Sustainable Travel

STAR is a strategic framework that encourages and rewards schools to adopt safe and active travel behaviour. The London School Travel Plan Accreditation Scheme was created to set a recognised standard for schools with travel plans that not only promote safe and active travel but achieve it as well.

 

School Travel Plan

The TfL STARS accreditation scheme inspires young Londoners to think differently about travel and its impact on their health, well-being and the environment. Each year STARS schools replace 13 million miles’ worth of car journeys with walking, cycling and scooting.

We currently hold the GOLD STARS AWARD, and are one of only a handful of primary schools in the borough to do so. We support numerous initiatives to increase road awareness, promote safety and encourage active travel.

 

Values Education Quality Mark

The Values Education Quality Mark is an international validation of a school’s commitment to Values Education through this unique Values Education logo. The quality mark:

 

• acknowledges and celebrates being a Values-based school;
• recognises our commitment to high aspirations and to our culture of continuous improvement;
• values the hard work that all staff engage in on a daily basis;
• provides recognition of success to parents and the local community;
• contributes to the school/setting’s self-evaluation process.

Promotion of British Values

The DfE have recently reinforced the need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to 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.”

 

The promotion of British values is not something new to our curriculum at Addison. Such values are at the core of all we do whether it be through our assemblies, our RE curriculum, our Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE) lessons or through other areas of the curriculum.

 

Democracy

Democracy is embedded at the school.  Children are always listened to by adults and are taught to listen carefully and with concern to each other, respecting the right of every individual to have their opinions and voices heard.  Pupils also have the opportunity to air their opinions and ideas through our School Council and regular questionnaires.  The elections of the School Council members are based solely on pupil votes, reflecting our British electoral system and demonstrating democracy in action. The School Council work not only to solve issues that the children raise but also have input into their curriculum and the standards of the school. In addition, the School Council organises our charity work throughout the year. This includes fun days for Children In Need and Comic Relief; coffee mornings to support Macmillan nurses; and non-uniform days to raise money for the Nepal earthquake fund. This fostering of a commitment to charities is another way in which we teach a sense of Britishness.

 

The Rule of Law

The importance of laws, whether they are those that govern the class, the school, or the country, is consistently reinforced throughout the school day. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws (rules) that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Positive behaviour management strategies are implemented throughout the school and rules and expectations are reinforced through school assemblies and class circle times. Visits from authorities such as the Police and Fire Service help reinforce this message.

 

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 all pupils to make choices safely, through provision of a safe environment and empowering education.  Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our curriculum in areas such as e-safety, anti-bullying, relationship and sex education (RSE) and drugs awareness education.  Whether it is through choice of learning challenge, of how they record, of participation in our numerous extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, pupils are given the freedom to make choices.

 

Mutual Respect

Mutual respect is at the heart of our values. Addison is a culturally diverse school with a highly regarded inclusive ethos and practice. We celebrate this diversity in our curriculum. Examples include our celebrations of different religious festivals throughout the year, the participation of all our children, including those with disability, in all our curriculum activities and the regular staff training we undertake to ensure this inclusive practice remains outstanding.  Children learn that their actions have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community treat each other with respect. The whole school community knows and understands that respect is shown to everyone, whatever differences we may have.

 

Tolerance of Different Faiths and Beliefs

Addison is situated in an area of great cultural diversity; therefore we place a great emphasis on promoting diversity with the children. 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 RE and PSHE teaching reinforce this. Members of different faiths or religions are encouraged to share their knowledge to enhance learning within classes and the school. For example, in RE children learn about the four main religions: Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. They have opportunities to visit different places of worship. Through this our children gain an enhanced understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society.

 

National Healthy Schools Status

Healthy Schools London is an award programme, which reaches out to every London child, working with schools to improve children and young people’s well-being. As a school, we directly help children to lead a healthy lifestyle, including making healthy food choices at lunchtime as well as travelling actively to and from school. We can also help children learn more about their health, and develop their motivation and self-respect to make healthy choices.

 

We currently hold the SILVER HEALTHY SCHOOLS AWARD, and are shortly submitting our application for Gold. Our Silver Award has focused on re-evaluating our Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) curriculum in order to increase the knowledge of the children, and has also targeted healthy packed lunches more specifically. We hope that the impact of this project will help our children to be happier and healthier in the future.

 

Active Mark

We have the Bronze Award. The Bronze Mark was award for our contribution to raising sporting achievement in our school.  This included the 3 new extra-curricular lunch time clubs that we provided along with inter school competitions that were created as a result of the clubs.  It also recognises the significant time we all dedicate to physical activity at Addison Primary to ensure our children are healthy.  There’s a strong link between healthy bodies and healthy learners so we’re very proud to have received this recognition.