Marsh Hill, Erdington, Birmingham B23 7HY | Telephone: 0121 464 2920

SMSC

What is SMSC?

               

SMSC stands for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

The information on this page will show you how we promote your child's Spiritual, Moral, social and cultural development at Marsh Hill Primary School.

The Spiritual Development of pupils is shown by their: 

  • Use of a range of social skills in different contexts, including working and socialising with pupils from different religions, ethic and socio-economic backgrounds
  • Willingness to participate in a variety of communication and social settings, including 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, the pupils develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain

Whole School Activities

  • School Squad
  • Pupil voice / Pupil Conferences
  • Anti-Bullying Ambassadors
  • Re-cycling Prefects
  • Playground Pals
  • Community Partners
  • Comprehensive After School Provision
  • Charitable Activities – whole school and through Enrichment activities (Red Nose Day, Children In Need, Remembrance Day)
  • Weekly newsletters
  • First News
  • Annual pupil questionnaire
  • Sports Character Attributes – Values of behaviour including; passion, self-belief, honesty, determination, team work and respect
  • School Nurse Team – drop in session for Parents and Children
  • Fund Raising for School – Christmas and Spring Fayre
  • Monthly Values Focus
  • Parent and Child Workshops
  • Promoting links with schools throughout the United Kingdom
  • Trips
  • Home visits
  • MFL – Learning about other cultures, language and beliefs

 

The Moral Development of pupils is shown by their:

  • Ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong, readily apply this understanding to their own lives and,  in so doing, respect the civil and criminal law of The United Kingdom.
  • Understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions.
  • Interest in investigating and offering reasoned views about moral and ethical issues and being able to understand and appreciate the viewpoints of others on these issues.

Whole School Activities

  • RE Curriculum – children learn about making the right decisions
  • Learning empathy – taught through Jigsaw, Values Education, British Values, RE, Assemblies, and Anti-Bullying Strategy.
  • Developing positive relationships – taught through Jigsaw, Values Education, British Values, RE, Assemblies, and Anti-Bullying Strategy and promoted with the Positive Behaviour Policy
  • Positive Behaviour Policy – rules and expectations, children having a voice and understanding the purpose of the policy. Child friendly Anti-Bullying Policy to support this.
  • School Prefects – during lunchtime and playtime supporting pupils to remember the expectations of high standards of behaviour on site.
  • Class monitors – given responsibilities to ensure cohesive learning environments
  • Celebrating personal success and team success – Certificates of Achievement, Attendance Awards, Sporting Awards and endeavours
  • PCSO’s delivery of workshops throughout the school – Stranger Danger, Online Safety, Road Safety, and Crime
  • Anti-Bullying Strategy includes external providers delivering workshops to support moral behaviour
  • Charitable events – including Harvest Festival Collection, Red Nose Day, Children in Need, Poppy Appeal, Christmas Jumper Day – supporting charities as part of our moral responsibility to society.
  • Re-cycling Prefects – working to protect our world
  • Student Squad - Opportunities to express our points of view safely
  • Internet Safety Day -  encouraged and taught throughout the year but this day also provides a specific focus and includes our parents and families
  • Social Skills Groups – Identified children have the opportunity to participate in a Social Skills group to help them create positive relationships.
  • Topic Work – exploring our values and attitudes to life and learning about others through a variety of subjects / mediums including History, Geography, Art, Music, Dance
  • School Trips
  • Field work walks around the local community – identifying needs
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The spiritual development of pupils is shown by their: 

  • Ability to be reflective about their own beliefs, religious or otherwise, that inform their perspective on life and their interest in 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

Whole School Activities

  • Positive Behaviour Policy – rules and expectations, children having an input and understanding what is fair
  • Pupil voice – Student Squad, Anti-bullying Ambassadors
  • Policies in place to protect children. Child Friendly Anti-Bullying Policy
  • RE Curriculum
  • Values Education : Friendship, Respect, Thoughtfulness, Peace, Determination, Kindness, Tolerance, Forgiveness, Honesty, Hope, Co-operation
  • British Values – Celebrating Diversity, Focus Day as part of the Anti-Bullying Strategy
  • New curriculum allowing children to be independent learners / creative / exciting
  • Use of self and peer assessment
  • Assemblies – focusing and developing values and principles, Celebrations
  • Birmingham City Mission assemblies
  • Festivals – Eid, Diwali, Easter, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Graduation, Prom
  • Links with the Community – diversity celebrations including local faith leaders
  • Online Safety – working with the PCSO’s
  • Promoting cohesion in school – Prefects, Mentors, Anti-bullying Ambassadors and Playground Pals
  • School website
  • School website – links to helpful agencies, CEOP, Childline, Eradicate Hate, Prevent Strategy and Raising awareness about FGM
  • Online Safety
  • PSED – making and maintaining relationships, group activities, turn taking and sharing
  • Workshops with external agencies
  • Parent and Child Workshops throughout every year group, every term
  • Topic curriculum

