Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural

Social, Moral, Spiritual, and Cultural (SMSC) Education lies at the heart of our curriculum and our commitment to realising our vision. Our carefully-crafted SMSC curriculum was developed in-house to ensure we are meeting the needs of our school whilst fulfilling our statutory requirements regarding Health & Relationships Education (HRE) and Fundamental British Values.  

Our approach to SMSC Education is driven by our belief that SMSC is as much about knowledge and skills as any core curricular discipline; as such, we have made deliberate choices about when and how each strand of SMSC is taught (see table below). With our combination of discrete timetabled SMSC time and strands that are embedded throughout the curriculum, we are intent to cultivate independent, reflective, and respectful citizens of the world who are ready to participate in and contribute to society. 

Our SMSC offer has been developed in conjunction with our Inclusion offer and Behaviour Policy. We teach emotional literacy through the Zones of Regulation programme which is a powerful and accessible tool for communicating and regulating emotions and supports all children to succeed at school. Children earn Class Dojo points for their houses and towards their own milestones; Dojo points are linked explicitly to our school values. All staff employ a shared language when it comes to praising expected behaviours and recognising when children have demonstrated our values. Please see our SMSC Policy 2024-2027 for more information here: /481/policies

Religious Education (RE) 

We adhere to the Oxfordshire Agreed RE Syllabus to frame the teaching of RE. We alternate class-based RE lessons with whole-school virtual assemblies. In class, children learn about beliefs, practises, and symbolism of all major world religions. Our assemblies take a more philosophical turn as children are taught to grapple with Big Ideas such as ‘Do you shape your own destiny?’ and ‘Are humans superior to animals?’. Children quickly become comfortable with sophisticated and mature discussions, and their reflections are captured on our Big Ideas chalkboards which are on display around school.  

The learning process illustrated below draws together the academic and the personal dimensions of RE. It enables teachers to plan learning that meets many of the recommendations in Oxfordshire's ‘Challenging RE’ report. These include its aims and purposes, where it states that RE “is more than learning facts… it is about understanding the human quest for meaning, being prepared for life in a diverse world and having space to reflect on one’s own worldview”. 

It also places emphasis on developing skills that enable young people to:

• Reflect on their own personal responses to the fundamental human questions to which worldviews respond

• Learn to articulate these responses clearly and cogently while respecting the right of others to differ

 • Developing skills relevant to various disciplinary approaches

• Develop wider transferable skills and dispositions

Pupils grow to recognise how we are all different, yet we share our humanity in common (what we refer to as ‘identity-in-difference’), so that through their exploration of religions and other worldviews they develop their own understanding of what it means to be human and their own sense of meaning, purpose and value in relation to others. Please see the RE Curriculum map for Nursery to Year 6 for more information here: /481/policies 

Please note that while schools have to teach Religious Education, parents have the right to withdraw their children for all or part of the lessons. Please speak to the class teacher in the first instance if you would like to know more about this. 

Health and Relationships Education (HRE) 

We fulfil our statutory requirements to teach HRE for one hour per week to Years 1-6. We developed our offer over two years from the teaching objectives given by the Department for Education and now have a progressive curriculum that covers a range of topics (see table below) to equip children to be successful in their future working and personal lives. 

Please see the HRE Policy 2023-2026 for more information here: /481/policies

Global Values 

We have selected 12 Global Principles that support us to realise our school vision. As such, we have a balanced list of principles to help us grow children into compassionate, respectful, and ambitious citizens who treat others sensitively and are intentional about achieving their goals. 

Our Global Principles: 

• Appreciation 
• Curiosity 
• Determination 
• Creativity 
• Grit 
• Respect 
• Teamwork 
• Resilience 
• Excellence 
• Leadership 
• Compassion 
• Responsibility 

Every Friday we hold a Celebration Assembly where we celebrate children who have demonstrated our four school values of Respect, Inclusivity, Kindness and Integrity or any of the above global principles. The ethos of excellence underpins everything we do from behaviour on the playground to presentation in children’s work. 

Votes for Schools 

Votes for Schools is an engaging platform for Years 1-6 that builds student voice through discussions around current affairs and world issues. Teachers access the resources each week from a pack that is sent from the Votes for Schools organisation. Discussion topics are responsive to current world affairs, political movements, and civil issues that arise in real time. By delivering Votes for Schools in class for a 45-minute session every week, our schools embed British Values, Prevent, and National Curriculum SMSC objectives for Years 1-6. In Votes for Schools sessions, children are taught about world affairs in a manner that is entirely age-appropriate through resources that are planned and created by qualified teachers. Children end their session by voting for their answer to the discussion question of the week and can review the results at the beginning of the following week’s session.