SPIRITUAL, MORAL, SOCIAL, CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (SMSC)
At the heart of our school is our motto, ‘Life is what you make it’, and therefore it is essential that as a school community we ensure that every child entrusted to us develops in every way possible. Every aspect of our school life, curricular and non-curricular, has a role to play in this development, especially in the areas of SMSC development. Naturally, within the curriculum there are those departments that make a more explicit and defined contribution to students’ SMSC, though all make a valuable contribution to the development of the whole child.
Spiritual Development is about the development of a pupil’s ‘spirit’. Some people may call it
the development of a pupil’s ‘soul’; others as the development of ‘personality’ or ‘character’.
Moral development is about the building, by pupils, of a framework of moral values which
regulates their personal behaviour. It is also about the development of pupils’ understanding of society’s shared and agreed values. It is about understanding that there are issues where there is disagreement and it is also about understanding that society’s values change. It is about gaining an understanding of the range of views and the reasons
for the range. It is also about developing an opinion about the different views.
Social development is about young people working effectively with each other and participating successfully in the community as a whole. It is about the development of the skills and personal qualities necessary for living and working together.
It is about functioning effectively in a multi-racial, multi-cultural society. It involves growth in knowledge and understanding of society in all its aspects. This includes understanding people as well as understanding society’s institutions, structures and characteristics, economic and political principles and organisations, roles and responsibilities and life as a citizen, parent or worker in a community. It also involves the development of the inter-personal skills necessary for successful relationships.
Furthermore, we support the Prevent Strategy, which defines fundamental British values as:-
Democracy
The rule of law
Individual liberty
Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
Cultural Development is about pupils’ understanding their own culture and other cultures in
their town, region and in the country as a whole. We recognise the multi-cultural, multi-faith nature of the United Kingdom and understand the crucial role our school plays in promoting these values.
It is about understanding cultures represented in Europe and elsewhere in the world. It is
about understanding and feeling comfortable in a variety of cultures and being able to
operate in the emerging world culture of shared experiences provided by television, travel
and the internet. It is about understanding that cultures are always changing and coping with change. Promoting pupils’ cultural development is intimately linked with schools’ attempts to value cultural diversity and prevent racism.
Our aims as a school are to build cultural capital through our curriculum, the school offers all of our student’s rich opportunities to appreciate and understand a range of cultural experiences. We can evidence a wide diversity of activities to support this claim: tours, trips, productions, clubs, Student Council and Student Voice. We might also mention how Pupil Premium funding has enabled students across the school to experience widening aspirations and participation in enriched educational opportunities.
