At St Matthew’s Primary School, we develop and promote British Values throughout our school and within our curriculum. A key part of our plan for education is to ensure children become valuable and fully-rounded members of society who treat others with respect and leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain.
WHAT ARE BRITISH VALUES?
In 2014, the Department for Education published guidance on promoting British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain.
All schools have a duty to ‘actively 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.
To do this our children will develop;
- An understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
- An understanding that the freedom to hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law
- An acceptance that people having different faiths and beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of discriminatory behaviour
- An understanding of the importance or identifying and combating discrimination
The aims of the school clearly reflect these values, and the whole school strives to uphold them.
As a school, we value and celebrate the diverse backgrounds of everybody at St Matthew’s. Alongside this, we value and celebrate being part of Britain. In general terms, this means that we celebrate traditions and customs in the course of the year; for example, harvest during the Autumn term and pantomimes at Christmas. We also value and celebrate national focuses, recent examples being; Macmillan Cake Sales, World Book Day, Chinese New Year and Safer Internet Day, with many more opportunities planned in throughout the year to collaborate with the wider community and world e.g. Children In Need and Red Nose Day.