British Values and Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development
British values and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are both crucial to fostering well-rounded citizens, equipped with the skills needed to live in 21st Century Britain. Therefore, British values and SMSC permeates through the curriculum at Dysart. We strongly believe it is most effective when those values and attitudes are both fully embedded in pupils’ learning and are actively promoted by staff who provide a model of behaviour for our pupils.
Examples of how British values and SMSC are promoted through the Dysart curriculum include:
- Developing pupils’ communication skills so that they are given a meaningful ‘voice’ to communicate and participate in democratic processes as adults.
- Empowering pupils by giving them opportunities to make choices about the things that they believe to be important. By valuing each ‘voice’ and by listening and responding to that voice we demonstrate that we support democracy and individual liberty.
- Pupils are supported to learn to take ownership of their behaviour and responsibility for their actions. Staff are committed to providing a consistent and predictable environment within the school and beyond. This enables pupils to feel safe and secure as well as promoting respect for the rule of law.
- Pupils are encouraged to become responsible and valued citizens. We do this by supporting each pupil to develop greater levels of independence, promoting the concept of individual liberty.
- We promote mutual respect through pupils’ inclusion in activities, settings and locations. The curriculum is personalised and adapted to meet the needs of each individual pupil as far as possible.
- Tolerance of different faiths and backgrounds is promoted through a range of activities including assemblies which cover themes such as: friendships, helping others and celebrations from a range of faiths and world events.
- Pupils’ moral understanding is promoted in the curriculum: pupils who are working in the formal pathway explore simple dilemmas in a supportive environment to begin to recognise right and wrong and understand consequences to their actions.
- Pupils’ social skills are actively supported through developing more effective communication skills, regular participation in educational visits to the local community and into London, regular participation in a range of residential visits, and developing positive healthy relationships with each other and with the important adults in each pupil’s life.
The effectiveness of the promotion of British values and SMSC is regularly monitored at Dysart by the school’s leadership team through Learning walks, work scrutinies and formal lesson observations.
