Citizenship at King Charles I School:

Citizenship provides opportunities for children and young people to learn about their rights and responsibilities, government and democracy and communities and identity.

The aim is to help children to understand what being a citizen involves, why it is important to them as individuals, to society and about the importance of being involved.

As well as specific Citizenship lessons, citizenship could be included in other subject lessons. For example, pupils could learn about the importance of voting in a history lesson which would also give the class the opportunity to explore the history of how British citizens acquired voting rights. The important thing is that they are aware that they are learning about these and it is not just historical knowledge. In other words, Citizenship will be part of the existing school timetable.

But Citizenship is also about actively developing skills to enable pupils to be a more effective citizen. It will be more than formal lessons; projects within and out of school will also develop citizenship skills. For example, school councils are one useful way to learn about skills such as the decision-making process, pupils can learn how to express an opinion on something that matters to them, or how to listen to different points of view at a meeting. Taking part or participating in their local community is another way to develop their citizenship skills while finding out about and contributing to their neighbourhood.

Citizenship learning could also take place in school assemblies, tutorial time and visits to or from organisations outside school.