British Values

Thornaby Church of England School has Christian values at its core. We promote faith, love, hope, tolerance, forgiveness, service, responsibility, trust, justice, compassion, respect, truthfulness, generosity, courage, friendship, thankfulness and perseverance. Together with these we promote and uphold the British values of Democracy, the rule of law and individual liberty. 

An understanding of democracy is developed through the election of our School Council. At the beginning of each school year pupils wishing to stand for school council make a speech to their class. Each class then votes by secret ballot in the same way as at a parliamentary election. The school council once formed meets every fortnight to discuss issues and they are consulted re ideas for school improvement and fundraising/events with the wider community.

An understanding of the rule of law is developed through class discussions around the rights and responsibilities of pupils. This informs behaviour and relationships in school. Class Golden Rules are decided at the beginning of each school year and these are central to our behaviour policy.

An understanding of civil liberty (freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, freedom of association and freedom of religious worship) is developed through pupil voice, pupil choice and pupil influence in the curriculum and in all aspects of school life.

An understanding of respect and tolerance is developed through our church school ethos, our mission statement and our responsibilities. Respect and tolerance are discussed at depth within Collective Worship, class reflection times, PSHCE and discussion sessions.

In addition to this these British values are incorporated into many of our cross curricular themes throughout school ranging from ‘Is there a hero in you?’ and ‘The good, the bad and the downright difficult’ in the Early Years to ‘Revolution’ and ‘A child’s War’ in UKS2.

Click here for more information about British Values.