SMSC and Equality
At Boothroyd Primary Academy, we firmly believe that we are a school ‘where we all shine brightly’. We ensure that SMSC development is threaded throughout our curriculum by providing opportunities to develop our pupils; academically, holistically, as well as within their personal development and growth. We believe that SMSC should be a thread throughout the whole curriculum, which is why our curriculum design has SMSC at the HEART of our culture, behaviour and pedagogy.
Why do we teach SMSC at Boothroyd?
Our children, at Boothroyd Primary Academy, show:
Honesty
Excellence
Aspiration
Respect
Teamwork
Our approach to SMSC enables all our children to develop their own skills, knowledge and understanding of how to be who they are, understand the world they are growing up in and how to keep themselves safe in all areas of their world. With these skills and knowledge, our children will be able to adapt to the ever-changing world that they live in.
Our intent, throughout everything that we do, is to nurture happy, healthy, resilient and confident young people, who have the knowledge, academic achievement and strength of character to lead safe and successful lives in modern Britain. We want our children to be valued citizens and make an impact to society. We ensure that every member of our school community knows that we are committed to supporting their physical health, emotional wellbeing and safety.
We aim to provide opportunities that develop a culture of questioning, sharing and seeking out new understanding of the world.
Serving a community, where the majority of our families share the same religious, community and cultural views means that it is Boothroyd’s responsibility to extend our pupils opportunities to seek out alternate world views and explore them respectfully.
Another aim, that is entwined within our SMSC development, are the core British values of:
•Democracy
•The Rule of Law
•Individual Liberty
•Mutual Respect
•Tolerance
How do we implement SMSC at Boothroyd?
Our school culture, life, curriculum, behaviour systems and policies are the core areas to delivering SMSC effectively at Boothroyd. It is with this ‘golden thread’ that teachers seize opportunities for SMSC within their lessons and through the curriculum plans they follow.
Our curriculum and daily life, enables that the children's experiences are meaningful, interesting and promote Personal Development and achievement for all children. The curriculum also provides opportunities to increase their cultural awareness so that pupils appreciate and respect diversity and richness of other cultures. This is also embedded throughout our Personal Development enhancements (See Personal Development for more information).
Our PSHE curriculum – SCARF – that is delivered on a weekly basis, allows various opportunities to develop our children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural understanding and knowledge. (See PSHE for more information about our SCARF curriculum)
We carefully plan weekly assemblies, RE lessons, Picture News sessions to explore values and beliefs and provide a deeper understanding of diversity and other cultures.
Throughout daily teaching practices, we ensure there are opportunities to promote daily discussions via carefully planned vocabulary, appropriate questioning, sentence stems and connecting to our prior learning to further explore beliefs and values of others and how these can impact people’s lives.
Our wider opportunities and enrichments support our children to develop spiritually, socially, morally and culturally helping them to become well-rounded, respectful individuals who understand their role as a local, national and global citizen.
We ensure our behaviour policy and systems help our children thrive in life by taking responsibility of their behaviour, distinguishing right from wrong, understand how they can contribute to society and their community, respect and live in harmony with those with or without faith and appreciating and accepting that we live in a democratic society where everyone is entitled to their own opinion and view and that we all have freedom of speech. It is set out in this way as we want the children to understand and broaden their horizons to prepare themselves to become respectful and aspirational young people. We also want to enable them to celebrate our diverse world and develop skills to socialise with a wide range of people from all walks of life.
We promote inclusive environments where all children access their learning, contribute to school life and have a sense of belonging.
For more information about other ways in which we implement SMSC, please see the SMSC offer document.
How do we monitor SMSC at Boothroyd?
The aim of our SMSC provision is to develop each child holistically ensuring that we take into account their academic progress, personal development, sense of belonging and wellbeing. As a result of our offer, across a child’s primary career with us at Boothroyd, we hope pupils will leave us:
•With the ability to successfully articulate their own thoughts and beliefs whilst able to remain respectful of others.
•Have a strong sense of self that supports them in their transition to their next stage of life and education.
•With a broad view of the world, in which pupils will be ready to contribute in a positive manner to society and continue their journey of developing an even greater understanding of the world and people around them.
•Pupils will continue to uphold our school values of Honesty, Excellence, Aspirations, Resilience and Teamwork and promote these as member of society.
•Continue to ‘shine brightly’ in everything that they do.
•Continue to be happy, healthy, resilient and confident.
•Continue to appropriately question new phenomena and to share and seek out new knowledge as they develop in their own world.
We also keep in contact with our community and families due to family members continuing to attend our school. This allows us the opportunity to continue to have dialogues about former pupils and their successes within their new journey.
At Boothroyd, what do we mean by...
Spiritual development:
•Ability to be reflective about their own beliefs (religious or otherwise) and perspective on life.
•Knowledge of, 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 development:
•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 development:
•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 development:
•Understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others.
•Understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures in the school and further afield as an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain.
•Ability to recognise, and value, the things we share in common across cultural, religious, ethnic and socio-economic communities.
•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 and respect diversity. This is shown by their respect and attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.
SMSC curriculum
SMSC in action
Coming soon
Pupil voice
Coming soon
Protected characteristics
Under the Equality Act 2010, schools have a legal duty to ensure the following protected characteristics are not discriminated against. The act protects people from harassment and discrimination and everyone in Britain is protected by this. Please see the nine legally protected characteristics below:
British Values
As of November 2014, schools must now promote British values.
At Boothroyd Primary Academy, we support the fundamental British Values of:
- Democracy.
- The rule of law.
- Individual liberty.
- Mutual respect.
- Tolerance of different Faiths and beliefs.
We embed the British values strands through the curriculum by including the following:
Democracy
- Let children know their views count and encourage everyone to value each other’s opinions.
- We let children share views on aspects of learning.
- We provide activities that involve turn-taking, sharing and collaboration.
- Give children opportunities to develop enquiring minds by creating an atmosphere where all questions are valued.
- We encourage research and questioning to inform choices, views and values.
- Allow children to take on responsibilities around school.
Rule of Law
- Ensure that children understand their own and others’ behaviour and its consequences, helping them to distinguish right from wrong.
- Work with children to create the rules and the codes of behaviour, such as agreeing the rules about tidying up, and ensuring children understand that the rules apply to everyone.
- Allow children the opportunities to develop their understanding of rules within society by providing workshops and visitors.
Individual liberty
- Provide opportunities for children to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and increase their confidence in their own abilities, for example, through allowing children to take risks on an obstacle course and talking about their experiences and learning.
- Encourage a range of experiences that allow children to explore the language of feelings and responsibility, reflect on their differences and understand everyone is free to have different opinions
Mutual respect
- Promote diverse attitudes and challenge stereotypes, for example, by sharing stories that reflect and value the diversity of children’s experiences.
- Provide resources and activities that challenge gender, cultural and racial stereotyping.
- Arrange visits whereby children can engage with the wider community.
- Promote our school values into everyday school life.
Tolerance of different Faiths and beliefs
- Encourage and explain to children about the importance of tolerant behaviours, such as sharing and respecting each other’s opinions
- Create an ethos of inclusivity and tolerance at your setting where views, faiths, cultures and races are valued.
- Encourage children to acquire a tolerance, appreciation and respect for their own and other cultures by discussing with children the similarities and differences between themselves and others; and among families, faiths, communities, cultures and traditions
- Share and discuss practices, celebrations and experiences.
For more information about other ways in which we implement British Values, please see our British Values offer document.
Focus Trust Position Statement on Curriculum and British Values August 2018
