British Values

In support of the Department for Education (DofE) document: Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in schools, Departmental advice for maintained schools, November 2014.

The DofE states that there is a need:

“To create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs”.

What is meant by British Values?

Learning about British values forms a key part of children’s spiritual, moral, cultural and social education. The five British values that the Government has identified for schools to focus on are:

Democracy
The rule of law
Individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
Developing personal and social responsibility
Respect for British Institutions

Challock Primary School value the diversity and backgrounds of all of our pupils, families and the wider school community. We strongly believe in upholding British values through all aspects of school life. Challock Primary School reflects British values in all that we do. We aim to prepare our pupils for their lives after primary school, we nurture them on their journey through life so they can grow into safe, caring, democratic, responsible and tolerant adults.

Our CARE ethos and values reflect the key ‘British Values’:

C Confident Individuals

A Active & Aspirational Learners

R Responsible Citizens

E Effective Team Members

These values are embedded into our class teaching and each term the children will also work on developing the following skills:

Respect, Honesty, Resilience, Co-operation, Responsibility, Independence.

Our aim is for our ‘Challock Stars’ to go onto make a positive difference to their communities, to British society and to the wider world.

How can Challock Primary School help our pupils develop into future citizens?

Develop their self-confidence and self esteem.
Develop their understanding of right and wrong, and their respect for the law.
Encourage them to take responsibility for their behaviour.
Encourage involvement in the community and wider society.
Encourage respect for the public services and institutions of Britain.
Promote tolerance of and respect for all cultures and faiths.
Encourage participation in the democratic process.

How does Challock Primary School develop our children’s understanding of British Values?

We uphold the British value of Democracy by:

facilitating a democratic process for electing our Pupil Parliament and the running of the meetings. We currently have ministers for the Environment, Health & Safety, Diversity & Inclusion, Sport, Wellbeing, Education and Culture.
teaching about the democratic process in Britain, at both a local and national level. We teach about community groups and how children can participate in these and make changes to the world around them.
taking turns in class, at dinner time and in after school clubs.

We uphold the British value of the Rule of Law by:

implementing our class charters which have clear and agreed statements, and ensuring that the children know their own rights and respect the rights of others.
teaching children to learn about the process of law-making and the part that citizens can play in that process.
implementing our procedures and protocols for dealing with any behavioural issues in school (positive behaviour policy & 100% events) which demonstrates to pupils that we take these issues very seriously; mirroring the attitudes of British society.

We uphold the British value of individual liberty and work to identify and combat discrimination by:

teaching an understanding of the concept of freedom and choice.
teaching our RE curriculum, which inculcates values of understanding, tolerance and respect for others, including those of other faiths.
providing our extra-curricular provision, which offers equal opportunities for all children, boys and girls, and children with Special Educational Needs in sport and other areas.
holding discussions in RE, English and other subjects, which allow children to develop respect for the opinions, values and beliefs of others.

We uphold the British value of developing personal and social responsibility by:

expecting children to responsibility in many ways in school including being playground buddies and lunchtime table supervisors.
expecting children to take responsibility in every class for a variety of roles which assist in the running of the classroom.
encouraging children to have responsibility for their own possessions, behaviour and work, both at school and at home and to always do their personal best in all aspects of school life.
delivering information about keeping safe on the internet to all our children and holding information sessions for parents about this such as our ‘Safer Internet’ assemblies in February.

We uphold the British value of respect for British Institutions by:

celebrating many British festivals and special events, e.g. Remembrance Day, Bonfire Night, Christmas, Easter, World Book Day, Children in Need, Red-nose day etc.
Our class names are ‘British Heros’; Windsor, Nightingale, Potter, Attenborough, Holmes, Brunel and Darwin encourage our pupils to know about amazing British Citizens and what they have contributed to the wider world.
Our celebrations connected to the Royal Family such as the Royal Wedding, our School ‘Snow Dog’, Windsor and our upcoming Platinum Jubilee events.
regularly inviting representatives from various groups from charities and the local church to visit our school and talk to the children in both lessons and assemblies.
teaching about the structure and work of Parliament, keeping children informed of major and minor events which can be discussed.

In all our provision, both academic and otherwise, we endeavour for our school community to develop an understanding of British Values and a strong desire to uphold them both now and as future British citizens.