British Values

As an early years provider we have a duty to actively promote the Fundamental British Values. These values are implicitly embedded within the EYFS so we don’t necessarily plan activities to teach these values as they happen naturally throughout the day in our setting.

The four British Values are:-

DEMOCRACY
Democracy is where we make decisions together. Like many of the other British Values, it’s also about making sure that everyone has equal rights and is treated equally. Each child’s view matters and it’s important they are given the opportunity to share and collaborate to make decisions together.

RULE OF LAW
The Rule of Law is about understanding that rules matter in our society. And that’s about understanding that there are some rules that we need to follow. At an earlier level, it’s more about understanding cause and effect and that our actions have consequences. This also ties into distinguishing between right and wrong.

INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY
Individual Liberty focuses on freedom for everyone. The main point developmentally is to give children a positive sense of themselves. Promoting their self-confidence and self-awareness is really important, as well as giving them the language and context to understand their own emotions.

MUTUAL RESPECT AND TOLERANCE
This one comes down to the oldest saying in the book. Treat others as you’d like to be treated too. Our environment encourages tolerance of all faiths, cultures, races and views, along with an understanding of our differences and similarities.

We teach these values by using our dragon cards - Deano Democracy, Ruby Rule, Lenny Liberty, Toby Tolerance and Colin Consequence. We have these pictures around the setting and talk about our rules each day which are - being kind and respectful, listening to each other, saying please and thank you, tidying up, sharing and taking turns, helping others, having kind hands and feet and looking after our toys and books.
We also use a feelings board to help children to understand different emotions.
These are values we want children to develop naturally to help them become confident, independent, and resilient young people, ready for life in the modern world, not just Britain.