SMSC

SMSC is the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development of the children in our school. The SMSC curriculum can be described as the “hidden curriculum”. It is all the things that we do in at Water Leys Primary to build up children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding, thoughts and experiences.  It is not taught as a discrete lesson, rather it may be part of RE, PE, PSHE/RSE and part of the ethos of the school which children experience daily. It is woven into our behaviour expectations and our attitudes in school.

We want to create confident, responsible, and well-rounded adults who have an aspiration for self-improvement and can compete equally with their peers in a world beyond school life. We recognise that all pupils need to develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. This development allows them to make sense of their world.

Our highly engaging curriculum helps students develop an informed and balanced view on world events, beliefs and values of others. We endeavour to prepare our pupils for their future when becoming respectful individuals, life-long learners and active citizens in a modern British society.

Below is an overview of some of the ways in which we develop SMSC at Water Leys. It is by no means an exhaustive list.

Spiritual

This element focuses on the children developing a set of values, principles, and beliefs which they use to inform their perspectives on life and their behaviour. It involves children exploring the beliefs of others and encouraging the children to respect the faiths, feelings, and values of others.  Underpinning this, is the knowledge and understanding of the British Values mutual respect and tolerance.  At Water Leys we do this by:

• Encouraging spiritual development during RE lessons, collective worship and by welcoming and accepting the spiritual beliefs of others within our school community.
• Offering a rigorous Religious Education scheme from Foundation Stage to Year 6 based on the Leicestershire Agreed Syllabus
• Holding weekly Religious Education lessons across school
• Holding whole school assemblies, including special assemblies covering topics such as Remembrance and religious festivals
• Teaching about festivals and celebrations
• Performing Christmas Nativities in Foundation Stage and Key Stage One
• Celebrating diversity, different faiths, and cultures across school
• Planning school trips to churches and other religious buildings
• Welcoming visits from local religious leaders
• Sharing faith stories with key messages and concepts

Moral

Moral development focuses on children’s knowledge, understanding, intentions, attitudes and behaviour in relation to right and wrong within the accepted behaviours of society. It relies on their knowledge and awareness of values and attitudes of individuals and society. Underpinning this, are the values and understanding of democracy, law, liberty, respect, and tolerance. The quality of relationships that pupils experience, the standards of behaviour in the school as well as the values promoted by the school will form the basis of any judgment on moral development. At Water Leys we develop moral understanding by:

• Ensuring that our PSHE/SRE and RE lessons we look specifically at actions with a moral dilemma and discuss them to develop the children’s understanding
• Developing positive sporting behaviours
• Developing empathy towards others and showing concern for other people’s feelings and emotions
• Ensuring that the school’s behaviour policy uses both positive rewards (Class Dojos) and a consequence system
• Leading assemblies that are based around moral issues
• Learning about other cultures and countries – respecting the values and ways of life of others
• School Council
• Forming close links with and encouraging visits from local police, fire service and community PSO
• Having discussions and debates around matters in the world. Many of which are threaded into our Geography and History curriculum
• Accepting and celebrating similarities and differences- e.g. SEND, cultures, faiths, personalities
• Tolerating and accepting the views of others - School Council acting on behalf of the pupil voice
• Rejecting all forms of bullying, cruelty, dishonestly, violence and discrimination

Social

Developing an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of living in a community and being a “responsible citizen” in modern Britain. It also includes the fundamental British Values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.  At Water Leys we do this by:

• Ensuring that all pupils have a voice through an elected school council
• Supporting the local community with food from local foodbanks
• Planning a range of school trips, visits and residential visits
• Forming positive and well-developed relationships with each other, parents and teachers
• Following the PSHE curriculum- Jigsaw
• Holding weekly PHSE lessons in Key Stage 2
• Making full use of the outdoor environment when delivering high quality learning opportunities
• Delivering a broad Physical Education curriculum
• Providing the pupils with unstructured times of day- e.g. playtimes/lunchtimes
• Offering a broad range of after school clubs
• Providing opportunities for pupil voice – e.g. school council meetings
• Performing a Year 6 end of year production
• Participating in charity fundraising days – e.g. Children in Need, Red Nose Day
• Performing class assemblies to showcase our learning in Key Stage 2
• Providing our pupils with a carefully planned transition to the local Secondary schools. 
• Regularly visiting secondary schools to partake in taster days and projects
• Promoting good manners throughout school
• Competing in Inter-schools sporting competitions

Cultural

Cultural development is defined as the knowledge and understanding of others’ cultural traditions. It is about feeling comfortable with a variety of cultures and experiencing a range of cultural activities (for example art, theatre, travel, concerts). Within cultural development at Water Leys, children develop the fundamental British Value of mutual respect and tolerance. They do this through valuing and celebrating any cultural diversity in our school, our society, and the world. At Water Leys we:

• Encourage and support  the cultural development of our children through worship and RE lessons
• Visit museums, historical buildings and theatres to enhance our curriculum and to develop pupils' cultural capital
• Explore the work of artists and musicians from other cultures as part of our curriculum
• Read stories and information books about other cultures
• Offer music workshops and drumming performances
• Taste  and make food from other cultures
• Teach MFL to all pupils in Key Stage 2 weekly and offer taster session to our younger pupils
• Hold an annual Sports Day
• Promote acceptance and sensitivity to other cultures and beliefs through our celebration assemblies and through our teaching of varied RE topics.
• Teach an awareness of the global issues that impact on children’s lives- e.g. flooding/homelessness/ Coronavirus
• Celebrate different festivals – Chinese New Year etc