British Values

BRITISH VALUES

At Altwood Church of England School we aim to ensure that students experience a well-rounded journey, ensuring that they embrace a programme that is enriched with a range of topics, preparing them for adult life. Part of our role in that preparation is ensuring that we promote and reinforce British values to our students.

Students look at tolerance, mutual respect, democracy and liberty. They investigate roles and responsibilities of individuals, groups and communities, duties and freedoms including topics such as law and justice. Our PSHCE, RSE and tutor programmes challenge students and create a healthy debate, encouraging respect between all. They explore values that we share as citizens of the UK and challenge prejudice, discrimination and extremism in its many different forms.

The core values will be celebrated in assemblies, in tutor time and in the wider curriculum. For example, our humanities curriculum ensures that students understand Britain’s role in shaping world history, and through their study develop an understanding that Britain did not always promote democracy, tolerance and mutual respect through the study of the British empire and the slave trade. Students can use this knowledge to develop a deeper appreciation of these modern British values and how different beliefs and practices of the six major religions can promote these principles. We promote tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs through key moments in history such as the Holocaust, which serve as an important reminder of the dangers of not accepting diversity. We will explore key British values by studying moral and ethical issues such as abortion, euthanasia and genetic engineering, which encourages our students to show tolerance and respect to all belief systems that we encounter in our ever changing, multicultural society.

Our school is enriched by the many faiths in our community supported by our inclusive Religious Education curriculum that teaches students about the beliefs and practices of major religious groups and examine the shared British values that religion promotes. Furthermore, our RE curriculum encourages our students to show tolerance and respect to all belief systems that we encounter in our ever changing, multicultural society.

We are proud to ensure students are critical, active citizens who will use their knowledge from their programme in school to make the right choices when they leave, to be excellent role models for others and to uphold the true British values.