Aims & Ethos

In implementing the Ethical Education Curriculum in our school, we aim to nurture and develop in each child a caring and responsible approach to society. Specifically, the curriculum will aim to:

• Foster self-confidence and self-worth in each child to become self-aware, reflective individuals with a secure sense of belonging and identity.

• Develop the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that will facilitate them to live as ethical people who are empathetic, socially aware and committed to democratic principles and values, global citizenship, and equality.

• Foster in each child a knowledge and understanding of different value and belief systems in an atmosphere of critical enquiry and mutual respect.

• Become familiar with the tenets and beliefs of the major religions and rational understandings of the world.

• Support children in cultivating their spirituality in a secure environment.

• Prepare children to become caring members of a multicultural society with the necessary intercultural skills to enrich such a society.

• Address issues of spirituality and morality.

• Facilitate in children the ability to make reasoned and informed moral judgements.

• Develop and use critical thinking skills that will enable them to critique their world and empower them to give reasoned explanations for their opinions, decisions and actions.

• Raise awareness in children of issues of human rights, justice and equality in society.

• Provide children with a range of dispositions and skills to enable them to participate in and contribute to the democratic process and become informed, socially responsible and fair-minded citizens.

• Promote co-operation and teamwork.

• Encourage each child to be adaptable and self-motivated and to act with initiative, independence and creativity; to promote the skills and courage to tackle unfamiliar fields.

• Encourage each child to explore and reflect on their experiences; to facilitate them to express and cope with the full range of human emotions; to help them develop a greater insight into self and into other people and their feelings.

• Develop in each child qualities such as courage, respect, tolerance, responsibility, integrity and trust.

• Recognise their role as active members of a democratic society with the potential to take action that will lead to positive change.

• Develop in children an ethical and reasoned approach to caring for the environment.

• Help each child appreciate beauty in the natural world and nurture a sense of wonder, awe and creative searching.

• Foster an appreciation of and respect for the environment and encourage taking an active role in this regard.

• Recognise the impact of the climate crisis and their role as active members of a democratic society with the potential to take action that will lead to positive change.

• Foster awareness of each other’s responsibilities with due regard to the rights and needs of the children themselves and of others in the family, the school, local community and wider world.

• Help children manage conflict.

• Foster empathy and concern for people who are excluded, vulnerable, marginalised, with disabilities, both in the school and outside.

• Develop ethical principles in relation to human rights, equality and justice, and apply these principles to their daily lives.

• Promote equality, fairness and justice, and help children recognise prejudice and discrimination.

• Enable the child to contribute positively to the school community and to society in general, and to equip the child with the potential to contribute as an adult.

• Develop a knowledge and understanding of different philosophical, religious traditions with prejudice and with respect.

• Foster a safe environment for the children to express their own traditions, beliefs and non-beliefs.

• Teach and encourage the children to put into practice the aspirations of the Learn Together Programme in a manner appropriate to their age and ability.

• Teach children to critically and constructively reflect on the means used in the wider world to influence and shape their values, attitudes and beliefs, such as media advertising and peer pressure.

• Relate this learning to their individual experience in the context of their local, national and global community.