Herstmonceux British Values
Herstmonceux Church of England Primary School has an obligation under section 78 of the Education Act (2002) to promote the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development of pupils at the school, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
In June 2014, the Secretary of State for Education announced that schools would be required to actively promote British values from September 2014.
The DfE have recently reinforced the need to:
“Create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values.”
The government originally set out its definition of British values in their 2011 Prevent Strategy and the Prime Minister has reiterated these this year.
The British Values are defined as:
- Democracy
- The rule of law
- Individual liberty
- Mutual respect
- Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
At our school, we are committed to actively promoting British values and this forms part of our wider work in a school with children in relation to their Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education (SMSC). At the heart of these values, lie good relationships in which teachers and pupils work together towards common goals. Much work was already in place to support and embed these values and it is our aim to ensure we effectively share this with pupils, staff, governors and the wider community. These values are integral to our school vision and ethos and are reinforced regularly in a variety of ways.
For full information on how we strive to promote British Values please see our Promoting British Values Policy.
In addition to promoting British Values, the school also has a statutory duty to safeguard our children from potential risks of extremism and radicalisation. This is known as the ‘Prevent Duty’. For a summary of this please see our leaflet for parents: Prevent Leaflet or for full information please see our full Preventing Extremism Policy.
The school’s values of wisdom, peace, community, dignity, hope and joy drive the
school. For example, the religious education (RE) curriculum focuses on a different
value each term. This gives purpose and relevance to what is learned. Pupils model
these values well. This creates a school where pupils are reflective and behave well. - Ofsted 2022