What is SMSC?
SMSC stands for Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development. It can be seen across school activities and draws together many of the areas of personal development.
SMSC at Cockton Hill Junior School:
At CHJS, we promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs through our provision of SMSC.
Through our provision of SMSC, we:
- enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
- enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
- encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
- enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;
- further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
- encourage respect for other people; and
- encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.
Our school will help all children to develop an inner discipline and will encourage children to not just ‘follow the crowd’ – they will make up their own minds and be ready to accept responsibility for what they do. They will grow through making choices and holding to the choices that they have made. It is hoped that they will want to be honest with themselves and with others. Use of restorative questioning will help children to reflect on decisions made and the impact of actions on themselves and others.
Throughout school life, we actively plan opportunities to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and the fundamental British Values are an integral part of this. A vast majority will be delivered through cross curricular activities as well as specific PSHE, RE and activities in our weekly ‘We Believe’ allocated time. Our curriculum is one which is engaging and develops a range of skills and our ethos encompasses these values throughout school life.
We use a range of resources such as Go Givers and promote awareness days in our weekly ‘We Believe’ time and assemblies. We develop continuous provision to nurture the children in our school and offer many opportunities to promote safe discussion based around SMSC qualities and British Values (for example, Interfaith Week, Fairtrade work, Shoe Box appeal, Christmas Jumper day, carol singing at residential homes, anti-bulling week tasks, Jeans for Genes fundraising, Children in Need day are just a few examples)
