Promoting British Values

We actively promote values such as “mutual understanding and respect” and equality between girls and boys, promote values of democracy, respect and tolerance for all races, cultures, faiths and beliefs. This is lived out in the programmes of School Assemblies, Religious Education, English, Geography, History and Personal Development Curriculum.

The following British Values are covered in the curriculum.

• Democracy
• Rules of Law
• Individual Liberty
• Respect
• Tolerance

These values are also covered through Personal Development (PD), assemblies and curriculum provision to:

• enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
• enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;
• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
• encourage respect for other people; and
• encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

Students learn about the development of the political system of democratic government in the UK, including the roles of citizens, Parliament and the monarch. They are taught about voting and elections, the role of political parties and the freedoms and liberties enjoyed by the citizens of the U K such as free speech, free movement and free assembly and worship. Students have leadership opportunities through our senior student programme.
Through our Religious Education and Citizenship programmes, students are taught how citizens work together to improve communities. This is put into practice when they become active citizens by fundraising for charities.

Assemblies aim to teach our students to have belief in freedom, and a tolerance of others. In the Religious Education programme, students study other faiths and learn empathy, tolerance and understanding of people from different faith backgrounds.

Interwoven throughout the whole taught Curriculum and the school’s pastoral programme, students are expected to accept personal and social responsibility, respecting and upholding the school rules and the rule of law.

In our school community we encourage our students to show a responsibility to each other and adults in the way they behave in school and on their way to and from school.

The list below describes the understanding and knowledge expected of our students as a result of promoting fundamental British values:

• an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process;
• an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety;
• an understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence;
• an understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law;
• an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour;
• an understanding of the importance of identifying and combating discrimination.

We are a diverse school and we encourage respect for religious, cultural and moral values. The school promotes equal opportunities for all and systems are in place that counter racism, sexism and all other forms of discrimination whenever they occur.