 

The Cultural Development of pupils is shown by their: 

  • 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 within school and further afield as an essential element of their preparation for life in Modern Britain
  • Knowledge of Britain’s democratic parliamentary system and its cultural role in shaping our history and values and continuing to develop Britain.
  • Willingness to participate in and respond positively to artistic, 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, respect and celebrate diversity, as shown by their tolerance and attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.

Whole School Activities

  • RE lessons allow children to learn about different religions, cultures and beliefs
  • Topic lessons allow children to explore learning about different cultures and beliefs through different medium / Subjects including Music, Art, History, Geography and Computing.
  • The Design and Technology programme gives the pupils the opportunity to participate in cookery activities looking at nutrition and health.
  • Themed International School Dinners
  • Developing positive relationships through Values Education, Jigsaw lessons focusing on different beliefs and cultural expectations
  • First news – Children’s newspaper available in the library.
  • Variety of assemblies celebrating cultural differences: Eid, Diwali, Easter, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Father’s and

Mother’s Day Celebrations, Black History Month, LGBT History Month, Remembrance Day. Birmingham City Mission Christian Stories

  • Celebrations – Christmas, Easter bonnet parade, Eid, Diwali, Hanging it out to dry – Anti-Bullying Diversity Celebration
  • Nativity Production by Early Years
  • Music activities – Lessons and elective choices available too. Musical assemblies. Variety of instruments available for all year groups to utilise. Children sing a range of songs linking into particular issues and values.
  • MFL – Spanish language taught throughout Key Stage Two. Language, culture, clothing, food and beliefs explored
  • Dance – lessons developing different cultural styles

 

SMSC Values

We have ensured that our SMSC provision meets the requirements as stipulated in the new National Curriculum (Sept 2014) and the most current Ofsted framework for school inspection (Sept 2015). Please click here to view the letter we recieved from Birmingham SACRE regarding positive comments made about our SMSC provision during our last Ofsted inspection.

Values Education

Values Education comes to Marsh Hill!

We have just introduced a new approach to developing the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education of the children at Marsh Hill. It is called 'Values Education' and builds on the previous work we did using SEAL (Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning). We teach one values lesson each month to introduce the new value. We then reinforce each value through assemblies and discussion.

What are Values?

Values are the thing which we think are important in life. Our values affect the behaviour choices we make. Caring, co-operation, courage, friendship, happiness, honesty, hope, helpfulness, love, patience, peace, pride, resilience, sharing, tolerance, trust …and lots more!

Values Education at Marsh Hill

  • We agree on one value to work on per month excluding August.
  • We think about the value in assemblies.
  • We will talk about the value in class.
  • We talk about the value at home.

Each week we will try to prove to our teachers, parents, and each other that we can show the value 'in action'. In achievement Assembly, we will decide who deserves special Values Certificates, to celebrate people who have shown the value during the week. The values will build on one another and we will remember them as and when an issue or the need arises. After a while we will aim to get the values quality award.

The 22 Values are taught on a two year rolling programme, and are outlined below:

January Responsibility Determination
February Love Kindness
March Caring Tolerance
April Happiness Forgiveness
May Appreciation Honesty
June Understanding Hope
July Unity Co-operation
September Friendship Humility
October Respect Freedom
November Thoughtfulness Courage
December Peace Generosity

 

How can I help at home?

On the weekly newsletter we will tell you what the theme is and how you can support your child. This may be through talking about the value or completing an activity. Praise your child when they demonstrate the value. Make sure you model the value yourself! Let us know if your child does something fantastic! We would like parents to help us decide who will get the special Values Certificates each week.

"The time is always right to do what is right" – Martin Luther King

At Marsh Hill we appreciate our family, friends, our school, what we learn, the fun we all share, the adults who help and support us, our community, the outside world and each other.