The Only Way is Windsor: Promote British values through music

Meeting the new requirements to promote fundamental British values needn’t require a song and a dance, though it can help

In November 2014, the Department for Education published important documentation concerning ‘Fundamental British values’, defined as “democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs”. There was a new insistence that these elements should be “promoted” in all schools, both maintained and independent and regardless of pupil demography or background. Changes to inspection frameworks followed rapidly. Every teacher in the land should now be very aware of his or her role as an advocate of these ‘British values’, which will be placed firmly under the spotlight when the inspectors come to call. Similarly, all heads should be looking for evidence to include in their SEF or to have up their sleeve.

After an initial feeling of unease (after all, this could certainly have been some form of legally-approved xenophobia creeping in through the back door) the profession has responded well to these requirements, appreciating how they complement rather than contradict an international agenda, and understanding their relevance to the current political situation. Ultimately, they form a vital foundation to the “Prevent” strategy which works to combat terrorism and extremism and thus to keep everyone safe.

All well and good, some would say, for the inner-city secondary school whose students include politically malleable and influential teenagers. But what role can such fundamental British values play in the more rural Key Stage 1 classroom?

Is this a return to the old chestnut of ‘People Who Help Us’, only with farmers, postal workers and so on replaced by police officers, lawyers and judges? Alternatively, with young children is it sufficient just to recap the reasons for having classroom rules? You could decide on them together, then keep an eye out for any miscreants, and see justice being done as consequences are faced and punishments served. Or, do misdemeanours like failing to join in the afternoon tidying-up process just trivialise the whole thing? And won’t such an approach place emphasis exclusively on compliance with British law, neglecting a whole sense of taking pride in being British, and celebrating everything, from heritage and traditions to less explicit things such as a sense of humour and the ability to laugh at ourselves, that makes this land of ours so, literally, Great and United?

So, in the Year 1 classes of Hurlingham School in Putney, we took a different approach.

Capital idea

When history coordinator Roland Devitt revised our provision in the light of the 2014 curriculum, he realised that many elements of the new programmes of study for Key Stages 1 and 2 could be covered through having London as our theme. Year 1 found themselves investigating the monarchy – comparing the life of the current Queen with that of Queen Elizabeth I – and the history of Windsor Castle, which is close enough to the school to make a class day trip viable. This ticked the ‘lives of significant individuals’, and ‘compare aspects of life in different periods’ boxes.

Elsewhere in the school, Year 3 now look at the Thames as a cross-curricular link with geography; Year 5 consider social change in Victorian times as a local history study; and Year 6 explore crime and punishment in London from the viewpoint of chronological development. Other history topics that have worked well for us in previous years (such as toys through the ages, or the changes in seaside holidays) were not totally dismissed, but integrated into the scheme of work as and when appropriate. But it didn’t stop there.

At Hurlingham, we are proud to have received the Artsmark Gold award, which reflects our belief that music, art, drama and dance are invaluable tools to enhance children’s learning, develop understanding and facilitate confident communication with others. Every year in the summer term, the three classes in each year group come together to perform a musical production to the rest of the school, and to parents. All teaching teams write a musical script that provides appropriate parts for all members of each cohort (no mean feat, as we have 60 children in each year) and the resulting performances, usually around 45 minutes long and produced with the invaluable musical assistance of Andy Thwaite, our head of arts, are then rehearsed and delivered on our main hall stage.

On with the show

On 22 May 2015, the Year 1 children performed the world premiere of The Only Way is Windsor, written for them by their class teachers Kea Ward, Luisa Page and Carla Nicholls. As the play gradually unfurled before me, sitting as I was front and centre of the audience in the time-honoured headteacher’s chair, I realised just how many curriculum requirements were covered by the script. These were not just confined to the history syllabus, although, yes, the monarchy and the royal palaces were there being explained for all to see. The five-year-olds in front of me had grappled with, and understood, questions of duty versus liberty, and abdication versus commitment, because their play had been all about our Queen’s attitudes towards such matters. They had gained an implicit appreciation of people’s different viewpoints and extended these into their own personal understandings of what it means to be British and to grow up within the United Kingdom. The preparation work they had undertaken to perfect their performance had involved researching everything from the role of the police in modern society to the place of popular culture; they had learned about various role models both factual and fictional (where else do Elton John and Richard Branson share a stage with James Bond and Harry Potter?); they had found out about the importance of journalism, and they had appreciated symbols of Britishness such as English breakfast tea and the honours system.

At the conclusion of the show, when the children received rapturous applause from their peers in school (and a standing ovation from their parents) I was enormously heartened by all aspects of their performance, and I was astonished by just how much learning they had undertaken. It was also a timely reminder to me, in these days of ever-increasing emphasis on written recording of learning in core subjects, that truly valuable pupil growth and development stems from making activities meaningful, and incorporating a number of different ways of working.

A regal rescue mission

If you fancy putting on this tale of a missing monarch in your school, now you can…

Kea, Luisa and Carla are happy to share their script for The Only way is Windsor with you, which you can download for free from the Teach Primary website (go to teachprimary.com/XXXX). The story follows Prince Charles, Harry, William and others as they go in search of our missing queen, who’s taken off on a secret jolly to the Norfolk coast to get some R and R. It includes fun songs inspired by the likes of Our House by Madness and Take That’s Greatest Day, and features cameos from Posh and Becks, Elton John and Richard Branson (you may need to get the children to fill those roles). The team at Hurlingham hope your children will have just as much fun and learn just as many things with a similar project in your school.

About the author

Jonathan Brough is headteacher of Hurlingham School in London