SMSC
Intent
At St. Mary’s, SMSC prepares children and young people to live full active lives as part of their community and into adulthood. SMSC helps pupils fulfil their potential and appreciate others whilst doing so. It helps with developing the non-material aspects of life, focusing on personal insight, values, meaning and purpose. Creativity and imagination are given great importance, and a sense of fascination, awe and wonder are engendered. SMSC allows pupils to explore choices, behaviour and how you live your life. It educates children on how to respect personal and societal values, understanding the reasons for them and how to, in a non-confrontational way, air and understand disagreements. Pupils learn how to work together effectively, relate well to adults and are encouraged to participate in the local community. This encourages a significant area of personal growth. They are also taught to value cultural diversity and that challenging racism is important.
SMSC is essential for children and young people's individual development, as well as the development of society as a whole.
Implementation
How is it delivered?
SMSC is a feature of every aspect of school life at the St. Mary’s.
What this means in real terms is that:
- SMSC is promoted through our collective worship and assemblies which directly link into the weekly themes.
- SMSC is promoted through guest speakers and off-timetable lessons/days that complement the work done in the curriculum.
- SMSC is promoted through each area of the curriculum.
Impact
Spiritual development is shown by their:
- Beliefs, religious or otherwise, which inform their perspective on life and their interest in and respect for different people’s feelings and values
- Sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them, including the intangible
- Use of imagination and creativity in their learning
- Willingness to reflect on their experiences.
Moral development is shown by their:
- Ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong and their readiness to apply this understanding in their own lives
- Understanding of the consequences of their actions
- Interest in investigating, and offering reasoned views about, moral and ethical issues.
Social development is shown by their:
- Use of a range of social skills in different contexts, including working and socialising with pupils from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds
- Willingness to participate in a variety of social settings, cooperating well with others and being able to resolve conflicts effectively
- Interest in, and understanding of, the way communities and societies function at a variety of levels.
Cultural development is shown by their:
- Understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage
- Willingness to participate in, and respond to, for example, artistic, musical, sporting, mathematical, technological, scientific and cultural opportunities
- Interest in exploring, understanding of, and respect for cultural diversity and the extent to which they understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity, as shown by their attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.