Promoting Fundamental British Values.
In accordance with The Department for Education we aim to actively promote British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance and understand that while different people may hold different views about what is "right" and "wrong", all people living in England are subject to its law.
EWPA has an obligation under section 78 of the Education Act (2002) which requires all schools, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, to promote the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development of children at our school.
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 Prevent Strategy and the Prime Minister has reiterated these this year.
The British Values are defined as:
Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terorist or extremist causes. Schools have a duty to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from other dangers. Importantly, we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues so they better understand how to protect themselves.
Much of our strategy is delivered through our teaching and our ethos and values. We have a duty to address any concerns that are identified.
At EWPA we are committed to actively promoting British values and this forms part of our wider work in 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 staff and children 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 children, parents, staff, governors and the wider community. These values are integral to our school vision and ethos, they are reinforced regularly in a variety of ways. We encourage our children to be creative, unique, open-minded and independent individuals, respectful of themselves and of others in our school, our local community and the wider world. We aim to nurture our children on their journey through life so they can grow into safe, caring, democratic, responsible and tolerant adults who make a positive difference to British Society and to the world.
Aims and objectives:
At EWPA we aim to:
*enable children to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence
*enable children to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England
*encourage children to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initative and understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality in which the school is situated and to society more widely
*enable children to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England
*promote tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling children to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and others cultures
*encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010
*encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic process, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England
*while they are in attendance at the school
*while they are taking part in extra curricular activities which are provided or organised by or on behalf of the school
*in the promotion at the school, including through the distribution of promotional material, of extra curricular activities taking place at the school or elsewhere.
Roles and responsibilities
The Governors and staff at EWPA will: