Concerned that her students' understanding of and engagement with remembrance were superficial, and faced with the requirement to teach SMSC and British values, Claire McKay sought ways to make them meaningful and contextualised. In this article she explores how she and her colleagues have endeavoured to do this, through a battlefields tour, and a cross-curricular SMSC programme. McKay outlines the programme, and shares examples of lessons and outcomes for students. She analyses evidence that students were able to transfer the contextual knowledge they gained to other contexts, including GCSE history lessons, and reflects on the role of history teachers in helping students to place themselves in relation to the past.