Our Vision and Values

At Deighton Gates, our vision is simple: ‘Excellence for All’. 

This is followed by: Every child matters.  Every effort counts.

Our vision underpins everything we do. Supported by our CARE values, our curriculum, and our policies, it guides us in promoting the well‑being of the whole child and in creating an environment where pupils grow into independent, confident, global citizens.

• We give our best so everyone can shine.
• Children are at the heart of every decision
• Together, we make our school the best it can be.

At Deighton Gates, our children come first. Our priority is to deliver high‑quality teaching and learning while providing rich, enjoyable experiences that spark curiosity and build character. We know children only get one chance at their primary education; it is our responsibility to ensure every child reaches the highest levels of personal achievement and development. We want every child to be successful, to reach for excellence from their very first day with us and to develop a lifelong love of learning that stays with them long after they leave.

Our Values: At Deighton Gates, We CARE. We are Compassionate, Ambitious, Resilient, and Equal, values that inspire everything we do as a school community. These values help us foster a culture of kindness, curiosity, and high expectations. They provide a shared language that strengthens our sense of purpose and belonging as a whole school community.  Each week, our Monday assembly focuses on one aspect of CARE, moving through C, A, R, then E.

Compassion

• Treating others how you want to be treated, with fairness and friendliness.
• Being kind in your words and actions.
• Taking care of our school and everything in it.
• Listening carefully to others when they are speaking and valuing what they say, even if your opinion is different.

Ambition

• We inspire others by doing our best and being positive and curious about our learning.
• We are our best selves: the best that we can be.
• We aim high, don’t give up and believe in ourselves.
• We dream big for our future and put steps in place to make those dreams real.

Resilience

• Sticking at something, even when it is tricky and not giving up.
• Learning from our mistakes.
• Bouncing back when things don’t go the way they should.
• Pushing back doubts and fears.

Equality

• Welcoming everyone.
• Celebrating our similarities and differences: embracing all that makes us unique.
• Helping others join in so everyone safe and valued and making sure no one feels left out.
• Having empathy for those around us : this means understanding how others feel and showing kindness.

The CARE values are followed by a focus on one of the three layers of CARE:

• Caring for ourselves
• Caring for our communities
• Caring for the world

This seven‑week assembly cycle continues throughout the year, giving children repeated opportunities to understand, practise, and live out our values.

The children learn how their behaviour and attitudes towards learning can be influenced by each letter as they are challenged to go out and put this into action for themselves.

At Deighton Gates, our vision, values, ethos and wider curriculum actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of all faiths, beliefs and backgrounds.

As members of Barnardo’s LGBT Allies Network and partners of the Positive Identities Service, we ensure our curriculum reflects, celebrates and teaches children about the richness of diversity within our school and wider society.

We teach our pupils to show respect for others, with particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010, and to recognise the importance of inclusion, fairness and equality.

What are British values?

• Democracy
• The rule of law
• Individual liberty
• Mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs

We work hard to ensure these principles are not just taught but lived, embedded consistently in our policies, our practice, and the everyday life of our school community.

Protected Characteristics under the Equalities Act (2010)

British Values form an important part of this work. The four values are designed to keep children safe, promote their welfare, and counter all forms of extremism.

From 1st July 2015, the Prevent Duty became a legal requirement for all schools and registered early years providers. This duty requires us to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.”

As part of our safeguarding responsibilities, we remain vigilant to any concerns in a child’s life, whether at home or elsewhere, including the expression of extremist views. The promotion of British Values is firmly embedded in the life of our school and runs through our curriculum, policies and everyday practice.  The Counter‑Terrorism and Security Act reinforces this expectation and places a clear statutory duty on schools to help protect children and young people from radicalisation and extremist influences.

What is the Prevent duty?

From 1st July 2015, all schools and childcare providers must have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. The government has defined extremism in the Prevent strategy as: “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British Values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs."

Schools, under the Prevent duty, will be expected to demonstrate activity in the following areas:

• assessing the risk of children being drawn into terrorism.
• demonstrate that they are protecting children and young people from being drawn into terrorism by having robust safeguarding policies.
• ensure that their safeguarding arrangements take into account the policies and procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board.
• make sure that staff have training that gives them the knowledge and confidence to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism, and to challenge extremist ideas which can be used to legitimise terrorism.
• expected to ensure children are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet.

 What does this mean in practice?

Democracy: making decisions together, for example giving opportunities to develop enquiring minds in an atmosphere where questions are valued.

Rule of law: understanding rules matter as cited in Personal Social and Emotional development for example collaborating with children to create rules and codes of behaviour.

Individual liberty: freedom for all, for example reflecting on their differences and understanding we are free to have different opinions.

Mutual respect and tolerance: treat others as you want to be treated, for example sharing and respecting other’s opinions.