At CRJS democracy is embedded in our practice.  We welcome the views and opinions of all members of our school community encouraging all of our stakeholders to have a voice, contribute to and be actively involved in the work of the school. Our pupils are listened to and their voices are heard through their participation in PSHEC lessons, in debates, group discussions, Pupil Parliament assemblies, Peer Mediators, fundraising events, contributions to newsletters and the School Website.  They are taught to listen with care to the views of others and to respect the rights of every individual to have their opinions and voices heard.  Pupils also have the opportunity to take part in regular surveys for example; surveying opinions on Behaviour Management and through ‘Pupil Voice Interviews’ to gauge opinion on the quality and frequency of ‘School Trips’ as part of a Governors Day.  Elections of Pupil Parliament members are based solely on pupil’s votes and reflect our British electoral system. The use of surveys and focused interviews demonstrate how democracy is a fundamental part of school life at CRJS.

We believe our pupils understand why ‘The Rule of Law’ is such a crucial part of living safely and peacefully in a fair and just society.  The reasons for having laws that govern our lives is something that is regularly revisited through subjects such as History, Religious Education, PSHE and through assembly themes.  Our school has agreed rules, through a whole school agreement, that are followed and are consistently reinforced.  We also have in place ‘Home and School Contracts’ that include the School Rules and School Values that we expect everyone to abide by; these contracts are renewed annually.  Each class regularly discusses and revisits our school rules and values so that everyone understands the necessity of abiding by them thereby ensuring every pupil is able to learn in a safe, calm and ordered environment.  Posters and banners around the school, that pupils have made and designed, underline and reinforce the importance of our agreed school rules.  Our pupils are encouraged to discuss the purpose of laws and rules and are able to reason how they govern and protect us; they understand that they have a responsibility for ensuring they are followed and therefore accept there are consequences if any of them are broken. 

At CRJS we expect our pupils to make informed choices based on a good understanding of their rights and the rights of others and to understand the responsibility that goes with the freedom to choose.   We provide a safe and supportive learning environment that empowers our children to make responsible decisions, based on good advice, that exercise their rights and personal freedoms. Our pupils are expected to think about the impact of their choices, good or bad, and to learn from them. Through our curriculum they have the opportunity to find out more about the rights of others beyond the school environment and into the wider community, the wider world.  We believe that our pupils need to gain further insight into how individual liberty alongside human rights, has evolved historically, culturally and socially which is taught through our diverse curriculum. Our children make choices that challenge them; they choose whether to participate fully in school life through a range of extra-curricular activities; through participation in competitions and in performances such as concerts, productions and assemblies.  Above all they are given the freedom to make choices.

Mutual respect is something we treasure and demonstrate through our whole school ethos; respect is shown to everyone.  The staff team provides positive role models in the way that they treat each other, through the respect they demonstrate towards each other and in the way they respect and value every child’s contribution to the life of the school.  Mutual respect is not taken for granted and is therefore something that is frequently revisited through teaching and learning and through our curriculum.  The children know and understand that it is very important to show everyone respect whatever differences we may have and to appreciate that we live in a diverse community in which differences culturally or socially should be understood, celebrated and respected.  The core value of Respect at CRJS underpins everything we believe in, demonstrated both in and out of the classroom.

We believe that in order to ensure that there is tolerance of those who have different faiths and beliefs we provide numerous opportunities for our pupils to experience our multi-faith and multi-cultural society.  Our ethos is fundamentally about learning from first-hand experience which is why we have a rich array of educational trips that include visits to places of worship.  When visiting synagogues, mosques, churches and temples the children have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a cultural experience and at the same time demonstrate respect for different religious beliefs; they often have a quiet time of reflection which might include sitting in silence and/or sketching intricate religious artefacts and they frequently experience awe and wonder.  On their return to school they all have positive things to say about these visits and are keen to take their learning back into the classroom; any art work and further learning is displayed to a very high standard.  We celebrate different faiths and beliefs through religious education, art, music, drama, PSHE and assemblies.  Our pupils gain an enhanced understanding of our culturally diverse British society.