Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development (SMSC) is about everything we do at Ravenor, to help children build their own personal values, have positive relationships with others and become responsible young citizens in society. SMSC development supports children to be kind, thoughtful and caring and to be able to live and learn alongside people with different beliefs, cultures and lifestyles.

Our provision for pupils’ Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural and Emotional development (SMSC), builds on our values of our 5Rs:

• Resilient
• Resourceful
• Respectful
• Responsible
• Reflective

An important part of SMSC is to support children to engage with British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and respect for different faiths and beliefs.

Spiritual Development

• Reflective

We want children to be reflective about their own beliefs, but also show interest and respect for the beliefs and faiths of others. We encourage children to reflect, not just on their own behaviour and the choices they make, but also on the skills needed to remain calm and focused on their learning.

Spiritual development is also about supporting children to be creative, imaginative and reflect on their learning experiences.

Opportunities for Spiritual development include:

• Meditation and mindfulness activities to help children be calm and focused for learning.
• Learning together to value the ideas and contributions of all children (‘Working With Others’).
• Providing a varied and exciting curriculum that inspires children and makes learning enjoyable.
• Coming together in assemblies and special events to share learning with each other and with parents and the community to reflect on our learning experiences.

Moral Development

• Responsible

• Resourceful

• Resilient

Opportunities for Moral development include:

• Children working together to discuss and agree on what they need to do to create a safe, friendly and inclusive environment for learning.
• Opportunities in the curriculum for children to offer their own points of view and to be able to listen to and value those of others.
• In every classroom and throughout the school environment, children are encouraged to make positive behaviour choices and develop strategies to manage conflicts effectively.

Social Development

• Responsible

• Respectful

We have developed (in association with Cathy Ota and Brighton University) an innovative whole school approach called ‘Working With Others’. This explicitly teaches children the social and relational skills needed to learn effectively in a diverse community.

Opportunities for Social development include:

• ‘Working with Others’ skills across the curriculum and whole school skill focuses.
• Making a positive contribution to the community through fund raising, volunteering and engagement in community projects.
• Supporting children to develop the skills needed for living in a democracy through activities such as elections for School Council and visits to the Houses of Parliament. Each year children take part in ‘Hope it, Hop it’, where they have they say about what they like/want to keep at school and what they would like to change. An example of this can be seen in the newly developed Key Stage 2 library.

Cultural Development

• Responsible

• Respectful

• Reflective

‘Working With Others’ (WWO) enables children to value living and learning alongside children from different backgrounds, different beliefs and lifestyles.

“We’re all different, but we work together as a team” Year 6 child.

“We are a multicultural school and we are thankful that we are so diverse”  Year 5 child.

Opportunities for Cultural development include:

• Providing opportunities in the curriculum for children to visit places of worship and share their beliefs with others.
•  Enabling children to enjoy and appreciate a variety of artistic, musical and cultural experiences, including drama, music, singing, choir and sports.