The Queen’s Jubilee: Teaching Duty & Responsibility
As the Queen is such as role model for us here at Kings Monkton School, we ensured to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the values that she has passed on through numerous generations. Therefore, we decided to hold a jubilee party with Key Stage 1 and 2 to commemorate such a special day.
We set up a tea party fit for a queen, filled with scrumptious delights such as sandwiches, cakes, and fruit. There was also some fantastic face painting, and the sun also came out to make the day an unforgettable one. All the pupils and staff alike thoroughly enjoyed themselves and celebrated the Queen’s jubilee in style.
We also ensured to discuss the history of the Queen and all that she stands for as our monarch. In June 2022, Her Majesty the Queen became the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee, commemorating her 70 years of service. The Queen succeeded to the throne on the 6th February 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI. The Queen promised at the time that she would serve her country until her dying day.
The Queen has made this part of her duty, an important topic that was reflected upon by all those at Kings Monkton during the jubilee. The Oxford Dictionary defines duty as ‘something that you feel you have to do because it is your moral or legal responsibility’. It ?is an essential part of our ethos and culture, so we teach our pupils about the importance of becoming responsible members of society through a sense of duty. In today’s world, this can be a difficult aspect to implement and has a tendency to become blurred with unrealistic tendrils of social media and reality TV.
Teaching Duty and Responsibility
The Queen has been a constant pillar and has demonstrated the importance of resilience, tenacity, and commitment over the entire 70 years she has been on the throne. At Kings Monkton, we instil these same values in our pupils; we teach them the importance of how to fail, that this is not a weakness, and it is through making mistakes that we do our best learning. For us, a mark of a young adult is not someone who makes no mistakes, it is someone who is able to learn, grow, and build on the challenges and difficulties they face.
Society – facing adversity
To be active and healthy members of society, we also need to understand how to respond to others who may not share our values or ideals. Again, the Queen leads by example, she has faced her fair share of adversity and conflicts during her 70-year reign; she is one of the most travelled monarchs in history and has stood the test of war, intrigue, and grief. Despite all of this, she has always handled all these events with dignity and grace and is always ready to hear the opinions of those around her. At Kings Monkton, we develop critical young minds by opening our pupils up to philosophy and critical discussion. We actively encourage pupils to develop their own ideas, express their thoughts and opinions, and engage in debate. However, we also teach our pupils the importance of respect and to accept each other's differences and views. Our pupils also learn how to accept criticism and the appropriate way to respond to this – not with violence or hatred and bullying – but through considered thinking and critically challenging others' ideas with reasoned and balanced argument and discussion. Through this approach, our pupils learn the importance of tolerance and that every action has a consequence for which they are responsible. In doing so, we create the citizens of tomorrow who will bring change that is reasoned, valued, and intentional. They will not respond with hatred, bigotry, or violence to things they do not understand or agree with but will challenge with critical thought and reflection.
Society – the future
This brings us to the finest quality of our Queen – the desire to do her duty and do good for her subjects and the crown. This overriding passion to ensure the best for her country is something that truly inspires. We inspire our pupils to be the best they can be, and we want them to elicit positive change in our society and challenge them to become the future leaders of tomorrow. We do this through sustainability projects within our school, showing pupils the importance of recycling, growing our own food, and reducing waste. Our pupils now grow vegetables and salad for our canteen to be served at lunchtime, as well as build insect and bug boxes to help sustainability and biodiversity in our unique world. Through these actions and activities, they understand the importance of eliciting change and do this through our strong Pupil Council and peer mentoring schemes.
For many, duty has become an old-fashioned term. But like our Queen, we believe that it is as important as ever. Through duty, our pupils understand responsibility and accountability and develop the desire to improve our society. They understand the importance of ‘we’ over ‘I’ and why community and family are so important, especially after the last couple of years.
Want to find out more about our school, the different school years, our admissions and more? Please contact us on 02920 482 854. Remember, always be the best you can be.