British Values - Dreams of Freedoms

Today in assembly, I launched our thematic week which puts the spotlight onto the British Values.

 

 

Every year at The Meadows we branch away from our normal curriculum subjects, to develop children's personal development as tolerant citizens. This is in ADDITION to the thread of citizenship which runs through our PSHE curriculum and everyday practice here at The Meadows.

 

This year our focus is upon the rights and responsibilities of children.  We are using this book, which is a wonderful visual literacy resource.

This unique collection of powerful words from champions of freedom today and throughout history, is published in association with Amnesty International. The book introduces children to the words of Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Anne Frank and Mala Yousafzai among many others.  

I introduced some of the learning opportunities which will call upon them to use the characteristics of artists and as readers.  There is so much inference and deduction involved in understanding the meaning portrayed in these beautiful illustrations.  

In our assembly I shared the words of Nelson Mandela, who is a worldwide hero of the not so distant past.

 

Our children are already very knowledgeable of such an inspirational leader and his legacy upon the world. His long walk to freedom epitomizes the strong resilience and stamina that all our children need to develop, not only in their learning but in order to be successful personally.  

We are using his inspiration to create a permanent stimulus in our school entrance.

 

Over the next few days we will share some of the children's work on the website and it will form a long lasting display in the corridor.

 

We ended the assembly by singing one of our favourite songs: "If I were a butterfly".  The meaning of the lyrics summarizes our learning and understanding for the week:

 

This song is all about thanking God for making us and YOU should be glad that YOU are who YOU are.  You should never want to change WHO YOU ARE!

By Megan Y4