SMSC & Fundamental British/Universal Values
SMSC at Aspin Park is woven through our taught curriculum and the wonderful experiences of the wider curriculum we plan for our children. We want our pupils to be socially and morally responsible citizens of the world and able to reflect on spiritual matters. Our curriculum provides time for talk, discussion and debate so that our children can think deeply and critically.
We understand we have a duty to provide for the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education of pupils whilst promoting the values of Democracy, the Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Respect and Tolerance. These have been called British values but are now more commonly called Universal values as they underpin the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our work to promote pupils’ (SMSC) development - including work on citizenship and community cohesion, anti-bullying learning, equalities and diversity work - ensures we meet the government’s requirements to teach fundamental British values. Values education does not only act as a preventative measure against radicalisation and extremism, but is also a vital part of preparing children to get on in life, creating critical thinkers and active citizens who respect others and challenge prejudice and discrimination.
Cultural Capital
The Cultural Learning Alliance states that cultural capital "is characterised by the experience and skill to be able to deploy the appropriate knowledge in any given situation: a job interview, a conversation with a neighbour, building a work network and so on." It is often assumed to be about providing children with cultural experiences of 'high art' such as theatre, art and literature, but cultural capital can refer to much more including:
- technical cultural capital – e.g. IT
- emotional cultural capital - such as empathy and sympathy
- embodied cultural capital – e.g. language, expressions, mannerisms;
- national cultural capital - working on an assumption of an existence of traditions, the lack of which can act as a disadvantage
Our curriculum is broad and wide-reaching. It is a knowledge rich curriculum, designed to introduce pupils to the best that has been thought and said as well as the knowledge and skills they will need for life today such as emotional literacy and an appreciation for diversity and equality.
Beyond lessons, our pupils SMSC education extends to:
- Whole school assemblies and weekly celebrations of values
- Visits to different places of worship and visits to school by different representatives of religions and belief-systems
- Annual residential experiences
- Christmas and Easter celebrations with our community
- Mental Health promotion
- Charitable projects - we support local, national and global projects
- Eco-schools - we have an Eco Council and have achieved the Eco Schools Green Flag
- Regular pupil voice surveys so our children can share their ideas with us about what matters to them
- Anti-bullying week - we teach pupils how to recognise and deal with bullying in our curriculum
- Sports competitions against local schools
- Crucial crew - training for our year 6 pupils from local emergency services
- Daily lunchtime calm spaces (gazebo) for children who want some downtime or to talk to a peer or adult about their feelings
- Visits to the local council offices to see local politics in action
