How to integrate school values throughout your school

Why are school values important?

School values are so important as they help set a strong foundation for the mindset of our children. Moreover they can help set the right attitudes for behaviour both in school and beyond. Children are extremely impressionable. From the moment they are born their little brains act like sponges, absorbing what they see and hear from the world around them. Both parents and educators have a responsibility to ensure their influence is a positive one.

Educators are tasked with helping children see that values are not only an important part of their education but also for their overall development as an individual. Fundamentally, teaching core values can help children understand right from wrong, with the aim of helping them grow to become caring, confident and respectful adults. Therefore, you can see why school values play such an important role. With this in mind, schools should strive to have their values and ethos evident in all that they do and throughout the school environment.

Values and the school environment

The school environment can become a key tool to support educators with this task. After all, its where children spend the majority of their time. By incorporating the values into a child’s surroundings, it will ensure they remain at the forefront of their minds.

By fostering an environment where core values are a focal point, it enables students to logically grapple with moral decisions. Furthermore, it even encourages healthy brain development and growth.

How can school values be integrated into school life?

Trigger have created a range of infographics for school to visually communicate their vision and values. Each set of infographics we create is unique to each school, centred around their unique values and ethos. The infographics can then be printed as posters and displayed throughout the school building:

Wall Graphics

You can integrate school values into your environment with the use of wall art. This can be particularly effective when incorporated into school entrance areas because this maximises visiblity. For example, here the school’s ‘building blocks’ have been incorporated into graphic leaves to tie-in with the schools logo and branding.

Website

Another great way to display your values is on your schools website. A website is a great way to communicate your values to both prospective and current parents, as in this example at Moss Valley Primary Academy.

Badges

Values are also often used as award badges, so that any pupils demonstrating the school values can be rewarded with a keepsake. This is another great idea to integrate school values and keep them at the forefront of pupils minds.