British Values

British Values at Aldercar Infant and Nursery School

At Aldercar Infant and Nursery School every child is encouraged to be an individual, who makes the right choices, based upon understanding of, and empathy for others. They understand their place in society, at an age appropriate level and become positive and active members of our school and wider community. Every child is an Aldercar Star and they carry this star in their heart wherever they go.

The DfE have reinforced the need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”

The government set out its definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy, and these values underpin everything we do at our school. Our latest Ofsted report highlighted how our “school promotes a ‘respect curriculum’ that openly discusses and celebrates everyone’s uniqueness and difference. This encourages pupils to think very carefully about how they behave to others and about others’ beliefs and ways of living.”

 Democracy:

The principle of democracy is deeply embedded within our curriculum and in our daily routines and actions. Children are encouraged to be active and responsible members of the school community. They take on roles within the school to play an active part in decisions and they have the right, and responsibility, to express their thoughts and ideas, influencing change within the school.

 The Rule of Law:

The importance of Laws are reinforced throughout the day and children are actively involved in agreeing the rules that they adhere to in their classrooms and around school. Each class makes a “promise” and sign up to this. This is modeled by all the adults in school and is positively reinforced by parents and carers, who join us weekly to celebrate the achievements of everyone at our Gold Book Assembly.

Individual Liberty:

Every child is respected as an individual and is supported to make sensible choices in a safe and supportive environment. They are encouraged to take risks and stretch themselves to achieve the best they can.  This was acknowledged by Ofsted when they noted; “Pupils’ behaviour in lessons is never less than good and more often it is exemplary. They speak proudly about their work and their school and say that everyone is kind to them.” Children rise to the challenge and understand their place as an individual in an orderly community, making the right choices.

Mutual Respect:

R Time is embedded from nursery to year 2 and is grounded in mutual respect for everyone. This encourages children ; interact with each other, how to respond to other people’s ideas, interests and opinions. Other policies such as Anti-Bullying and Equality all reinforce the principles of mutual respect which are at the heart of our school.  We actively tackle all types of bullying and discriminatory language, including online bullying and prejudice based bullying related to special educational need, disability, gender, gender reassignment, race, religion and belief, or sexual orientation. Throughout their time at our school children are taught to understand that everyone is equally valued and that everyone has the potential to achieve highly.

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs:

It is extremely important that children understand their place in a culturally diverse society and that they appreciate different beliefs and faiths. This is taught through RE, topic work and experiential learning opportunities children are encouraged to recognise the things we have in common whilst learning to respect the differences that exist .The children play an active part in, and contribute to the local church events to develop an understanding of Christianity and it’s place in our community. 

To find out more about our RTime programme, please click on the link