SMSC

Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development at East Bierley

At East Bierley Primary School, we recognise that a child’s personal development plays an important role in their ability to learn and achieve both now and later in life. To achieve this, we aim to provide opportunities to enable children to explore and develop, fully preparing them for their role in society with a true understanding of citizenship.

Our school core values of respect, friendship, forgiveness, trust and courage are embedded in all we do and are an integral part of the curriculum we offer to everyone at East Bierley. All the members of our school community work together to ensure that children experience and develop a caring attitude, high standards of behaviour, an understanding of social and cultural traditions, and of diversity as well as a spiritual awareness.

'Pupils say they love RE because the staff know a lot and make it fun and they can be creative. As a result of this the pupils have a good knowledge of the Bible and use this knowledge when  considering big questions such as how and why the candle represents God and Jesus. Expectations in RE are challenging, pupils develop religious and theological literacy, critical analysis and interpretation in their engagement with key religious and philosophical concepts across a range of religions and worldviews.' SIAMS inspection report 2019

Social development refers to children’s understanding of their role in society and the opportunity to develop the skills that will facilitate positive interactions and relationships within the local community. We foster this through collaborative working within classes, across year groups, our school teams, links with Church and our local schools. Our school council develops an understanding of democracy and individual liberty through a whole school vote. Through developing the skills and attitudes to our core values and curriculum, the children demonstrate qualities valued in society, within school and beyond, and their attitudes will contribute positively to life in modern Britain. Our children understand their responsibilities and how the choices they make impact on others.  Children undertake roles as reading ambassadors and play leaders to help develop and enrich their understanding of the roles they have to fulfil in society.

Moral development is about the ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong and to apply this to their own life. We support these developments through our English and PSHCE curriculum where we explore emotions and the way they impact on others. We provide a clear moral code of behaviour, which is shaped by the children, and modelled by everyone in school. It is promoted consistently through our school rights and responsibilities, class rules, anti-bullying learning, online safety learning and collective worship. Children are given opportunities to explore rights and responsibilities and we reward good behaviour in school with our yellow certificates and small cards home. Our school ethos and collective worship are central in this. We respond to real-life situations and concerns in order to develop an appropriate curriculum, for our children, with real context.

Spiritual development is embedded in our core values and in both our RE curriculum and the wider curriculum. Our children reflect on  their own beliefs and on their experiences. They share a sense of wonderment and enjoyment in the learning about the world we live in. We promote teaching styles which value children’s questions and gives them space for the own thoughts, ideas and concerns so they can learn from religion and the curriculum and make connections between their learning and the context of their own lives. We encourage respect for others; their feelings, faiths and values. Our World Faith Week was a great example of how we learn from faith.  We use reflection to help develop Spirituality.

Cultural development refers to a child's understanding of beliefs, values and customs in the own and others’ social, ethnic and national groups. As a school, this aspect is firmly embedded in our curriculum and wider relationships. We provide opportunities for children to explore through community events, world faith week, our rich and creative RE curriculum and through our wider school curriculum. Our One World Week enables a deep focus on culture in different parts of the world. Our children enjoy RE and show a real connection with their learning, regardless of faith.  We learn about all the major faiths and look closely at the links between them to learn about the similarities that link us all.

The drawing together of our values and SMSC is shown by our children through their actions.