At Albany Infant and Nursery School, we are proud to be a safe, kind and inclusive community where every child feels valued, respected and celebrated. We believe that all children have the right to belong, to be heard, to have a high quality education and to see themselves reflected in their learning experiences.

Our curriculum is designed to celebrate the diversity of modern society and to help children develop understanding, empathy and respect for others. Through the books we share, the significant figures we study and the experiences we provide, we strive to represent a wide range of cultures, backgrounds, families and communities. This includes ensuring that children encounter positive representations of the LGBTQ+ community, enabling them to develop an understanding of the diverse world in which they live.

We recognise that children thrive when they feel seen and represented. Therefore, we are committed to providing a curriculum that reflects our school community and wider society, helping every child to recognise their own identity, experiences and potential.

Strong partnerships with families are central to our inclusive approach. Through Class Dojo, we maintain effective communication with parents and carers, ensuring that all families feel informed, involved and connected to school life in their home language.

Our assemblies provide valuable opportunities for children to reflect on and discuss themes linked to equality, diversity and the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act 2010. Through these shared experiences, children learn about fairness, kindness, respect and the importance of valuing differences.

We believe that every child's voice matters. Children's thoughts, ideas and reflections are captured through our floor books, providing meaningful opportunities for them to contribute to school life and helping us to ensure that their perspectives are heard and valued.

Our British values 

We consider British Values to be essential to our everyday lives so that the young people in our care grow up to be well-rounded, responsible, considerate and caring global citizens. We promote them as part of our duty as educators to encourage free-thinking and reasoned decision making, whilst engendering tolerance and understanding amongst everyone in our school community. The government set out its definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy, and these values have been reiterated by the government last year. At Albany, these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways: being part of our local community, assemblies which tackle themes around protected characteristics, visitors to the school and topic themes which raise important questions about life in Britain.

Democracy

Democracy is common within our school. Children have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our school council. The councillors are chosen democratically within each class. The theme of democracy is explored in assemblies throughout the year.  Voting is a regular part of school life as children make decisions about their class rewards and vote for books they would like to hear as a class.  Our children are active within the community and engage regularly with external groups e.g. our local allotment. Community projects have involved our children in carrying out Random Acts of Kindness and fundraising for local groups. These activities promote the school's approach to the interdependency of our local community and the democratic principles underpinning it.  

The Rule of Law

The importance of rules, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout each school day.  Due to the age of our children, we use rule breaking as an opportunity for teaching.  Our children experience natural consequences and restorative conversation so that they can learn from the outcomes of their choices.  Our children are asked to repair the situation and are assisted through this conversation in an inclusive manner using restorative boards which use visuals to aid the conversation.  Children are taught about government, prime ministers and our monarchy. 

Individual Liberty

Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school, we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safely, through provision of a caring environment and education which promotes self-esteem and empowers our children. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights, responsibilities and personal freedoms and are advised on how to exercise these safely, for example, through our online safety and P.S.H.E. lessons and by making decisions about and through OPAL play. Assembly themes, using the "No Outsiders" approach, allow staff to introduce and revisit themes which tackle race, diversity and equality of opportunity.

Mutual Respect

Teachers welcome children daily into the school and begin every day by greeting all pupils with ‘Good Morning’. This sets the tone of mutual respect throughout school, across the whole day. Interactions are underpinned by respect whether adult to adult, adult to child or child to child.  Children are gradually taught to provide positive feedback to each other and to celebrate each other’s successes – this is evident in our star of the week assemblies.

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

We place value on promoting diversity through our teaching. Assemblies are regularly planned to address this issue either directly or through the inclusion of stories and celebrations from a variety of faiths and cultures. Our R.E. and P.S.H.E. curriculum coverage and teaching reinforce this.  We believe that the roots our children come to school with should be celebrated and that all children should feel their sense of belonging in their own culture whilst learning about and embracing those of our community. 

Equal Opportunities

Every child is entitled to learn about British Values regardless of their age, culture, gender, background or special need or disability. British Values develops a shared view of what it means to be British without compromising the faith, non-faith or cultural background of any pupil. To maintain this, we actively challenge any memebr of our community who express opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including ‘extremist’ or discriminatory views. Should you feel the school is not meeting this requirement, you should contact the Head Teacher.