SMSC Provision
What is SMSC?
SMSC stands for spiritual, moral, social and cultural. All schools in England must show how well their students develop in SMSC.
Spiritual
Explore beliefs and experience; respect values; discover oneself and the surrounding world; use imagination and creativity; reflect.
Moral
Recognise right and wrong; respect the civil and criminal law of England; understand consequences; investigate moral and ethical issues; offer reasoned views.
Social
Use social skills in different contexts; work well with others; resolve conflicts; understand how communities work; contribute positively to life in modern Britain
Cultural
Appreciate cultural influences; knowledge of Britain's democratic parliamentary system; participate in culture opportunities; understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity.
The Academy aims to:
Achieve excellence for each individual in learning and personal development. In order to realise this, our primary aim is to provide a safe, exciting and active environment for learning that:
Encourages the development of self awareness and confidence whilst at the same time promoting sensitivity, support, appreciation and respect for others;
• provides the learning opportunities that lead to continuous improvement in achievement;
• recognises and rewards all achievement;
• allows all students to share positive experiences, to feel valued and to enjoy their life at the Academy;
• assists individuals to develop the skills and knowledge needed for their current and future roles within society;
• encourages parental and community involvement in all aspects of the life of the Academy.
In addition, we encourage the development of the whole person through:
encouraging students to become confident and positive contributors to their community;
• providing opportunities to develop an awareness of our own and other cultures in the
wider community;
• ensuring that students appreciate racial and cultural diversity and help to prevent racism;
• encouraging and promoting a wide range of inclusive extra-curricular and enrichment opportunities and experiences.
All faculty areas provide opportunities to promote students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. All staff have a duty to promote and contribute to the:
immediate school community;
• community within which the school is located (geographical community);
• UK community;
• global community (EU & international links).
Ethos of the Academy
Greenacres Primary Academy is a caring academy with highly skilled, well qualified and experienced staff. We are an academy where order, discipline and respect for ourselves and others are the key to a happy and safe learning environment.
We expect the highest standards of achievement, behaviour, attendance, punctuality and appearance from our students. We believe that our academy provides the ideal environment for our students to reach their potential in all subject areas. Achievements are celebrated by rewarding good work, effort and behaviour through green merits, postcards, certificates and a major award ceremony each term.
We believe that education should be challenging, interesting and enjoyable, and should develop the increasingly wide range of skills and abilities that young people need for their future whether it be further education or employment. It is our responsibility to ensure that students have a happy academy life and have opportunity to succeed. Parents/carers are central to our ethos and building effective partnerships with parent and carers is essential.
We are committed to providing our students with the education they need to become confident, articulate, independent learners and thinkers who are ready to take their place in the demanding world of the 21st century. Through the provision of high quality learning opportunities, both in the classroom and outside, we demonstrate our determination to create active, healthy, informed and responsible citizens of tomorrow.
The Academy recognises that its strong links promoting the confidence and engagement of parents/carers supports the learning and progress made by its students. Greenacres engages with parents/carers in a wide variety of ways, both formal and informal, exploiting many different forms of communication. We invite constructive feedback both orally and in writing and raise aspirations and remove barriers by giving parents/carers useful and frequent information about how their child is progressing.
We also recognise the importance of showing parents/carers how they can support learning at home and provide them with opportunities to extend their own learning and career prospects. Parents/carers are invited into the academy regularly to discuss their child’s progress. Through regular communication and an ‘open door’ policy, we aim to share responsibility for students’ development in all aspects of their learning and growth.
Curriculum
We map provision of SMSC across the Curriculum; annual ‘enrichment plans’ are published, mapping extra-curricular opportunities and experiences for all students and groups.
All subjects make a contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of young people.
All children learn about the six major world religions as part of our curriculum.
Our children are also given the opportunity to visit local places of worship which include the local mosque and Greenacres Congregational Church.
Assemblies
Assemblies also provide an opportunity to deliver content from our SMSC curriculum, as well as celebrating our school cultures and celebrations, discuss the rights of every child and learning behaviour i.e 'Building Learning Power'. On Mondays, Mrs Thornton delivers our SMSC assemblies to the whole school, on Wednesdays we have a whole school collective singing assembly and Fridays are a celebration of the weeks' work and stars of the week are chosen from each class.
The approach is varied but collectively offers a wide but coordinated basis for spiritual, social and cultural moral development and provides with an opportunity for reflection.
Awareness & Fund-raising
Charity work is valuable in reinforcing much that is important in the spiritual, cultural and moral aspects of school life. It raises awareness and develops an understanding and appreciation of a variety of cultures and beliefs. It develops well informed and open attitudes to cultural diversity. It reminds individuals of the needs of others and gives them the opportunity to involve themselves in fund-raising, through self denial, behaviour, active collecting, sponsored efforts etc. It also helps to develop community spirit from working together and celebrating achievements in terms of funds collected and given to worthy causes.
An annual report is published summarising our awareness/fund-raising over the academic year (see parents section, fundraising).
Provision for SMSC is monitored and reviewed on a regular basis. This is through annual monitoring, teaching and learning as part of the monitoring cycle.
Prevent Duty and Tackling Extremism
From 1st July 2015 all schools have a due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and or violent extremism; this duty is known as the Prevent Duty.
Prevent is one element of the Government’s Counter Terrorism Strategy.
The Prevent Strategy aims to prevent people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Institutions including schools and academies have a statutory duty to address the risk of any form of radicalisation and extremism.
Greenacres Primary Academy staff and the Governors have completed Prevent Training and/or WRAP (Working to Raise Awareness of Prevent) Training during this academic year. All staff are confident about the referral process in the academy if they suspect a student is being radicalised or drawn into extremist behaviour.
Our curriculum ensures our students have the opportunity to explore and discuss many challenges the world faces, including radicalisation and extremism. At Greenacres Primary Academy, through teaching the fundamental British Values, we encourage our students to think critically and explore ideas in a safe environment. We encourage our students to develop the skills, confidence and understanding to develop self-esteem and make a full and active contribution to society.
Children in Year 5 and 6 have special, dedicated PSHE lessons, delivered sensitively over a few weeks of the Autumn term to safeguard our children from extremism and to explore the key messages from the police.
Here are their lessons and what we cover.