Our British Values Lead is Mrs. Wakefield

In accordance with The Department for Education we aim to actively promote British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance and 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 key values are:

· democracy

· rule of law

· individual liberty

· respect – which is also a St Edward’s Catholic Primary School's  core value

· tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs – tied to St Edward’s Catholic Primary School's core value of ‘Love"

British Values at St Edward’s Catholic Primary School

We value the backgrounds of all our pupils and families and of the people in the wider community and our curriculum is used to celebrate these. Through lessons such as drama and role play or Personal and Social Education we develop the values of tolerance and respect for the differences in our community and the wider world. We have regular assemblies which uphold traditional values of love, respect and tolerance. Our school regularly invites CAFOD in to deliver assemblies from the developing world, we ‘blog’ about a range of subjects including the Rohinyga refugee crisis as part of our Economist club and we embrace all religions and their teaching.

As a whole school we vote for school councillors and the Head boy and girl every 6 months. This teaches us about democracy and reminds the children how valued their opinions are and how they can play an important role in decisions that are being made in the school. Our Mini Vinnie’s club vote for the charities we support and actively work together to fundraise. Over the last year the school have raised money for Macmillan, Children in Need and the local food bank.

Children, parents, staff and governors voted then agreed our own school core values: love, achieve, respect, forgiveness, kindness and trust. The children are awarded certificates for demonstrating these in our Friday celebration assembly.

We participate in many sporting events and regularly receive good sportsman comments demonstrating that we have respect for others. In 2018 St Edward’s were awarded a Gold Mark for its sporting achievements and won Swale’s “Sportsmanship” Trophy.

We love being involved in Sheerness events such as Christmas carols at Tescos, the Lantern Parade and the annual memorial service. In Year 6, pupils study World War II and the impact that the military had in fighting for the British Empire. This is linked with the annual Poppy themed day celebrations where the children sell poppies to other children in the school and all take part in a minute’s silence in assembly.

We are the only primary school to have never missed a visit to the Dementia Café meeting elderly residents and singing and entertaining them.

We also like to celebrate important events such as the 2018 Royal Wedding where we hosted a ‘street/playground party’ and invited parents in for a picnic as well as the World Cup. We also celebrate and learn about the patron saints and class name saints.