British Values

At Courthouse, we teacher children about the British values:

democracy,
the rule of law,
individual liberty, and
mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

This ensures we are meeting the requirements of Section 78 of the Education Act 2002 in our provision of Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) guidance.

Actively promoting these values means challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values. Attempts to promote systems that undermine fundamental British values would be completely at odds with our duty to provide SMSC. The Teachers’ Standards expect teachers to uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside our school. This includes not undermining fundamental British values.

Through our provision of SMSC, we:

enable pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
enable pupils to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
encourage pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
enable pupils to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;
further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling pupils to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
encourage respect for other people and
encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

The list below describes the understanding and knowledge we help our children gradually develop as a result of our school promoting fundamental British values.

An understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
An appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their well-being and safety
An understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies, such as the police and the army, can be held to account through Parliament, others, such as the courts, maintain independence
An understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law
An acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour
An understanding of the importance of identifying and combating discrimination.

It is recognised that it is not necessary for schools or individuals to ‘promote’ teachings, beliefs or opinions that conflict with their own, but nor is it acceptable for schools to promote discrimination against people or groups on the basis of their belief, opinion or background and such behaviour would not be tolerated at Courthouse.