Character and Culture - Bilton School

Intent

Whilst being part of Bilton school, pupils will benefit from Character & Culture lessons and a variety of memorable experiences. The curriculum and the experiences aim to develop our pupils in their life beyond school, as kind, respectful and resilient 21st Century citizens, as well as enjoy their time at school and achieve in their learning.

Our curriculum builds a strong foundation in knowledge, understanding and key skills which lead to academic and personal success. Our rich extra-curricular programme equips our pupils with the resilience to strive in a subject or hobby they are passionate about. We work towards every pupil aspiring to be the best they can be.

Our aims are underpinned by our Character & Culture intent: Every pupil has an appreciation of British Values, cultural respect, the society they are a part of and it's diversity.

These principles are at the heart of everything we do, so our curriculum and memorable experiences reflect this, whilst promoting British values; developing each pupils SMSC attributes and giving a valuable careers education in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks.

Implementation

The Character & Culture curriculum is planned to enable all students to develop skills in the following areas:

Careers & Aspirations
Values & Culture
Relationships, Sex and Health Education
Democracy in Britain
Community Issues
Wellbeing
Worldwide Views & Beliefs

The curriculum is bespoke to each year group; it includes formal teaching through Character & Culture lessons, assemblies and extra-curricular activities. Throughout the year, there are further opportunities to engage with Character & Culture, including presentations and memorable experiences from external providers. To ensure we are meeting our curriculum aims we regularly review our content.

RSE: Each year a letter is sent to all parents and carers with regards to Government RSE policy with on opt out clause.

RSE Policy 2024_25

Wellbeing

Wellbeing Ambassadors meet on a Tuesday morning in form time, led by Ms Ansell.

Our wellbeing team has representatives from each year group who work on initiatives to support their peer's mental health and wellbeing.

They host games in the library on a Friday lunchtime.

The team work on initiatives throughout the year to promote wellbeing with a key focus on being a RAKTIVIST (random acts of kindness activist)

Worldwide Views and Beliefs

Worldwide views & beliefs play an important role in human life so we have developed a rich and varied curriculum that meets the character and culture of Bilton School and its students.

Each student is given the time to gain knowledge, show understanding and critically think about a variety of issues that affect our world today and how different people respond to these issues, depending on their own worldwide view and belief system. This enables our pupils to develop their own worldwide view, meaning they can take a full and informed part of our world in the 21st Century.

Parents (or students who are over 18) have the right to withdraw their children either partly or wholly from Worldwide Views & Beliefs.

It is our practice to talk to parents to ensure that they understand the aims and values of the Worldwide Views & Beliefs curriculum before complying with the right of withdrawal from Worldwide Views & Beliefs (DfES Circular 1/94 para 44-49)

SMSC statement

WHAT IS SMSC?
SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development) is fundamental to our school’s core value, “be the best you can be”
Bilton School promotes the search for meaning and purpose and is based on the core values which we all aspire to live by. At a school community, we believe SMSC is at the heart of everything we do and this is embedded in a variety of personal development opportunities across the school. For example; Character and Culture across the school and wider community, extra-curricular activities, charity work and Career provisions.

Spiritual Education
Students' spiritual development is shown by their:
Beliefs, religious or non-religious, which inform their perspective on life & their interest in & respect for different people's beliefs and values
Sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them, including all cultural beliefs and practices
Use of the imagination and creativity in their learning
Willingness to reflect on their experiences, both within and outside of school

Moral Education
Students' moral development is shown by their:
Ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong and their readiness to apply this understanding to their own lives
Showing understanding of the consequences of their actions
Interests in investigating and offering reasoned views about moral, philosophical, ethical and theological issues and ideas

Social Education
Students' social development is shown by their:
Social interaction within different contexts, including visiting a range of different places of worship and meeting and speaking with a range of visitors from different religious and ethnic backgrounds
Willingness to participate in a variety of social settings, including charity events and cooperating well with others and being able to resolve conflicts effectively
Interests in, and understanding of, the way communities and societies function at a variety of levels including locally, nationally and internationally

Cultural development
Students' cultural development is shown by their:
Understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage
Willingness to participate in, and respond to, for example, artistic, musical, sporting, charitable, technological, scientific and cultural opportunities
Interests in exploring, understanding of, and respect for cultural diversity and the extent to which they understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity, as shown by their attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities

#becausewearebilton

Sixth Form Leadership Team

Lead Teacher: Mrs Hanson

Meet: Every half term

Overall Aims: The leadership Team in Sixth Form aim to support the whole school.

The Leadership team is split into our Head Students who support with open evenings and whole school events.

Our Kindness Ambassadors that aim to spread joy around the school through, our Resilience Ambassadors and our Community Ambassadors who aim to support students throughout their secondary school journey.

Activities: Peer Reading with Year 7 students, supporting whole school events such as open evenings, supporting in person events such as progress evenings, supporting potential staff during interviews, tours of the school and supporting the lower school leadership teams with their events.

Year Ambassadors

Lead Teacher: Miss Spencer

Meet: We meet three times per half-term (or more often if we are working on bigger projects)

Overall Aims: As Year Ambassadors, we strive to create a purposeful, inclusive and supportive environment at Bilton.

As a group, we are particularly passionate about charity and helping raise money for meaningful causes. As well as this, we are also passionate about anti-bullying, diversity and inclusion as well as promoting a respectful and kind school community.

Activities: Supporting charity initiatives such as cake sales (Guide Dogs/Macmillan), Christmas Shoeboxes and Rugby Foodbank.

Leading on whole school events such as anti-bullying week and diversity week.

Year 11 Prefects

Lead Teachers: Mrs Cross/Mrs Loydall

Meet: We meet three times per half term ( Or more frequently if we have a lot going on!)

Overall Aims: The prefects at Bilton want to build a community that the whole school can be proud of.

We aim to build links between year groups and showcase the best of Bilton.

We have committees within the prefect team focussing on each of our school values (Respect, Resilience and Kindness) as well as a group focussing on building our community within school and the wider local community.

Activities: Peer Reading with Year 7 students, Rugby Christmas Cracker Cafe, supporting whole school events such as open evenings, supporting in person events such as progress evenings and school shows, leading on thematic projects for younger years, such as Holocaust Memorial Day.

Student Council

Lead Teacher: Miss Nash

Bilton School's Student Council is made up of volunteer students who have submitted applications to be part of the school decision-making policy.

They are passionate about student voice and progressing the school, so all pupils feel a part of the community.

The Student Council meet at least once a half term to engage with any concerns raised by students and forward their student-led projects.

Projects, in addition to engaging with those from pupils, such as streamlining HAPs, include Comic Relief fundraising; Our Jay/Stride to Save Lives/Race for Life fundraising; school canteen projects and judging The Big Create.

For more information or to raise points for discussion please see Miss Nash.

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