Vision Statement
Our vision at Hebburn Comprehensive School is to have a harmonious community where the emphasis for all is on learning and achievement, where pupils feel safe and happy and where a culture of success and ambition is embedded and celebrated throughout the school and wider community. We aim to raise the aspirations of all our young people, inculcating a respect for one another and for the values of learning, citizenship and tolerance. Through challenge, partnership and support, we aim to raise standards of achievement further; create a genuine sense of community spirit; and enhance all of our pupils’ life chances for the future.
Mission Statement
When pupils leave our school, we want them to be able to say: ‘At Hebburn Comprehensive, I achieved exceptional outcomes and developed good moral principles that have allowed me to make ambitious life choices’.
Hebburn Values
Our core values at Hebburn Comprehensive are Work Hard, Be Kind & Aspire. We encourage all pupils to aim high and dream big. Through our ASPIRE framework, our aim is to inculcate, in our children, a respect for one another and for the values of learning and tolerance. We want all pupils to be in the position to make ambitious life choices because of the excellent outcomes they have achieved and the strong moral principles they have developed in their time at HCS.
Our Code of Conduct sets out clearly what we expect from all members of our school community. To ensure that we have a harmonious environment for learning, where everyone can thrive, it is essential that the Code is followed at all times.
Core British Values
PROMOTING THE VALUES OF DEMOCRACY, INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY, MUTUAL RESPECT AND TOLERANCE OF THOSE WITH DIFFERENT FAITHS AND BELIEFS
At Hebburn Comprehensive, values are taught explicitly through PHSCE/Citizenship, Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural Education/Activities (SMSC) and RE. Values, however, permeate all elements of the curriculum and all aspects of the life and functioning of the school. It is the duty of every member of staff to support and promote these values, as outlined in the Teachers’ Standards Part Two: Personal and Professional Conduct.
Through our provision of SMSC, we will:
- Enable pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
- Enable pupils to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
- Encourage pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
- Enable pupils to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;
- Promote the importance of tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling pupils to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
- Encourage respect for other people;
- Encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.
As a result of our comprehensive SMSC provision, pupils will:
- Develop an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process;
- Have an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety;
- Have a good understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence;
- Understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law;
- Have an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs or having none should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour;
- Develop an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination.
DEMOCRACY
In school we promote the importance of democracy through the following:
- Elections for class representatives and school council;
- Specific units in PHSCE/Citizenship;
- Our work with the UK Youth Parliament;
- Student Voice on key aspects of school life; and
- Form group charity work (pupils voting for a charity to support).
INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY
In school we promote the importance of individual liberty by:
- Encouraging pupils to make informed choices, knowing that they are doing so in a safe and supportive environment;
- Providing boundaries for pupils to make safe choices, through carefully-planned curriculum delivery;
- Providing high-quality CEIAG to enable pupils to make key choices about options at Key Stage 4 and beyond;
- Encouraging pupils to develop a good understanding of their rights, responsibilities and personal freedoms;
- Discussing themes in assemblies, tutor time and PSHCE;
- Teaching pupils about e-safety, substance misuse and extremism;
- Encouraging pupils to sign up for extra-curricular clubs, including Homework Clubs;
- Encouraging pupils to provide constructive feedback on key aspects of school life.
THE RULE OF LAW
In school we promote the importance of the rule of law through:
- The school’s key policies:
- Behaviour
- Code of Conduct;
- Safeguarding;
- Extremism and Radicalisation;
- ICT Acceptable Use; and
- E-safety.
And by:
- Defining acceptable standards of behaviour and continually promoting them in a fair and consistent manner;
- Ensuring that the school’s strategies and expectations of behaviour are widely understood by parents, pupils and staff;
- Delivering assemblies on e-safety and keeping safe online;
- Delivering specific units on the rule of law in PHSCE sessions.
MUTUAL RESPECT
Mutual respect is one of the core principles on which the school operates on a daily basis. In school we promote the importance of mutual respect through:
The school’s key policies:
- Behaviour;
- Code of Conduct;
- Equality and Equal Opportunities;
- Our vision and mission statements.
And by:
- Reinforcing our core values in everything we do;
- Creating an environment in which children feel safe, happy, secure and respected;
- Providing positive role models for young people;
- Developing in pupils a sense of self-discipline and an acceptance of responsibility for their own actions;
- Encouraging the development of positive and caring relationships in all areas of school activities;
- Encouraging pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
- Providing clear guidance on good behaviour both in school and out in the local community;
- Ensuring a broad and balanced curriculum which allows students to learn about a wide range cultures and beliefs;
- Helping students to make informed decisions and be confident in their own identity and understand and respect that of others.
TOLERANCE OF THOSE WITH DIFFERENT FAITHS AND BELIEFS
As a school, we believe that a diversity of faiths and beliefs is something to be celebrated. We promote tolerance of different faiths by:
- Developing pupils’ understanding of their place in a culturally diverse modern Britain;
- Learning about different religions and cultures through the RE curriculum;
- Exploring different cultures in language learning;