School Vision

Here at Selsted, in our unique rural setting, we provide a happy, safe, stimulating environment where children develop their love of learning.  Through mutual respect and trust children are given a voice and responsibility.  We are brave, resilient and committed to making the impossible possible through God's loving care.

We believe our vision is brought to life through Jeremiah 17 verse 7-8:

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.

They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;

    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.

Our Values

As a school community we have been reviewing our school values to ensure they link well with our vision for the school and the way we live each and every day.

We believe that the school values must link directly with both the Christian values and British values.

The following values have been chosen as our six core values in school:

• Friendship (Friends always show their love - Proverbs 17:17)
• Hope (I depend on God alone; I put my hope in Him - Psalm 62:5)
• Respect (So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you - Matthew 7:12)
• Perseverance (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me - Philippians 4.13)
• Wisdom (If you listen to advice and are willing to learn, one day you will become wise - Proverbs 19:20)
• Trust (My God is my strength in whom I trust - Psalm 18:2)

We will look more closely at one of our core values each term.  

We will continue to work on other key Christian values such as; humility, endurance and reverance.

British Values

At Selsted, we promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Actively promoting the values means gently challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values. This is usually through our Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) class discussions and/or our PSED sessions, following guidance set by the Department for Education and National Curriculum.

Through provision of SMSC, we:

 • enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;

 • enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;

• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;

 • enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;

• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;

• encourage respect for other people; and

 • encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

Through promoting fundamental British values, our pupils are expected to have:

• an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process;

• an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety; 1 The Prevent strategy 2011: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-strategy-2011 5

• an understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence;

 • an understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law;

• an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour; and

• an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination.

In order to be inclusive of all faiths and beliefs, we do not discriminate against people or groups on the basis of their belief, opinion or background. We endeavour to:

• include in suitable parts of the curriculum, as appropriate for the age of pupils, material on the strengths, advantages and disadvantages of democracy, and how democracy and the law works in Britain, in contrast to other forms of government in other countries;

• ensure that all pupils within the school have a voice that is listened to, and demonstrate how democracy works by actively promoting democratic processes such as a school council whose members are voted for by the pupils;

• use opportunities such as general or local elections to hold mock elections to promote fundamental British values and provide pupils with the opportunity to learn how to argue and defend points of view;

• use teaching resources from a wide variety of sources to help pupils understand a range of faiths, and

• consider the role of extra-curricular activity, including any run directly by pupils, in promoting fundamental British values.

We believe that through our vision, Bible verse and values we help children to grow, hence our motto 'From tiny acorns, mighty Oaks grow'