What are British Values?

At Oak Tree, we believe that British values have to be arrived at through mutual exploration and understanding.

The main areas of British values, as set out by the DfE are:

• democracy; 
• the rule of law; 
• individual liberty; 
• mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith

At Oak Tree, we teach SMSC through our rich, varied and holistic curriculum, which also includes discrete PSHE/Circle Time sessions as well.

In its press release on 27 November 2014, the Department for Education asked all schools to promote 'British values' and produced advice for doing so through SMSC. 

We believe in providing our pupils with a well-rounded, holistic and progressive curriculum that teaches our children how to be 'the best that they can be', both in school and in their life after Oak Tree.

What do we teach?

At Oak Tree we:

• enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence
• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England
• encourage students 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 students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England
• develop further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation for 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.

We do this through a wide range of activities and practices such as: assemblies, Circle Time sessions, taught lessons, cross-curricular methods and through our Oak Tree values.

Equality Objectives

At Oak Tree, we have a set of equality objectives which we review on an annual basis. Currently, our objectives are to:

• continue to promote tolerance and acceptance across our wider community;
• challenge stereotypes in attitudes towards: gender, race, sexual orientation, culture, appearance/disabilities, beliefs, socio-economic status;
• ensure that our children have a broad and varied curriculum diet which enhances learning around SMSC values;
• monitor and analyse pupil achievement by race, gender and disability, acting on any trends identified in which children require additional support.