Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development and British Values at Ravenswood

SMSC development and British Values pervade everything that we do at Ravenswood. We are lucky to have huge diversity across our school and are a welcoming and supportive community.

Our vision of Relationships Promoting Success identifies that it is the relationships in our school that help us to learn together and so achieve success.

Our school ethos identifies many aspects of SMSC, in particular ‘to provide a welcoming, friendly atmosphere, where pupils value themselves and others’ and ‘to develop high self-esteem and self-confidence through consideration and respect for the feelings and rights of others’.

We do not ‘teach’ SMSC as a lesson in school, as it is covered in everything that we do. Helping our pupils to understand their SMSC development with specific regard to living in Britain allows us to understand and promote British Values.

Here we give some examples of how children at Ravenswood develop their Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural understanding and below we give you the government’s definition of each element. As you will see, it is almost impossible to split elements of SMSC and we do this simply to illustrate some of the ways in which address this development.

Spiritual

This includes reflecting on religious beliefs, which are covered in RE lessons, but is mainly about exploring the concept of belief and learning about the amazing world which we all live in. It is about celebrating our world and the people in it and understanding that our imaginations can open up new worlds in which we can be free creatively. Through Topics we take every opportunity to allow pupils to explore our world and their imagination.

Ofsted definition of 'spiritual development'

Pupils’ spiritual development is shown by their:

• ability to be reflective about their own beliefs, religious or otherwise, that inform their perspective on life and their interest in and respect for different people’s faiths, feelings and values
• sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them
• use of imagination and creativity in their learning willingness to reflect on their experiences.

Moral

This development concentrates on pupils’ willingness to address their own behaviour and the consequences of it. From Nursery, we help children to understand that rules are there to help us all and involve all pupils in establishing classroom rules. As children get older, we discuss law making and government and link this to the democratic process that is used to elect our School Council.

Ofsted definition of 'moral development'

Pupils’ moral development is shown by their:

• ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong and to readily apply this understanding in their own lives, recognise legal boundaries and, in so doing, respect the civil and criminal law of England
• understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions
• interest in investigating and offering reasoned views about moral and ethical issues and ability to understand and appreciate the viewpoints of others on these issues.

Social

In our large primary school, children get lots of opportunities to cooperate with children from diverse backgrounds. As part of the Ouseburn Learning Trust, they get to work and play with children in cross-Trust academic activities and sporting and arts events. They participate in many charitable events and learn about the needs of these charities.

Ofsted definition of 'social development'

Pupils’ social development is shown by their:

• use of a range of social skills in different contexts, for example working and socialising with other pupils, including those from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds
• willingness to participate in a variety of communities and social settings, including by volunteering, cooperating well with others and being able to resolve conflicts effectively
• acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs; they develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain.

Cultural

In both curricular and extra-curricular activities, children experience a wide range of artistic and sporting opportunities. We welcome new children from other cultures and use their experiences to compare and contrast with our own. We celebrate cultural differences through our broad and balanced curriculum and always promote tolerance. In PSHE we learn about Britain’s parliamentary system and use a similar democratic voting system to elect our school council members.

Ofsted definition of 'cultural development'

Pupils’ cultural development is shown by their:

• understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and those of others
• understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures within school and further afield as an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain
• knowledge of Britain’s democratic parliamentary system and its central role in shaping our history and values, and in continuing to develop Britain
• willingness to participate in and respond positively to artistic, musical, sporting and cultural opportunities
• interest in exploring, improving understanding of and showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity and the extent to which they understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity, as shown by their tolerance and attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.

British values

These are covered in the above development areas.

Ofsted definition of fundamental British values are:

• Democracy
• The rule of law
• Individual liberty
• Mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith

Our school ethos identifies many aspects of SMSC, in particular ‘to provide a welcoming, friendly atmosphere, where pupils value themselves and others’ and ‘to develop high self-esteem and self-confidence through consideration and respect for the feelings and rights of others’.

We do not ‘teach’ SMSC as a lesson in school, as it is covered in everything that we do. Helping our pupils to understand their SMSC development with specific regard to living in Britain allows us to understand and promote British Values.

Here we give some examples of how children at Ravenswood develop their Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural understanding and the government’s definition of each element. As you will see, it is almost impossible to split elements of SMSC and we do this simply to illustrate some of the ways in which address this development.