Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural (SMSC) & British Values

SMSC at St John and St Francis Church School

At St John & St Francis, SMSC is woven through our school ethos and curriculum. The inclusion of SMSC across the school is also a key means of promoting fundamental British values within our school and the wider community. SMSC education is at the heart of everything that we do.

SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education)

The SMSC curriculum at St John and St Francis Church School is embedded into each curriculum area and is covered through enrichment activities such as school trips and clubs. The aim of the SMSC curriculum is to prepare each child for life in modern Britain. SCARF provides a strong foundation for children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural education (SMSC) and development; it is at the heart of the SCARF curriculum. SCARF resources have been carefully planned to a structured series of lessons that follow a spiral curriculum. Children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development are a core part of this. SMSC themes threads throughout the resources (lesson plans, Assemblies and additional whole school approach tools) providing a strong foundation for SMSC education.

SMSC calendar Autumn Term 2024

SMSC calendar Spring Term 2024

Spiritual Education

St John and St Francis is a Church of England Primary School with strong community links to the Church of St Francis and The Salvation Army. The RE curriculum covers a range of faiths whilst at the same time celebrating the distinctly Christian ethos of the school. Spirituality is explored through assembly themes and RE lessons. Children have a sense of enjoyment in their learning, which is achieved through class and whole school routines such as class assemblies, which the children lead themselves; celebration of successes and achievements (both in and out of school) which are shared with their peers; and acknowledgement and praise for improving and continuing effort which we celebrate through certificates and other rewards.

Taking our Reading into the Community

What a wonderful opportunity to share our love of Reading! Y2 pupils are visiting The Salvation Army CAMEO group to share their reading with the adults in the group. Both adults and children had a lovely time sharing their books and talking about their reading. A link that we are continuing to foster and enjoy. Thank you to our Year 2's who were great ambassadors and to the CAMEO group at The Salvation Army for supporting our children's love of Reading.

Moment of Reflection

SJSF have spent some time this week reflecting on the last two years. We had a moment of reflection in our collective worship on Wednesday 23^rd March led by Lieutenants Jon and Heather Culshaw and then our pupils had the opportunity to have time with their own thoughts which they shared either orally, pictorially or in the written word. We have shared our reflections on our Reflection Wall:

Moral Education

The children at St John and St Francis Church School have a strong understanding of right and wrong. This is reinforced through the school’s positive relationship and behaviour policy where pupils are reminded to ‘Be Ready, Respectful and Safe at all times’. They show an interest in offering views about moral and ethical issues, particularly evident through our School Council. Children are given an understanding of how a democracy works through the School Council system. The School is divided into 4 teams, each team has a Captain and Vice-Captain and children are awarded points for their house to reward following our Ready, Respectful and Safe ethos and for effort and achievement in all that do.

Social Education

The school is at the heart of a supportive, social community. Children are encouraged to use a range of social skills in different contexts, through the provision of numerous clubs, fairs, disco, events, trips and inter-school events for sports. We are proud that all children integrate and play well together. The playground is well equipped to support cooperative play and our friendship benches ensure the wellbeing ambassadors can use their skills to find everyone a friend on the playground.

Carol Singing at Dunwear House

It was a great privilege on Friday to take a group of year 1 children across to Dunwear house, our local retirement home. We were greeted by lots of friendly faces. The children were amazing and sang their little hearts out to our local elderly residents. The residents were very grateful that we had attended and said it was lovely to host our very polite young boys and girls. They enjoyed listening to our Christmas songs, and we even sang a song together at the end of our little performance. They have invited us to return again in the spring term to share some of our other learning experiences with them.

Tuning into Kids course

On Wednesday 29^th November our PFSA, Kirsty Hughes, ran a Tuning into Kids workshop, to which all parents/carers of our school were invited.

The workshop was aimed to help parents/carers develop their child's emotional intelligence, learning how to better understand their children, support managing their emotions and help prevent behaviour problems and deal with conflict. The workshop was well supported from our school community and thanks to Kirsty for running this event.

Afterwards, parents commented 'Amazing, every parent should do it' and 'Mrs Hughes was amazing'.

Cultural Education

Our children participate in an impressive range of artistic, musical, sporting and cultural opportunities. Their achievement within these areas is celebrated weekly during a celebration assembly during which trophies, awards and certificate are shown and discussed. We have a qualified PE teacher who provides some of our PE lessons for the children, staff development and also offers a wide range of after school clubs. We work closely with Premier Sport and Inspire Sport too who provide some of our PE teaching and after school clubs.

British Values

At St John and St Francis Church School, we actively promote the fundamental British values and SCARF provides a robust framework for promoting a positive ethos and values cross the school community, contributing significantly to British Values education, both explicitly and implicitly. The focus across the three themes of Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World foster and develop children’s responsibility for their own actions; respect for the actions and beliefs of others; an understanding of how each individual is protected by the rule of law; and how everyone can make a positive contribution to society through the democratic process.

Many SCARF lessons relate directly to one or all the British Values’ themes of:

Democracy Children show knowledge of Britain’s democratic parliamentary system through the School Council, voting, the history curriculum and whole school behaviour systems.

Rule of Law Children are taught the difference between right and wrong through the school positive relationship and behaviour policy, team points and initiatives such as stickers, certificates and awards.

Individual Liberty Within School, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely, for example throughout E-Safety and PSHE / SMSC discrete lessons.

Mutual Respect Mutual respect is at the heart of our school ethos. Children learn that their behaviour influences their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community treat each other with respect. At St John and St Francis Church School, we reinforce the understanding that we are all equal with different qualities, backgrounds, interests and personalities. We celebrate personal achievements and interests.

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs St John and St Francis Church School is situated in an area which has a growing cultural diversity. We place a great emphasis on celebrating diversity with the children. Our RE, PSHE and SMSC teaching reinforce this. Pupils are encouraged to share their knowledge of different faiths and interests with each other through leading Class Assemblies. Children visit places of worship that are important to different faiths.