SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education)
The fundamental role of our work is to impart in our children their value, worth and uniqueness as children of God. They were created to be great and through their time and shared experiences at St John’s, we will work to make sure that they have every opportunity to achieve that greatness.
Through assemblies, opportunities for collective worship, relationships, pupil voice, themed weeks and community/parish events we will promote and support values important to us such as tolerance and respect, personal freedom and liberty, equality of opportunity and democracy. By following Christ's example of loving one another and promoting forgiveness and fairness, we work hard daily to ensure that this is the experience of anybody who visits our school.
Our School Mission Statement
We follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
At St John the Evangelist Catholic Primary School we uphold and teach pupils about British Values and SMSC through our Curriculum.
The Government has set out its definition of British values as:
Democracy
The Rule of Law
Individual Liberty
Mutual Respect
Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
British Values are central to the Gospel values of our school, ethos and mission. As a school we recognise we have a duty to prepare our children for life in modern Britain and to keep them safe. We reinforce British values regularly and in the following ways:
Democracy
We actively promote and model democracy by:
- Providing our children with a broad knowledge of and promoting respect for public institutions and services e.g. visits to/from Police, Hospitals, Fire Service , visits to town hall, debates.
- Encouraging pupils to become involved in ,and influence the decision making processes and ensuring they are listened to in school e.g. School council, Weekly base/class meetings, liaison between staff and pupils.
- Teaching children how public services operate and how they are held to account.
- Modelling how perceived injustice can be peacefully challenged eg. by teaching about inspirational figures such as Mandela, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King.
Rule of Law
We actively promote and model the rule of law by:
- Ensuring school rules are clear and fair and by having a consistent Behaviour Management policy that is linked to restorative justice e.g. that is based in the Christian value of forgiveness.
- Helping children to distinguish right from wrong e.g. by using the example of Christ when dealing with behaviour that is not acceptable.
- Promoting respect for the law and the basis on which it is made eg. through visitors such as PCSOs, Police, into school.
- Helping children to understand that living under the rule of law protects individuals eg through our RE curriculum, through focus weeks, visitors.
Individual Liberty
We actively promote and model individual liberty by:
- Supporting pupils to develop their self-awareness, self-esteem and self-confidence eg. through our Catholic ethos, our way of treating people, by investing heavily in meeting the needs of all of the children, by providing equality of opportunity, by knowing and understanding the needs of all of the children.
- Encouraging pupils to take responsibility for their behaviour as well as knowing their rights e.g. through linking rights with responsibilities, by having a fair and consistent Behaviour Management policy.
- Challenging stereotypes e.g. visitors into school, disability awareness, anti bullying and anti racism learning.
- Implementing a strong anti bullying culture.
Respect and Tolerance
We actively promote and model respect and tolerance by:
- Promoting respect for individual differences e.g. through assemblies and masses, the RE curriculum, our Ethos Statements, multifaith weeks, through our Catholic ethos.
- Helping children to acquire an understanding of and respect for their own and other cultures and ways of life e.g. through Geography, International Links, Religious Education, Multicultural and multifaith weeks.
- Discussing and investigating different places of worship.
- Openly discussing and celebrating the differences between people such as differences of faith, ethnicity, disability, gender and different family situations such as looked after children, young carers.
We are confident that the focus on the Gospel Values of our school gives our pupils the necessary awareness of what it means to be a good citizen in Britain today, and embed in them the building blocks of a future successful and productive life.
smsc progression of knowledge and skills.pdf