Aims

At Wistanstow Church of England Primary School, we want our pupils to be successful, confident learners and responsible citizens. We recognise the importance of both the academic and personal development and well- being of every child in our school. This includes recognising the importance of providing a range of opportunities for our pupils to respond to, that supports their spiritual, moral, social and cultural developments.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development (SMSC)
(NB whilst each dimension is outlined separately there is a great deal of overlap between the four areas).
Spiritual development:
Spiritual development enables people to look within themselves at their human relationships, at the wider world. The Spiritual development of all our children is addressed through the ethos of the school.
As a church school we include Christian Spiritual practices including, prayer, worship, celebration of festivals and reading/reflection on the Bible within Collective Worship, RE and the wider curriculum.
We are committed to:
celebrating the religious and non-religious beliefs and values that our pupils bring as part of their family/culture heritage and to building an awareness of and respect for others’ spiritual and religious beliefs
fostering common human values and building spiritual capacities to promote self-worth
self-esteem and a valuing of others
helping our pupils to come to an understanding of themselves as unique individuals and encouraging them to reflect on ultimate questions
developing our pupils’ curiosity, imagination, creativity and promoting a sense of awe and wonder.
Moral development
Moral development: knowing what is right and wrong and acting on it accordingly. We are committed to encouraging pupils to:
* be truthful and honest
* respect the rights and property of others, their opinions and customs, even when they are different from our own
* help others
* solve differences of opinion in non-violent ways
Consequently we reject all forms of bullying, cruelty, dishonesty, violence and discrimination.
Social development
Social development: developing an understanding of rights and responsibilities of living in a community of being a “responsible citizen”. We are committed to:
* fostering the skill and qualities of team building through the development of self-confidence, co-operation, sensitivity to others, reliability, initiative and understanding
* providing an environment where pupils can take responsibility for themselves and others in school and the wider society
We use the social and emotion aspects of learning (to support our pupils’ social development.
Cultural development
Cultural development: knowledge and understanding of others’ cultural traditions. We value and celebrate the cultural diversity of our school, our society and the world by:
* promoting an appreciation of our own cultural tradition/s and encouraging an appreciation of other peoples’ cultural traditions
* celebrating the richness of culture and tradition.
In the light of this we will ensure that the SMSC development of our pupils is promoted across the curriculum and in the wider life of the school by:
* providing an appropriate range of effective teaching and learning strategies that enables pupils to reflect on and respond to the issues of SMSC importance and concern
* maintain a positive climate in school in which all are valued and respected and expected to make a positive contribution
* encouraging teachers to plan for and respond to opportunities to develop SMSC development and to ensure subject leader have an understanding of SMSC education in their subject
* recognising the importance of our collective worship programme in supporting and encouraging SMSC development
* reviewing the effectiveness and impact of our policy and practice as part of our cycle of school development.

SMSC Audit 

SMSC Policy