultures through our Humanities topics.

We expect children to take responsibility for their actions which may include saying sorry or writing a note to explain that they have thought about what went wrong. We help them to reflect on strategies they might use in the future to avoid problems or sort them more quickly. We promote positive behaviour through our rewards system and ensure that any sanctions fit the students involved and their level of understanding.

Our SMSC coverage [Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural understanding] has been complimented during inspections and underpins how we treat each other. When asked to make this explicit we are always able to give many examples from both within the curriculum and at a wider level.

In essence we follow the British Values but extend these to include aspects of SMSC that show we value not only the curriculum that is carefully chosen to match out students’ needs but also the type of young people we wish to inspire them to become as both members of the school and citizens of society beyond our gates.