Holocaust Museum - Spring 2019

The children in Year 6 had a very emotional time at the Holocaust museum, that was linked to their text, 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.' The children experienced what life was like to be a person living and working in the concentration camps.

Democracy is abundant within the school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and Pupil questionnaires. The elections of school council members involve the pupils presenting their manifesto to the class and then pupils vote for their two council members. This is done in May each year so that the current school council members can train the new council members ready for the next academic year. In Spring 2015, Year 6 school councillors attended the Wednesbury Learning Trust training on how to promote British Values through school councils. The school councillors have the opportunity to discuss issues within the class and this forms the agenda for school council meetings. 

In July the current Year 5 have the opportunity to present to the school reasons why they should be chosen to be Head Boy, Head Girl or Heads of Houses which link to the school’s behavioural reward system. Pupils then vote for who they would like to take on these important rules.

General Election – May 2015

 In May 2015, to coincide with the General Election, each class discussed and composed their own manifesto based on what they would do if they were elected. Each class presented this manifesto in assembly. This manifesto was displayed in the hall so that all pupils and stakeholders could have the opportunity to read each class’s ideas and then vote accordingly. Pupils of each class were unable to vote for their own class. The Head boy and Head girl set up a polling station in the hall; they crossed off each person’s name on their electoral roll, counted the results and announced the results to the school. Pupils from each class recorded their manifesto using the green screen and i-pads and were questioned by an interviewer.

• the importance of democracy
• the role of the House of Commons and House of Lords and how it affects us
• the election procedure     
• information about the three main parties
• significant political leaders through History
• the suffragettes fight for the right to vote 
• Year 6 presented a persuasive argument on why primary school pupils should be able to vote

The winning class was Year 5 with 62 votes. 

Public Speaking Competition - June 2015

On 18th June 2015, the school held a public speaking event. Members of the local community, including the police and fire service, were invited to attend as judges. Each pupil selected from their class as a winner presented their ideas based on a British Value. 

The topics were:

• tolerance and different religions
• equality
• genocide and how Jews were treated in World War Two

Pupils were judged on viewpoint, delivery, effective use of voice and how articulately they read their speeches.  Judges were impressed by the quality and clarity of our children’s public speaking skills and they were captivated with the pupils convincing and powerful points about the topical issues. 

Our Head Teacher, Mr Butcher, felt that the competition had been a brilliant opportunity for pupils to hone their public speaking skills, whilst learning and researching British Values.  Pupils are now even more informed about issues that face our society and a clear message was delivered; that prejudice in our community must not be tolerated.