At Colchester High School our aim is to prepare our children to become happy, confident, independent, engaged, responsible, law-abiding contributors to society.
This means giving them an appreciation for the values that bind British society together: democracy; the rule of law; individual liberty; and mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs.
We do this by weaving those values into the life of the school – our curriculum, our clubs, our rules, our rewards system, our positions of responsibility and simply the way we conduct ourselves.
That might mean asking children in our Nursery to make a choice by a simple show of hands; giving our Lower School pupils a voice on the School Council; or organising a mock election in the Senior School.
It might mean having a tidying up rule that all our nursery children have to follow; giving our Junior School boys and girls a code of conduct and a system of rewards and sanctions; or teaching our older pupils about the separation of power between the executive and the judiciary.
It could involve encouraging all of our children to make choices as individuals, and giving them a wealth of extracurricular activities so that they have the freedom to explore their own particular sense of identity.
And it might mean showing our youngest children how to share, listen and cooperate; using the curriculum and assemblies further up the school to explore and celebrate religious festivals and cultural events; or drumming home the message of mutual respect at the heart of the school motto: ‘God first, others second, self last’.
These fundamental British values matter at Colchester High School. We expect our children not only to live by them but to promote them – challenging any behaviour that doesn’t meet these standards. It’s what we stand for.