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CITIZENSHIP POLICY
Staff responsible: J. Johnson June 2003
General Aims and Objectives
Citizenship aims to give children the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives, and to become informed, active and responsible citizens. Citizenship helps children develop as members of school, neighbourhoods and wider communities. It is concerned with issues of right and wrong, rights and responsibilities, fairness, rules and laws, power and authority, equality and diversity, communities and identities, democracy, conflict and co-operation.
As children grow and develop, citizenship helps them to think and talk about issues relating to these concepts as they encounter them in their own lives and in the lives of others.
Citizenship at Key Stages 1 and 2 in England is part of the broader framework for PSHE and Citizenship, which aims to ‘give pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives and to become informed, active, responsible citizens (NC Handbook for Primary Teachers QCA/99/457)
There are four interrelated strands comprising the PSHE and citizenship framework:
1. Developing confidence and responsibility and making the most of abilities
2. Preparing to play and active role as citizens
3. Developing a healthy, safer lifestyle
4. Developing good relationships and respecting the differences between people
At West Twyford Primary School citizenship is that part of the PSHE curriculum that has as objectives:
§ Establishing the importance of pupils having a positive and active role in the diverse life of a community.
§ Providing the opportunity for pupils to be able to express and develop their beliefs, opinions, values and attitudes while respecting the views of others
§ Encouraging the development of the skill of working with others to inform their thinking about social and moral issues
§ Helping pupils understand that having rights requires individuals to accept a sense of personal and social responsibility
§ Providing opportunities to understand how they can reflect on, and influence, those social issues which they encounter within the community and the wider responsibilities they have in society
§ Helping pupils to prepare for adult life by fostering enjoyment of positive participatory responsibility.
There are strong elements of citizenship within our whole school ethos, policies and wider curriculum. These include fairness, justice, equality, rights, responsibilities, co-operation, respect, democracy and negotiation.
These elements are defined in our PSHE policy and the policies for behaviour, discipline, self-esteem, anti-bullying, healthy schools participation and the school council all relate. The underpinning values of our school are found in the aims and ethos.
Resources
We follow the QCA Guidance for Citizenship, which is incorporated into our PSHE Scheme of Work and Key stages 1 and 2.
Funding is provided for complementary materials that address the above aims and objectives.
Our primary PSHE resources, Talking Together, Answers and Folens’ scheme for Citizenship and PSHE, include explicit lessons on citizenship, and implicit learning is through everyday school life outside and within the classroom.
Every child is represented on the School Council and participates in the Healthy School Scheme and these are key resources contributing to our citizenship education.
Activities
Additional activities through which citizenship can be developed include:
§ Role play/simulations
§ School Council elections
§ Stories, media
§ Writing
§ Circle Time
§ Participation in drawing up class and school rules
§ Whole school assemblies, class assemblies and achievement assemblies
§ School trips and journeys
§ Involvement in the house system
§ Garden project
Equal Opportunities
Equal access to the Citizenship curriculum is provided irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity or socio-economic background. The diversity of the school community makes a positive contribution to citizenship provision.
Early Years
Access to the citizenship curriculum is provided appropriately throughout the early years through development of concepts such as friendship, courtesy, helpfulness and of social skills.
S.E.N.
All staff are aware of special individual needs and where appropriate plan differentiated access in order to provide equal access to the citizenship curriculum.
Staff
The adult school community comprises: teaching staff, administrative staff, classroom support staff, kitchen staff, SMSAs, school keeper, parents, specialist teachers and coaches. Visitors from outside agencies include the police, fire brigade and those from local and national voluntary organisations. All are involved in citizenship education.
The PSHE co-ordinator has responsibility for developing the Citizenship provision through a whole school approach that enables pupils to participate in the life and decision-making of the school.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The programme is evaluated to inform future planning. An ongoing process of monitoring is through discussion and observation.
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