Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural

The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of the child is recognised as being of fundamental importance for the education of all children by Governors, staff and parents of our school.  It is taught through all subjects of the curriculum and in particular RE, including collective worship, and PSHE.  It supports all areas of learning and can contribute to the child’s motivation to learn. It is recognised that such development will be most successful when the values and attitudes promoted by the staff provide a model of behaviour for the children.  In later years it can enrich the individual’s appreciation of life’s experiences and their relationships with others.

Spiritual development is relevant to all children not only those who come from Christian homes. As a school we promote spiritual development through

• Fostering high self-esteem by encouraging children to take risks or face challenges in their learning within a secure and positive environment.
• Demonstrating its appreciation for work of the child’s imagination and provide opportunities for them to use their own creativity and imagination.
• Offering opportunities for aesthetic experience in art, music, dance, and literature.
• Making time for stillness and reflection which may lead to children coming to the threshold of prayer.
• Posing questions that encourage children to consider issues of meaning and purpose.
• Developing good listening skills in the children; the School will show that it is listening to the children through its response to issues raised, by them, via the School Council.
• Showing that it is not always possible to provide an absolute answer and at such times it is a positive experience to value a variety of interpretations and responses.
• Improving co-operation and understanding in relationships, providing opportunities such as group activities where children have constructive and enjoyable interaction with others; it is important that they sometimes work with those children who they would not normally choose as partners.
• Fostering emotional well-being by encouraging children to express their feelings and to have the ability to control their emotional behaviour.
• Developing the capacity for evaluative reasoning and critical thought by encouraging children to look beyond the surface.

These opportunities appear across the curriculum.

The moral development of every child is paramount at St Ann’s  for it relates to the child’s developing understanding of what is “right”,  “wrong” and “fair”. In our school will try to build on the moral training within the home while accepting that there might be different approaches between home and school. We will promote every child’s moral development by:

• Accepting proper authority and doing as they are told.
• Showing respect to everyone in our school – staff, children, themselves and visitors.
• Having a consensus of values that are stated clearly and owned by everyone, especially the children and involving the child in the evaluation of these.
• Building up the self- esteem of the child.
• Encouraging everyone within the school to behave in an acceptable way towards one another.
• Training children in understanding the consequences of their actions.

It is important that there is a consistency in the approach to this amongst the staff.

Opportunities to promote moral development will be provided during Circle Time and the School Council. At our school our Moral Code is underpinned by belief in:

• Telling the truth.
• Keeping promises.
• Respecting the rights and property of others.
• Being considerate to one another.
• Caring for those who are less fortunate.
• Accepting responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Self-discipline.

Cultural Development allows the child to recognise that all cultural groups are distinctive. The child needs to appreciate the distinctive features of their own culture and those of others.  This will help children to answer the questions “Who am I” and “Where do I fit in?” St Ann’s  promotes cultural development through:

• Exposing children to a wealth of stimuli from their own culture and those of others. This will be taught through the whole curriculum.
• Visits out of school and visitors to the school will support this teaching.
• Encouraging participation in and appreciation of the wealth of cultural traditions and the beliefs associated with these.
• Encouraging tolerance and appreciation of the beliefs, value and customs of different cultures.

Opportunities to nurture the cultural development of the child exist in all creative areas – the Curriculum, PSHE, RE and collective worship.