Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural education can be seen across our whole curriculum and through all our school activities. Our Christian vision places spiritual, moral, social and cultural development at the heart of our school. Through our Christian vision, our school thinks about the kind of people we aspire to be and the kind of world we aspire to create.
Spiritual Development
We recognise all of our pupils have an innate spirituality to discover and develop. Some pupils may develop a Christian spirituality, a focus on being like Jesus so that children reflect Christ in their lives. All pupils develop their spirituality by being:
- reflective,
- respectful,
- imaginative,
- creative,
- joyful or
- wonder.
To nurture spirituality we:
- Provide spaces to be spiritual,
- Reflect on learning as a process,
- Facilitate a sense of empathy and allow children to make meaning for themselves,
- Build trusting relationships.
Our Christian Vision values everyone’s unique contribution, as did Jesus in the story of ‘Jesus and the Children’. We value each child’s unique spiritual contribution, recognising moments when children are being reflective, respectful, imaginative, creative, joyful or fascinated and developing each child’s language to express their thoughts and feelings.
Our curriculum gives our pupils the opportunity for children to question and be questioned to develop their spirituality, so that they value learning and enjoy questioning, listening and responding creatively across a range of subjects.
Moral, Social and Cultural Development
Our Christian Vision states that ‘Nonington has high expectations of all…’. High expectations reach beyond the academic to all aspects of school life, including moral development. By Jesus intervening when the disciples shooed the children off, Jesus demonstrated friendship; we believe that the relationships which are built are fundamental to how children make positive choices in how they live and behave. When things go wrong, children are nurtured to take responsibility for their actions and practice forgiveness and reconciliation. We teach our children the difference between right and wrong, including British values. Our curriculum gives opportunities for children to express reasoned views about moral and ethical issues, respecting the viewpoints others.
We build confidence within our pupils to become leaders in our school community, with pupils socialising, advocating for change and leading worship. Therefore, our pupils develop the skills and attitudes that will allow them to contribute positively.
Through our curriculum, we develop a good understanding of our country and the wider world, reflecting on our Christian values of wisdom, hope, trust, peace and friendship, so that our pupils talk with passion about different lives around the world. This enriches pupils understanding of world needs, developing respect for difference and diversity. Our curriculum offers pupils an opportunity to respond to artistic, musical, sporting and cultural opportunities.