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British Values

What the Government Says About British Values

All maintained schools must meet the requirements set out in section 78 of the Education Act 2002 and promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils. Through ensuring pupils’ SMSC development, schools can also demonstrate they are actively promoting fundamental British values.

Meeting requirements for collective worship, establishing a strong school ethos supported by effective relationships throughout the school, and providing relevant activities beyond the classroom are all ways of ensuring pupils’ SMSC development.

Pupils must be encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance.

It is expected that pupils should 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. The school’s ethos and teaching, which schools should make parents aware of, should support the rule of English civil and criminal law and schools should not teach anything that undermines it. If schools teach about religious law, particular care should be taken to explore the relationship between state and religious law. Pupils should be made aware of the difference between the law of the land and religious law.

At Thameside Primary, we provide opportunities for pupils to explore their own culture and have a clear understanding and appreciation of a wide range of cultural influences that have shaped modern Britain.  We encourage all children to be tolerant and respectful to those of different faiths and beliefs.

We teach the British Values in a number of different ways which are interweaved throughout the curriculum and daily school life as part of the spiritual, moral and cultural development (SMSC) of pupils. Through assemblies, lessons (specifically PSHE), school council, learning forums and our behaviour systems, British Values are continually taught and reinforced. 

We use the Opeus system to track the impact of SMSC across the school.

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